Buckley railway station

Buckley Add→{{rail-interchange}}
General information
Other names	Welsh: Bwcle
Location	Flintshire
Coordinates	53.163°N 3.056°W / 53.163; -3.056
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BCK
History
Original company	Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Key dates
31 March 1890	Opened as Buckley Junction
6 May 1974	Renamed

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. It is the nearest station to Mold, Flintshire.

History

The station in 1961

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, which 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. That left the current line at the station and ran via the original Buckley (Old) station (closed in 1890, and briefly reopened between 1893–95). Few traces of that route now remain.

The station became an unstaffed halt in 1969 and the substantial two-storey main building was subsequently sold off. It remains standing to this day and is now used as industrial premises.

Facilities

The station has no ticket provision, so these must be purchased in advance or on the train. Train running information can be obtained via CIS screens, timetable poster boards or a payphone on platform 2. Step-free access is available to both platforms; there is no footbridge at this station however, only a foot crossing that must be used with care.

Services

The station is served by an hourly service Monday - Saturday (two-hourly in the evenings & bank holidays) southbound to Wrexham Central and northbound to Bidston for connections to Birkenhead and Liverpool stations 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 is a train approximately every 90 minutes.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Penyffordd		Transport for Wales Borderlands Line		Hawarden
	Historical railways
Hope Exchange		Great Central Railway Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway		Hawarden

Sources

• 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. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Wrexham to New Brighton. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 38-39, 42. ISBN 9781908174475. OCLC 859543196. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

Media related to Buckley railway station at Wikimedia Commons

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