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The Chester to Denbigh Railway

DUE AUG 2009

By Roger Carvell

While researching and writing this book about the Chester to Denbigh railway line I discovered that the process of acquiring historical information and then writing it up was rather like a train journey itself. Newly discovered information or photographs equalled the sense of excitement as the train pulled away from a station. Research took me through unfamiliar places. A friendly and helpful phone call from a former railwayman who knew the line in its heyday equated to the excitement of the train at speed. There were other times though, when the quest for completion seemed to grind to a halt as if the train had pulled up, unexpectedly, at a stop signal. Heads might appear at the window, wondering at the delay. Sometimes the reason was because material had to be acquired from a source which, perhaps, was not geared to devoting resources to events that occurred over 100 years ago. Time, the great stealer, can encroach on an author’s ambition, for middle aged writers have to make ends meet. But sooner or later the stop signal pulled off and the journey resumed its pace once more, as further nuggets of knowledge were discovered or a site visit undertaken. Then, as the last few paragraphs or captions are written, a distant signal is sighted at ‘on’ and the author knows it is time to zip up the travelling bag of railway history for now, and make ready to alight at the conclusion. In this railway history I have attempted to portray and bring to life once more, by study of the local press and official BR documents, the events that surrounded the Chester to Denbigh line through its 136 years of existence. In truth, rural secondary lines like this one were overshadowed by the more glamorous – infamous, in its early years – Chester to Holyhead main line; contemporary railway authors and photographers found easier pickings among the expresses, seaside excursions and epic Victorian engineering that made up that strategic railway. Thus, little has appeared in print about another double-tracked railway, one that curved and twisted through the pleasant, rural, Alyn and Wheeler valleys and linked the Welsh county towns of Flintshire and Denbighshire with north-west England. However, as a North Wales railwayman once told me: ‘the Denbigh line was very good, but too good to last.’ This is the story of that line. CASEBOUND - ISBN 1-903266-47-5 Price: £16.95

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BRILL COMPETITION BYLINES COMPETITION BRILL MAGAZINE BYLINES MAGAZINE BOOKS CATALOGUE SUBSCRIPTIONS OVERSEAS SHOPS THE TRANSPORT TREASURY		The Chester to Denbigh Railway DUE AUG 2009 By Roger Carvell While researching and writing this book about the Chester to Denbigh railway line I discovered that the process of acquiring historical information and then writing it up was rather like a train journey itself. Newly discovered information or photographs equalled the sense of excitement as the train pulled away from a station. Research took me through unfamiliar places. A friendly and helpful phone call from a former railwayman who knew the line in its heyday equated to the excitement of the train at speed. There were other times though, when the quest for completion seemed to grind to a halt as if the train had pulled up, unexpectedly, at a stop signal. Heads might appear at the window, wondering at the delay. Sometimes the reason was because material had to be acquired from a source which, perhaps, was not geared to devoting resources to events that occurred over 100 years ago. Time, the great stealer, can encroach on an author’s ambition, for middle aged writers have to make ends meet. But sooner or later the stop signal pulled off and the journey resumed its pace once more, as further nuggets of knowledge were discovered or a site visit undertaken. Then, as the last few paragraphs or captions are written, a distant signal is sighted at ‘on’ and the author knows it is time to zip up the travelling bag of railway history for now, and make ready to alight at the conclusion. In this railway history I have attempted to portray and bring to life once more, by study of the local press and official BR documents, the events that surrounded the Chester to Denbigh line through its 136 years of existence. In truth, rural secondary lines like this one were overshadowed by the more glamorous – infamous, in its early years – Chester to Holyhead main line; contemporary railway authors and photographers found easier pickings among the expresses, seaside excursions and epic Victorian engineering that made up that strategic railway. Thus, little has appeared in print about another double-tracked railway, one that curved and twisted through the pleasant, rural, Alyn and Wheeler valleys and linked the Welsh county towns of Flintshire and Denbighshire with north-west England. However, as a North Wales railwayman once told me: ‘the Denbigh line was very good, but too good to last.’ This is the story of that line. CASEBOUND - ISBN 1-903266-47-5 Price: £16.95
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