Notes: The Lodge Halt was situated on the Wrexham & Minera Railway (W&MR) which was incorporated on 17 May 1861 to build a three-mile line from the Chester & Shrewsbury Railway at Croes Newydd near Wrexham, to Brymbo The line was built to enable locomotive-hauled trains to operate between Wrexham and Minera. An earlier line had opened from Wheatsheaf Junction, to the north of Wrexham, to Minera in July 1847 but it had two-rope worked inclines that by the 1860s were an impediment to the smooth working of the substantial traffic that had built up. The new three-mile W&MR line opened on 22 May 1862 for goods traffic only. On 11 June 1866 the W&MR was amalgamated as the Wrexham & Minera Joint Railway with the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London North Western Railway (LNWR) as part of a scheme to create a direct route between Mold and Wrexham. By 1871 the line between Croes Newyyd and Brymbo was solely part of the GWR.
The GWR had attempted to start a passenger service on the line in July 1866, but it had failed as the line was deemed not to be up to passenger-carrying standards.
The line between Croes Newydd and Brymbo became double track on 1 April 1882, and on 24 May 1882 the GWR introduced a passenger service between Wrexham General and Brymbo. The service was extended to Coed Poeth on the 15 November 1897. In March 1905 a ‘railmotor’ service was introduced onto the line, and in May it was extended to run west of Coed Poeth to Berwig Halt.
It was to provide access to the railmotor service that The Lodge Halt was opened on 1 July 1906 to serve a settlement which was in a valley to the west of the line. The halt consisted of two wooden platforms which were linked by a barrow crossing at their north end. No shelters were provided, and a steeply graded path led down to Broughton Road.
In the early years six railmotors ran in each direction and such was the popularity of the service that at times, particularly on Saturday afternoons, the railmotor had to be replaced with a locomotive and coaches.
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By July 1922 The Lodge Halt had weekday departures for Berwig at 7:43am, 9:48am, 2:11pm, 3:28pm and at 7:16pm. There were also trains to Coed Poeth at 4:53pm, 5:58pm, 7:01pm, 8:03pm and at 9:08pm as well as services to Brymbo West Crossing Halt at 08:44am and 11:53am. To Wrexham General there were trains at 8:38am, 8:57am, 9:43am, |
12:04pm, 1:26pm, 3:01pm, 4:18pm, 5:24pm, 6:29pm, 7:32pm, 8:36pm and at 9:39pm. On Saturday afternoons timings were altered, and there was a later service back from Wrexham. There was no Sunday service.
Bus competition had started to make inroads into passenger traffic receipts by the early 1920s. By the early 1930s passenger services on the Wrexham and Minera line were hopelessly uneconomic, so the GWR withdrew the service completely with effect from 1 January 1931; The Lodge Halt closed completely. It was demolished after closure, leaving no trace.
The line through The Lodge Halt remained busy well into the second half of the twentieth century. On 1 January 1972 the line from Brymbo West to Minera closed completely after rail traffic from the Minera limeworks had ceased. Trains running between Croes Newydd and Brymbo steelworks continued to run. This traffic seemed to be secure, but a national strike by steel workers began on 1 January 1980. The Brymbo works was not part of the nationalised British Steel, and it continued to work normally, but the railway workers decided to support their striking colleagues at British Steel. They ‘blacked’ traffic from Brymbo for a period of two weeks, during which time the works used road transport, much of which did not return to the railway. By 1981 all that remained was a daily trip that brought out finished products. By 1982 there were only three trains per week running. The last train ran on 29 September 1982. The line between Croes Newydd and Brymbo West closed completely on 1 October 1982.
To See a film of the Wrexham & Minera Railway click here.
Ticket from Michael Stewart, Bradshaw from Nick Catford , route map drawn by Alan Young.
Sources:
- British Railway Companies, C. Awdry, 1990, Guild Publishing.
- Clinkers Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales - 1830 -1970 , C. R. Clinker & J. M. Firth, 1971
- Marcher Railways, by A. Bodlander, M. Hambly, H. Leadbetter, D. Southern & S. Weatherley, 2008, Bridge Books.
- Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain, M Quick, 2009, RCHS.
- Railway World - February 1987 - The Wrexham & Minera Joint Railway, Rex Christiansen, Ian Allan Publishing.
- Bradshaw Timetable July 1922.
To see other stations on the Wrexham and Minera Railway click on the station name: Plas Power, Brymbo (GWR), Brymbo West Crossing Halt, Pentresaeson Halt, Coed Poeth, Vicarage Crossing Halt & Berwig Halt
See also Moss Valley Line: Gatewen Halt, Pentre Broughton Halt, Gwersyllt Hill Halt & Moss Halt
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