Notes: Trehowell Halt was located on the Great Western Railway’s (GWR) main line that linked Birmingham to the River Mersey at Birkenhead via Chester. The section of line on which Trehowell was located (between Saltney Junction and Ruabon) had been opened on 14 October 1848 by the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway (S&CR). The GWR took over the line on 1 September 1854 (To read more about the S&CR click here).

Plans for the halt were agreed on 19 June 1935 and it opened six weeks later on 27 July 1935. The halt was provided to serve small settlements in the area. It was situated at the bridge which carried the Trehowell and Chirk Bank road over the line at a distance of 1½ miles to the south of Chirk station.

To the north of the halt was the 100ft high Chirk Viaduct a sixteen span stone structure engineered by Henry Robertson. When the viaduct had opened in 1848 it had been ten archs with timber sections at each end. The timber sections were replaced with stone in 1858.

The halt was very basic consisting of timber platforms with simple waiting shelters. The up platform (Shrewsbury direction) was on the north side of the road overbridge and the down (Chester direction) was to the south of it. Steps connected the platforms to the road bridge. At each entrance gate an oil lamp was provided.

The up platform shelter was at north ened of the platform and the down shelter was at the south end of its platform. The shelters measured 12ft by 7ft. Both platforms were just over 80ft long.

On 1 January 1948 the line became part of British Railways [Western Region] (BR[WR]).

The summer timetable for 1949 showed only three up and two down services Monday-to-Saturday as shown in the table below. No trains called on Sundays.

With such a poor level of service BR[WR]) notified the Ministry of Transport in a letter dated 27 September 1951 that they intended to close Trehowell Halt. In the same letter notice was given that a halt on the Ruabon - Barmouth line was also to close and it was explained that the annual takings for both halts in 1950 had been less than £4.

Trehowell Halt closed a month later on 29 October 1951. It was demolished shortly after.

The line remained a busy trunk route until the mid-1960s when many mainline services were diverted to other routes or ceased to run. By the late 1970s it had become a shadow of its former self with only an hourly DMU service in each direction.

Following a period of passenger growth in the first decade of the Twenty-First century the line was once again handling main line traffic.

Tickets from Michael Stewart and route map by Alan Young

Sources:

• A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume II North & Mid Wales - Peter E Baughan - David & Charles 1980.
• Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies - Christopher Awdry - Guild Publishing 1990.
• Paddington to the Mersey - Dr R. Preston Hendry & R. Powell Hendry - Oxford Publishing Company 1992.
• Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain - a Chronology - Michael Quick - Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009.

To see the other stations on the Shrewsbury - Chester General line click on the station name: Shrewsbury S&C, Leaton, Oldwoods Halt, Baschurch,
Stanwardine Halt, Haughton Halt, Rednal & West Felton,
Whittington Low Level, Weston Rhyn, Llangollen Road, Whitehurst Halt, Rhosymedre, Cefn, Rhosymedre Halt, Wynnville Halt, Rhos, Johnstown & Hafod, Rhosrobin Halt, Gresford, Rossett, Pulford, Balderton and Saltney