Wrexham General railway station
Wrexham General railway station () is a main line railway station and the main railway station serving Wrexham, north-east Wales. It is currently operated by Transport for Wales, but services are also provided by Avanti West Coast 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 were withdrawn upon the electrification of the West Coast Main Line. Wrexham Exchange. Wrexham Exchange, which is now platform 4 of Wrexham General, 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. One of the two platforms was put out of use to passengers from August 1973 and was converted to a car park for Wrexham & Shropshire staff in 2008. Since the demise of that service the platform area has been out of regular use. Services. Wrexham General benefits from Inter-City services towards Holyhead, Liverpool Lime Street, Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street, Cardiff Central, London Euston and a Sundays-only service to Manchester Piccadilly. The station is also situated on the  Borderlands Line, providing local services towards Deeside and Merseyside for connections to Liverpool Central. Normal Service Pattern. Transport for Wales - Borderlands Line: Transport for Wales - North-South services via the Shrewsbury to Chester Line: Avanti West Coast (Mon-Fri only) Evenings and Sundays. In the evenings and Sundays there is a slightly different pattern of service, all operated by Transport for Wales. Layout. Wrexham General comprises four operational platforms with two disused bay platforms at the southern end of Platform 1. These were used for trains to via the Ruabon Barmouth line until the 1960s. Platforms 1 and 2 are  on the main to line, platform 3 being on an island platform opposite 2; and platform 4, until the mid-1980s a separate former Great Central Railway station named Wrexham Exchange, was on the ex-Ellesmere to Bidston line, now the Wrexham to Bidston Borderlands Line. Platform 5, once opposite and on the same route as platform 4, became disused when the line was singled, however in 2008 it has been re-surfaced and is now a private parking space. Recent developments. The station is currently undergoing a renaissance as a number of new services have been introduced. Since 2005 the  station has been a stop of the two hourly Cardiff to Holyhead Transport for Wales service (introduced by previous franchise operator Arriva Trains Wales, which occasionally extends to Llanelli. The two hourly Birmingham service has also been extended to Birmingham International and Holyhead. In April 2008, Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, the Deputy First Minister for Wales opened a new Wrexham Network Rail depot. It consisted of the refurbishment of two terminal bay platforms to the south of the station for overnight stabling of trains and the construction of a crew depot. The development was opened to coincide with the start  of services from Wrexham General to London by Wrexham & Shropshire, who utilised the depot until services to London Marylebone stopped in January 2011. From February 2009 a cafe has opened on the station in formerly empty office space. In June 2011, construction began on the increased access for disabled people to platform four. The existing footbridge between platforms three and four was removed in preparation for the construction of a new footbridge which includes a lift on Platform four. This obviates the use of the road bridge for disabled access to platform four. The new bridge has been built to  modern standards but in a style sympathising with the rest of the station design. The footbridge was installed in a record 12 hours and a timelapse video was shot of the event. On 20 March 2012 it was announced that sections of the North to South Wales line would be upgraded along the Wrexham section of the line to a total of £46 million worth of improvements. These include redoubling the Wrexham – Chester section, and upgrading sections of the line to allow for 90 mph running throughout. This will allow for an increase in traffic between Wrexham and Chester , including further London services and a possibility of regular services to new destinations. One report has suggested extending the hourly First TransPennine Express Hull – Manchester Piccadilly service to Wrexham via Chester, which would provide a direct service to Manchester, Leeds and Hull. Other suggestions include extending the current hourly Chester – Crewe shuttle service south to Wrexham and north to Manchester (via Manchester Airport). Although the engineering work completed in April 2017, no new developments are anticipated until late 2017 at the earliest. Transport for Wales have confirmed plans to introduce peak time services to and from Liverpool Lime Street via  Chester and Runcorn, along the Halton Curve, from May 2019.