Buckley railway station

Buckley
Welsh: Bwcle
Location
Place	Buckley
Local authority	Flintshire
Grid reference	SJ295633
Operations
Station code	BCK
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	51,472
2011/12	52,404
2012/13	52,100
2013/14	50,544
2014/15	51,684
History
Original company	Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
31 March 1890[1]	Opened as Buckley Junction
6 May 1974[1]	Renamed
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Buckley from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

The station in 1961

Buckley railway station serves the town of Buckley in Flintshire, Wales.

The station is 8½ miles (14 km) north of Wrexham Central on the Borderlands Line.

The station was known as Buckley Junction until 6 May 1974, when it became Buckley.^[2] It is the nearest station to Mold, Flintshire.

History

The first railway in the area was the Buckley Railway, a short (5 mile/8 km long) freight branch linking the town with the River Dee at Connah's Quay. The Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway arrived in 1866 from a terminus at Wrexham Exchange alongside the GWR's Wrexham General station and was linked into the Buckley Railway from the outset, eventually taking it over in 1873. Passenger services from the south began soon afterwards, but not to the current station - this dates from 1890, when the "Hawarden Loop" line northwards to Shotton was opened. Further construction by the Great Central Railway added links to Chester and to Bidston (the current route north) by 1896. The original Buckley Railway line down to the docks at Connah's Quay remained freight-only throughout its life, finally closing in 1965.^[3] This left the current line at the station and ran via the original Buckley (Old) station (closed in 1890, but briefly reopened between 1893–95). Few traces of this route now remain.

Services

The station is served by an hourly service Monday - Saturday (two-hourly in the evenings & bank holidays)^[4] southbound to Wrexham Central and northbound to Bidston for connections to Liverpool via the Wirral Line. Connections to Shrewsbury, Cardiff and Birmingham (and beyond) are available at Wrexham General and for the North Wales Coast line at Shotton. On Sundays, there are six trains in each direction (approximately one every 2.5 hours).

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 47.
2. Slater, J.N., ed. (July 1974). "Notes and News: Stations renamed by LMR". Railway Magazine. London: IPC Transport Press Ltd. 120 (879): 363. ISSN 0033-8923.
3. Disused Stations - The Buckley Railway www.disused-stations.org.uk; Retrieved 2013-08-05
4. GB Rail Timetable 15 May - 11 December 2016, Table 101

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (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. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.

External links

• Train times and station information for Buckley railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 53°09′47″N 3°03′22″W / 53.163°N 3.056°W