GWR bays at Chester station

[leonard clive]

Seeing a mention of GWR bays at Chester in the 'Why is Chester station so grotty' thread elsewhere, I tried googling to find out more about them. Didn't find much, if anything. Can anyone point me to where I can find out more please? As a reasonably regular Chester user I can see where there might have been more than there is now. Many thanks, Leonard.

 

[Taunton]

Nowadays where platform 2 etc and the car parking now are - south side, west end. Not belonging just to the GWR but used for Wrexham etc services, and also the Birkenhead services (which were 50% GWR, many reversing from the Wrexham line and crossing right over the layout). The lines in both directions, to Birkenhead and to Warrington, were part of the Birkenhead Joint Railway, 50-50 owned by the GWR and LNWR, later LMS, so Chester station was as well.

The GWR loco shed was on the opposite, north side of the station, where the dmu depot is now.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The north west ("GWR") bay had 3 platforms, old numbers 1-3 - the main through platform on the south side was numbered 4/5.
Paddington-Birkenhead services reversed in the bays, and there were also services from places like Barmouth/Bala/Oswestry via Wrexham to Birkenhead.
The bays also hosted "LNWR" local services to Mold/Denbigh/Ruthin/Corwen and stopping services to Rhyl and beyond.
The bay section had an overall roof (as did the main station, whose roof was dismantled after WW2).

Services first closed from 1962 (the Mold/Clwyd route) and by 1967 all services had gone except a 2-hourly Chester-Wolverhampton DMU shuttle after London-Birmingham-Wolverhampton HL was electrified.
Chester-Birkenhead became a local shuttle to Rock Ferry, connecting into Merseyrail for Liverpool, after Birkenhead Woodside closed.
I can't quite remember the date the GWR section was shorn of its roof and reduced to one platform (now P2), but it was 1985 when the layout was totally rationalised with the opening of the power box at Chester - replacing the 6 (or was it 7?) mechanical boxes, one of which was in the roof by the footbridge.
West of the Brook St bridge was a large fan of sidings, now vanished.
Some of these became the site for a rail-served Royal Mail sorting office.
RM stopped using rail in the 90s, but some of the RM infrastructure into the bay section at the station is still there, in a disused and overgrown state.

 

[John Hunt]

Interesting 'then and now' view of Chester Station - no detail, but obviously a lot more going on 'then' than 'now'......

Side by side georeferenced maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

maps.nls.uk

 

[6Gman]

And I may be the only person on here to have sat in one of those bays on an AC electric loco while watching one of the Crosti-boilered 9Fs passing on an oil train!


(It was 1966/67 and the electric was there for some sort of publicity event; the 9F was going about its (soon to end) normal business.)

 

[The Crab]

The main down through platforms were 7/8.

 

[leonard clive]

Brilliant information. Many thanks, Leonard

 

[The Crab]

No I'm wrong, don't know where that came from.

 

[Welshman]

And I may be the only person on here to have sat in one of those bays on an AC electric loco while watching one of the Crosti-boilered 9Fs passing on an oil train!


(It was 1966/67 and the electric was there for some sort of publicity event; the 9F was going about its (soon to end) normal business.)

I am aware a Class 90 made it by mistake to Llandudno Junction a few years back, but was unaware of any other electric loco to reach Chester!
Was this event to publicise the future of British Rail? In which case, we've only been waiting 54 years so far for the wires to reach Chester.