page_title: Ruabon railway branch lines
section_title: Ffron branch to Castle limeworks
hierarchical_section_title: Ruabon railway branch lines / Ffron branch to Castle limeworks
caption_attribution_description: English: System map of the railway branch line to Castle Limeworks, Froncysyllte, Wales
context_page_description: The Ruabon railway branch lines were a network of railways built to serve the mineral bearing area west of Ruabon, which contained many coal and iron deposits, as well as limestone, and a small but dense network of railways developed to handle the minerals.
  The Ellesmere Canal connected the area to Chester, for onward transport by coastal shipping. A tramway was opened in 1805 to extend the reach of the canal. When the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway was opened in 1846 – 1848 the transport opportunities were transformed, and railway branch lines were built. The S&CR merged with the Great Western Railway in 1854, and in time all the branches came under GWR control.
  Short branches were extended into the area west of Ruabon and for some time formed a dense local network. As the population density increased, a local passenger operation was put on, based on Wrexham, the local market town.
  In the period following World War I the mineral industry declined, and the passenger operation was discontinued. Mineral traffic reduced substantially by 1930, and the whole network was closed in 1963.
context_section_description: The Fron branch was a short branch line from Pentre, on the main line. It ran west for ​³⁄₄ mile to Chirk Castle Lime Works at Fron, and to a canal wharf near there. It was worked by the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway as part of the main line. Its course was  along the north side of the canal, and it then turned at right angles and passed under the canal, immediately resuming its westerly course, now on the south side of the canal. The turns were achieved by wagon turntables.
  It is likely that the line opened soon after the main line opened. A little after the Grouping of 1923 (following the Railways Act 1921, when lime traffic was growing—a contractor was charging 4s od to handle each wagon each way between the Works and the Junction. The line probably closed during World War II.
caption: Castle limeworks railway
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