Wrexham General railway station

## Wrexham General *Welsh: Wrecsam Cyffredinol*

Wrexham General railway station

**Wrexham General railway station** (Welsh: *Wrecsam Cyffredinol*) is a main line railway station and the main railway station serving Wrexham, north-east Wales. It is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales, but services are also provided by Virgin Trains who operate a service to London Euston. Until January 2011 Wrexham & Shropshire also operated from here to London Marylebone.The station was first opened in 1846, later becoming part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) network and expanded in 1912. It is one of three railway stations in the central area of the town, one now part of General, named **Wrexham Exchange**, the other being Wrexham Central. It is the main hub for inter-city services in the area, and as a result 78% of all rail journeys (2006/07) in Wrexham County Borough start or end at the station. It is also a major hub for inter-city services in North Wales.

Until the early 1980s what is now platform 4 of Wrexham General, serving the Wrexham Central – Bidston service, was a separate station: Wrexham Exchange.

## History

In 1846 the first steam trains began the Railway Age in Wrexham. The line was originally called The North Wales Mineral Railway and was backed by local businessmen, among whom the developer of the steel works at Brymbo, Henry Robertson, is well known.

There have been two railway station buildings on the site. The first was the original was built by the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway in Jacobean style with Dutch gable pediments. The architect for that station was Mr Thomas Penson of Wrexham, who also designed the Shrewsbury and Gobowen stations. It was built on the edge of Wrexham, a town which at the time was heavily industrialised and had many coal mines and steelworks to attract the railway companies.

The second station building was constructed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1912. The company decided the increasing rail traffic needed newer and more efficient facilities so the station was rebuilt to a standardised GWR 'French Pavilion' design, including ornate crestings on the roof "towers". The station design was unique in that it used stonework from the original building instead of standard red brick. It survived the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, as a through route for steel produced in Shotton and wood for the Chirk MDF factory.

On 24 April 1997, a wagon on an empty coal train derailed at a nearby level crossing. The train carried on for a mile into Wrexham General where the wagons scraped up the platform, damaging it and the station canopy. That prompted a massive refurbishing, including new canopies, a jetwash of the blackened sandstone buildings, and platform retiling along all main platforms. The out-of-use bay platform saw no improvements and retained its 1970s lighting until 2008, when it was refurbished by the Welsh Assembly.

The suffix "General" was used by the GWR and later the Western Region of British Railways to differentiate their main stations from others in the area, which belonged to other companies. Following the Beeching axe, Wrexham General remains the only "General" station on the National Rail network, and other "General" stations (including Shrewsbury General and Chester General, which were simply renamed "Shrewsbury" and "Chester" respectively) lost the suffix or (like Cardiff General, the last station to lose the "General" suffix) were re-dubbed as "Central" stations. Because of the continued presence of two stations serving Wrexham, the other being titled Wrexham Central, the "General" suffix was retained.

Until 1967, Wrexham General was served by GWR, latterly BR Western Region, express services between London Paddington and Birkenhead Woodside, which was withdrawn upon the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.

### Wrexham Exchange

Now platform 4 of Wrexham General, Wrexham Exchange was originally a separate railway station opened in May 1866 for the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQR). By the time that WMCQR had been bought by the Great Central Railway, the line was a through station connecting to the Cambrian Railways Wrexham Central Railway Station. The station changed hands again in 1921 during the Grouping, to the London and North Eastern Railway, as one of their few stations in Wales. *Wrexham Exchange* was named as such from 18 June 1951, with *Wrexham General* applying to all platforms from 1 June 1981. A platform, which is now used as a staff car park, was put out of use to passengers from August 1973.

## Services

### Facilities and further passenger information

* Self service ticket machines are available
* Ticket hall with counters for ticket purchase and information points is available
* All platforms have monitors showing the next three trains to depart or terminate are in use
* All platforms have announcements
* There is a taxi rank at this station
* Regular buses call at this station
* There is a large pay and display car park at this station
* There are three entrances/exits to the station, one via the main ticket hall. Another on platform one near the overpass. The third is located on Mold road, connecting to platform 4
* Disabled access to whole station
* Lifts to all platforms via main over pass
* All regular north and south bound long distance trains have at seat or buffet car catering
* Waiting rooms are located on the island platforms
* This station is covered by a roof
* Regular BTP security checks are carried out throughout this station