Station Name: HOPE LOW LEVEL[Source:
Paul Wright]
Looking easttowards Hope Low Level station in May 1955. The picture was taken from the footpath that connected Low Level to Hope High Level. As can be seen in the picture the station had no connection to the public highway being located in the middle of farmland. It existed purely as an interchange point. The platform to the left was used by Chester trains and the platform to the right by Denbigh trains.
Photo from John Mann collection This 1947 map still identifies the station as Hope
Exchange, the name was changed in 1953
1872 1:2500 OS Map. At this date the station was called Hope Junction. The Low Level platforms can be seen just above the words Hope Junction. To the north can be seen a single platform on the Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway which was linked to the low level station by a footpath. To the southwest there is a spur which linked the two systems. To the north west can be seen earthworks that would have created a further spur that would have allowed trains to travel direct between Mold and Connah’s Quay but it was never completed.
1912 1:2500 OS map. By this date the station had been renamed as Hope Exchange. So too had the high level station which since 1905 had been under the ownership of the Great Central Railway. To avoid confusion locals often referred to the stations as high and low level. The high level station had been enlarged and improved when the line on which it stood was doubled in 1890. Its two platforms are clearly shown on the map. Also by 1912 the connecting spur had been provided with additional sidings.
Hope Low Level Station looking west in the early 1960's
Photo by Dave Nicholas Looking west from the west end of the down platform at Hope Low Level on 15 June 1968. The footpath that connect to Hope High Level can be seen to the right of the line beyond the up platform. Passing through Hope High level en route to Wrexham is a Park Royal DMU. Photo by Keith Holt from the KDH Flickr photostream The site of Hope Low Level after it had been cleared to form an access route for a local farmer in January 2010. The site of the platforms can clearly be seen as the brickwork that has been used to form a hard standing marks the site. The photographer is standing on the site of what would have been the westbound platform at its eastern end. The bridge which carried the former GCR Bidston to Wrexham line over the Denbigh line has been filled in. Trains still run along the GCR line passing through the site of Hope High level the site of which is beyond the trees on the right of the picture.
Photo by Paul Wright A platform edge stone seen on the site of the westbound platform in January 2010.
Photo by Paul Wright Home Page
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