Chirk railway station

Chirk railway station (Welsh: Y Waun) serves the town of Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The station is on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line that is part of the former Great Western Railway mainline route from London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside. The original 19th-century (grade 2 listed) Chirk / Y Waun station building was demolished in 1987, without consultation, by the local council.^[3]

Chirk Welsh: Y Waun
General information
Location	Chirk, Wrexham Wales
Coordinates	52.933°N 3.066°W / 52.933; -3.066
Grid reference	SJ284378
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Line(s)	Shrewsbury–Chester
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	CRK
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
12 October 1848	Station opens[1]
13 July 1964	Closed to goods
1 March 1974	Unstaffed[2]
Passengers
2019/20	78,030
2020/21	14,788
2021/22	57,766
2022/23	73,002
2023/24	83,562
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Chirk was also the eastern terminus and transfer point for the Glyn Valley Tramway.

Historical services

According to the Official Handbook of Stations the following classes of traffic were being handled at this station in 1956: G, P, F, L, H, C and there was a 15 cwt crane.^[4] At one time there was also a private siding into the Cadbury's factory from where cocoa liquor was sent to the chocolate factory at Bournville.

The railway itself superseded the Llangollen Canal, which runs parallel to the railway through Chirk, for the transportation of coal and other goods.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed (and has been since 1974) but has a ticket vending machine where passengers may buy or collect pre-booked tickets before boarding. Stone waiting shelters are provided on both platforms, along with a fully accessible ramped footbridge linking them – this was installed in 2015 as part of a £2 million Welsh Assembly-funded station improvement project.^[5] Train running information is provided via the CIS displays, automated announcements and timetable posters.^[6]

Current services

Passenger

Trains run on two routes operated by Transport for Wales:

• Hourly northbound service to Holyhead via Wrexham General and Chester.
• Hourly southbound service to Shrewsbury then continuing alternately to give a two-hourly service to both Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street and Cardiff Central via Hereford.

Some early morning & late evening trains run only between Shrewsbury and either Wrexham General or Chester only, whilst there is a single late evening service northbound to Manchester Piccadilly on weekdays only. Sundays see a two-hourly service to Chester & Birmingham International with a limited number of services to Holyhead & Cardiff.^[7]

Freight

To the north of Chirk station on the Up (southbound) side of the line is a private siding into the Kronospan chipboard factory. The siding receives a trainload of softwood from Kingmoor Yard, Cumbria five days a week (Monday to Friday), and additionally, between the months of April and October, up to three trains a week of softwood from Ribblehead, North Yorkshire. Since 2007 these timber trains have been operated to the Chirk Kronospan factory by Colas Rail Ltd.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Gobowen		Transport for Wales Shrewsbury to Chester Line		Ruabon
	Historical railways
Trehowell Halt		Great Western Railway Shrewsbury to Chester Line		Whitehurst Halt

Gallery

• 
  The Friends of Chirk Station maintain the flowerbeds.
• 
  An Arriva Trains Wales Class 175 at platform 2
• 
  An Arriva Trains Wales Class 158 leaves the station heading north, away from the camera, towards Ruabon. The Kronospan factory is to the right.
• 
  Fully accessible ramped footbridge, installed in 2015

References

1. Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
2. Clinker, C.R., (1978) Clinker’s Register of Closed Station, Avon Anglia ISBN 0-905466-19-5
3. Chirk Station Plas Kynaston Canal Group; Retrieved 13 June 2017
4. 1956, Official Handbook of Stations, British Transport Commission
5. "Better access for passengers at Chirk station thanks to new footbridge" Network Rail Media Centre article 20 November 2015; Retrieved 13 June 2017
6. Chirk station facilities National Rail Enquiries
7. GB eNRT December 2018 Edition, Table 75

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Shrewsbury to Chester. Middleton Press. figs. 42–46. ISBN 9781906008703. OCLC 495274299.

External links

• Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership
• Train times and station information for Chirk railway station from National Rail
• Chirk station on navigable 1946 O.S. map
• Chirk Railway Station. YouTube video with narration.