Appeal for £250K to rebuild lost Chirk tramway station
A £250,000 All Change At Chirk appeal to rebuild the long-lost eastern terminus of the Glyn Valley Tramway has been launched.
The terminus of the 2ft 4½in gauge tramway, which operated between Chirk and Hendre Quarry near Glyn Ceiriog between 1873 and 1935, lay alongside the GWR Chirk station, serving the Shrewsbury to Chester line, the original 19th-century buildings of which were demolished in 1987.
Since 2006, volunteers have been working to clear the tramway trackbed of debris, which mostly consisted of rubble from the demolished main line station buildings.
Railway archaeology
During the past year, the old tramway platform has been unearthed and the first course of bricks of the old station building is all that remains. However, they are in sufficiently sound structural condition to be built upon in due course.
The appeal is aiming to raise the money to rebuild the station building and platform, generate the funds required to repair the station’s retaining wall, and start a ‘fighting fund’ for asset purchases, such as further trackbed and land.
The retaining wall will have to be rebuilt for safety reasons before the reconstruction of the station.
Planning permission has already been granted for the reinstatement of the first section of the tramway from Chirk to a temporary station at Pontfaen, a distance of about a mile, and much site clearance has been undertaken.
Recently, much help has come from Andrew Christie, a Birmingham-based driver and driver instructor with Cross Country Trains, who also qualified as a Severn Valley Railway steam driver in 2008.
He recently hired a mini-digger, dumper truck, and roller for the trust, and they proved to be priceless at moving years of rubble from the trackbed.
“This hire also provided me with a true understanding of just how much restorations cost, and left me with the desire to help raise some funds for the GVT Trust,” said Andrew.
“The trust has become close to my heart and I wish to support them as much as I can.
“It is now my mission to return tracks to the disused station in Chirk and be the first to drive a steam engine there in 86 years!”
A rebuilt Chirk station, which last saw passengers in 1933, will give the trust an official home. Once the new station building is completed, a donations wall will be created as a thank-you gesture to all donors, listing those who have contributed £150 or more.
Gauge debate
The reconstruction of the platform will be another major task, as many of the platform edging stones are missing and will require new ones to be cut. Talks with Network Rail are now at an advanced stage to reinstate access to the narrow gauge site.
Chirk station originally had a singlewidth gateway to gain access to the tramway. The trust is intending to install two access points, one being close to the original and a second close to Network Rail’s disabled access ramp and footbridge.
The next stage will be to lay a 2ft 6in gauge demonstration track so the trust can move a former Royal Naval armaments depot box van from a neighbouring property, to provide vital storage for the trust and maybe later a shop.
The debate of which gauge to use for the rebuilt tramway continues. The first lengths of track to be relaid will then be regauged to 2ft 3in to accommodate a visit by the two surviving GVT carriages that are currently based at the Talyllyn Railway.
Chirk lies at the centre of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage site, and Andrew believes that a restored tramway station will encourage more visitors to break their journeys to and from North Wales, maybe even arriving by main line train.
➜ Anyone wishing to join the volunteers at Chirk is invited to email contact@glynvalleytramwaytrust.co.uk
➜ Donations to the All Change At Chirk (Station Rebuild Appeal) can be made by PayPal using thegvttrust@gmail. com or by bank transfer (sort code: 4017-20; account no. 31409948).