Its construction was hugely expensive, chiefly due to the cost of building the Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Strait.

Llandudno was an early centre of leisure and holiday travel, and in the last decades of the nineteenth century, that traffic became increasingly important.

In the twentieth century, the North Wales coast became a popular holiday destination, reached largely by rail travel.

There had long been a necessity for convenient communication between London and Dublin, and the union gave further emphasis to the need, specifically for government mails.

The Post Office, and the Admiralty, responsible at that time for operating the packet boats, transferred the main part of the traffic to Liverpool.

[7] In January 1840, the commissioners were still considering the matter, and were given strong advice that Holyhead was the only suitable North Wales harbour, and that a line there from Chester was the best option.

Such a large span lent itself to the idea of a suspension bridge, and Stephenson considered whether the deck of such a structure could be stiffened so as to carry the concentrated loads of a railway train, but decided against it.

Stephenson was beginning to think of a bridge structure in the form of a straight tube; the unusual depth of the beam would give sufficient bending strength.

John Laird, a shipbuilder and C&HR board member, told Stephenson of the case of the launch of a steamship, the Prince of Wales.

The launch went astray, and the ship ended up supported on ground at bow and stern, over a length of 180 feet, acting as a beam without distress.

In the parliamentary process, Stephenson was naturally challenged as to the feasibility of his tubular bridge, but succeeded in convincing sceptical members, and the Chester and Holyhead Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict.

A painter had been working on a girder which cracked before the accident, and he actually measured a very large deflection of five and a half inches at the centre of the span when a train was passing.

the Company found itself considerably overstretched financially, at a time when the money market was unfavourable to the raising of additional funds.

The problem was severe, but was overcome when the London and North Western Railway agreed to take preference shares and contractors were paid in company debentures.

[41] A sequence of threatened withdrawals of co-operation followed; at the same time the C&HR's financial position deteriorated steeply, and the board seemed to be at loggerheads.

[42] Bradshaw's Guide for March 1850 shows a brisk passenger service on the line: passengers could leave Kingstown at 19:30 Dublin time (19:55 GMT)[43] and Holyhead at 01:35 by mail train; the time between Llanfair and Bangor was 35 minutes, although the traveller was not informed that this was by road vehicle; the onward journey arrived at Chester at 04:40 and arrival in London was at 13:00.

However the lease needed parliamentary authorisation, and the GWR made it clear it would demand running powers, which frightened the LNWR off.

Peto's impeccable record resulted in renewed confidence in the money markets, and preference shares were suddenly oversubscribed.

[46] Nevertheless, it was only in the half-year ending 31 December 1854 that the company made a net profit, and this allowed a small dividend on the first preference shares only.

The contract would have onerous obligations and heavy penalties at a time when actual operation was dependent on the goodwill of the LNWR, and the C&HR forbore to complete the agreement.

Activation of these clauses would allow running powers for competing companies, and the LNWR declined to enter into that, leaving the C&HR still in suspense.

The C&HR decided to apply for powers to merge with any other company whatever, and this finally forced the LNWR's hand into full amalgamation.

(The C&HR Company remained in existence until it was dissolved by the London and North-western Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict.

The result was the Bettws Extension Railway; this involved a long tunnel bored through hard rock at considerable expense, which opened in 1879.

[64][65] The Buckley Railway – in fact a tramway – had conveyed mineral products to a wharf at Connah's quay on the River Dee, since 1862.

The WM&CQR ran to the Buckley Railway wharf at Connah's Quay, but also made a connection with the C&HR main line near there, and this proved more useful, for interchange traffic, than was expected.

[67][68] The WM&CQR never transferred into LNWR ownership; it suffered terribly from lack of money, and it was the Great Central Railway that acquired it, rescuing it from bankruptcy.

A new bridge superstructure was designed, capable of carrying rail and road traffic on separate levels; it was a braced arch structure, using the original foundations.

Against the trend, Llandudno continues as a popular tourist centre, and the branch line to Blaenau Ffestiniog has been retained as a passenger route, although the slate extraction business is nowadays insignificant.

The connection with Irish ferry services at Holyhead has been retained, but has lost much of its former significance, but ordinary intercity and local passenger traffic is buoyant.