Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway

Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway

to Whitchurch

Ellesmere

Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway

to Oswestry

Elson Halt

Trench Halt

England

Wales

border

Wrexham Central(1887–1998)

Wrexham Central

Shrewsbury and Chester Railway

to Shrewsbury

Wrexham General

WMCQ Brymbo Branch

(Gwersyllt Junction)

Wrexham and Minera Railway

(Wheatsheaf junction)

Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway

to Shotton

Shrewsbury and Chester Railway

to Chester

The Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway was a railway line that ran from Wrexham in North Wales, to Ellesmere in Shropshire, England. The line opened in 1895 and closed in 1962. It was a constituent part of the Cambrian Railways.

Proposed to be formed from the amalgamation of a series of local regional railway companies, as a result the new company called Cambrian Railways (CR) proposed to base its headquarters in Oswestry. On completion, the station would form the mainline for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), from Whitchurch on the Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway, to Welshpool in Mid-Wales.

The first connection to Oswestry was made from the south by the Oswestry and Newtown Railway, which operated its first train on 1 May 1860. After a legal tussle between the two competing companies, LNWR and the Great Western Railway (GWR), Parliament authorised building the CR/LNWR sponsored Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway to Whitchurch in August 1861, driven by the need to regenerate Ellesmere. However, the proposed route was heavily fought over by land owners, with the eventual tracks running via Fenn's Moss, requiring additional civil engineering, support and drainage to overcome the local bog conditions. On 25 July 1864 the CR was formally created, allowing the first CR train to the run from Whitchurch into Oswestry two days later on 27 July 1864. A year later the coast lines joined the CR too. On grouping in 1923, Cambrian Railways became part of the Great Western Railway.

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Wikipedia