The North Wales Mineral Railway was formed to carry coal and ironstone from the mineral-bearing area around Wrexham to the River Dee wharves.

A dense network of branches to access pits and ironworks built up, although the hilly terrain made railway construction difficult.

The main line business developed too, enabling the GWR to access the Mersey, from London and from South Wales, and a heavy long-distance mineral flow built up.

That traffic dwindled steeply in the 1930s; the main line suffered from the handicap of reaching the west bank of the Mersey, and later it was reduced to the status of a secondary route.

The coal and associated iron industries became particularly active from the early eighteenth century, but poor transport links to markets suppressed the potential of the trade.

It was to run from Wrexham to a wharf at Saltney, and a connection at the latter place to the Chester and Holyhead Railway, which had gained its authorisation a month earlier in the same session.

In the following parliamentary session, authorisation was granted on 21 July 1845 by the North Wales Mineral Railway Extension Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict.

To get better access to the pits, it was to include a branch from a junction at Wheatsheaf, a little north of Wrexham, to Brymbo and Minera, via a tunnel and inclined plane.

c. ccl), authorised 27 July 1846, for short stubs to access collieries at Ffrwd, Brynmally, Brymbo and Vron.

With the realisation that it could become part of a through route, the NWMR began to make plans to extend the line southwards to Shrewsbury.

The C&HR developed proposals for a line from Chester to Shrewsbury (to be called the Cheshire and Shropshire Junction Railway).

On the same day that royal assent was given to the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Railway (Crickheath and Wem Branches) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict.

The BL&CJR board was intimidated by the LNWR action and at first submitted to the pressure; but in 1850 its shareholders protested at the loss of business, and co-operation with the S&CR was resumed.

The LNWR retaliated with a series of extremely improper business practices, including the forging of a traffic agreement using a false company seal.

It ran by a more southerly route, from a junction south of Wrexham, at Croes Newydd to Brymbo,[note 1] and it opened on 22 May 1862.

[20] Since 1805 there had been a horse tramway from the canal at Pontcysyllte to Acrefair village, serving Kynaston colliery and iron works on the way, as well as quarries at Cefn.

The Wrexham and Minera Extension Railway, from Brymbo to Tryddyn, was authorised in 1865, and the powers were transferred to the LNWR and GWR jointly, and opened in 1872.

[23] The Great Western Railway opened a Moss Valley Branch of 3 miles, authorised by an act of Parliament[which?]

on 21 July 1873 and opened on 11 May 1881; it ran to Ffrwd Ironworks from a junction with the Wrexham and Minera Railway main line near its origin.

Railmotors once again enabled a passenger service on local routes where patronage might not be heavy; from 1 May 1905 the passenger service on the Rhos branch was extended further south to Wynn Hall Halt, and from 5 June 1905 southwards from Legacy Station on the Ponkey branch as far as Ponkey Crossing Halt.

Most of the expresses stopped at Shrewsbury, Gobowen, Ruabon, Wrexham and Chester, and there were some trains from the south coast conveying through coaches from multiple destinations.

[28] The general pattern had been similar in 1910, but the journey time was slower (6 hours 40 minutes London to Liverpool) and the last train was earlier, at 16:55.

Competition from road services for local transport after World War II resulted in a steep decline in passenger and goods business at intermediate stations, and most of those were closed on 10 September 1962.

[32][33] The original main line from Saltney Junction (Chester) to Shrewsbury remains active, with passenger stations open at Wrexham General, Ruabon, Chirk and Gobowen.