page_title: Mold Railway
section_title: Opening
hierarchical_section_title: Mold Railway / Opening
caption_attribution_description: English: June 1980
context_page_description: The Mold Railway was a railway company that built a line in north-east Wales. The line linked Mold to Chester and it opened on 14 August 1849. The company built a mineral branch line to Ffrith, opened in November 1849. Mold itself was an important regional centre, and contained considerable mineral resources.
  The London and North Western Railway took over the company in 1859. As the mineral industry developed, steelmaking at Brymbo became dominant, and the LNWR arranged with the Great Western Railway to connect to that place.
  The passenger service closed in 1962, and in 1972 all rail activity ceased except for serving a factory at Mold; total closure followed in 1983.
context_section_description: The contractor for the construction of the line agreed to take most of his payment in shares, in effect funding the line himself, and it was opened on 14 August 1849; in common with the main part of the C&HR it was worked by the London and North Western Railway.
  The line left the Chester to Holyhead line at Saltney Junction, a little west of Chester, and there were intermediate stations at Broughton, Hope and Llong. The line was 10 miles long, of which the first 7 miles were double track.
  A branch was constructed southwards from Ffrith Junction, near Padeswood, to Coed Talon, from where a private line extended to Nerquis, where there was a coal pit. The steeply graded branch line opened on 14 September 1849; part of the Parliamentary authorisation was to continue to limestone quarries at Ffrith, but for the time being that was left in abeyance.
  The mine and quarry owner Edward Oakley worked the branch with his own engine, Diamond. A station was opened at Padeswood (on the Mold main line) in 1851. In 1852 the C&HR took over the branch line and the LNWR worked it.
caption: Llong station in June 1980
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