The Brymbo railway branch lines served the rich reserves of coal, iron, limestone and other minerals in an area around Brymbo to the west of Wrexham in Wales. Coalowners and others needed transport to get their products to market and lines were built from the main line into the mineral-bearing area. The topography was difficult and gradients were steep. The Great Western Railway became dominant, but a rival company built a competing line and branches.
Brymbo was surrounded by a maze of duplicating branch lines serving pits and quarries and a passenger service was started on some routes. Brymbo became the centre of a considerable iron and steelmaking activity but the industry declined before World War II and in the 1960s it reduced considerably. The passenger service was discontinued, and mineral traffic declined as its customers ceased to trade. There is no railway in the area at the present day.
North Wales Mineral Railway
The North Wales Coalfield runs from near Talacre at the mouth of the River Dee through Wrexham to Oswestry. The coal and associated iron industries became active from the early-eighteenth century, but poor transport links to markets suppressed the potential of the trade. The North Wales Mineral Railway (NWMR) was promoted locally to connect pits and ironworks to Chester and wharves on the River Dee. Its title signified the intent, but differences with pit owners meant that connections to pits were not included in the Parliamentary Bill. The North Wales Mineral Railway obtained the Royal Assent to its Act of Incorporation on 6 August 1844, for a line from Wrexham to a river wharf at Saltney, and a junction with the Chester and Holyhead Railway at Saltney, was authorised in the same session. The C&HR connection gave access to Chester.
An extension to Ruabon was authorised on 21 July 1845, and the Act included a branch from Wheatsheaf, north of Wrexham, to Brymbo and Minera. A third Act on 27 July 1846, authorised short branches to collieries at Ffrwd, Brynmally, Brymbo and Vron.
On to Shrewsbury
The Chester and Holyhead Railway announced its intention to build a line from Chester to Shrewsbury, the Cheshire and Shrewsbury Junction Railway. It would abstract a large proportion of the NWMR's income, and to counter the threat, the NWMR devised its own scheme to extend the NWMR southwards, the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway which was authorised on 30 June 1845. The Cheshire and Shropshire Junction scheme was rejected. The NWMR and the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway together formed a through route and a year later, authorised by Act of Parliament on 7 July 1846 they merged as the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway.
Lines opened
The main line from Ruabon to Saltney opened on 4 November 1846; the Company got access to Chester over a short section of the Chester and Holyhead Railway; this section opened on the same day; there were five passenger trains each way daily. Opening on to Shrewsbury followed in 1848.
The branch line from Wheatsheaf through Brymbo to Minera was open in July 1847 and the other local branches, to pits at Gwersyllt and Broughton, were ready and open in November 1847. Together these connected a large number of pits and works, and the large lime deposits of Minera, to the railway network.
Boyd later adds that "two small branches off it ran to Brynmally and Ffrwd, opening in the November [1847]: in due time Westminster, Southsea, Brymbo and Vron Collieries were also rail served off the Minera Branch.
The line left the NWMR main line near an inn called the Wheatsheaf, and the junction took that name; not far from the junction the line climbed an inclined plane, called the Wheatsheaf or Summerhill Incline, at a gradient of 1 in 15. The section was operated on the balance system. At the head of the incline the line passed through a Summerhill Tunnel, 200 yards long. Now at the lower end of the Moss Valley, the line ran to the next incline, the Moss or Cerni incline, gradient 1 in 4. This was also a balanced incline. At the head of this incline the line entered Brymbo Tunnel, 396 yards, and soon reached the Brymbo Iron Works, operated by the Brymbo Mineral and Railway Company from 3 October 1842.
At first horse traction, and gravity, were used on the line, but a small locomotive is reported to have been brought in later, generally operating from Brymbo to Minera.