End of the Line—literally

The roads around Rhuthun/Ruthin have certainly seen their share of new surfaces so there's nothing particularly unusual about the work on the A525 near Ruthin Precast Concrete (although here its scale is interesting, owing to the level of reconstruction required on this "shot" piece of road, not seen since Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd was re-laid).

Except that it's not just the A525 being treated. Highways are also resurfacing the lay-by. Within is the last known piece of railway track in Rhuthun. It formed part of the siding that ran from the Craig y Ddwyart quarries immediately south of RPC via Quarryfields to the Denbigh, Ruthin & Corwen branch railway, to a point on the branch just north west of the current sewage works.

Bar me, I doubt anyone will miss the short section of line. The lay-by was worse than the road, pitted, potholed, pockmarked and eroded as it was. The length of railway line didn't help, not at all. But it's a shame nevertheless to see this last piece go, today, a final reminder of the railway that arrived in 1868. It's been 51 years since the line closed. There was no ceremony, just a gang working rather hard to lift this difficult & troublesome remnant. Of the railway, Trevor Hughes in his "Ruthin: a Town with a Past" said,

"With its passing goes a sentimental bond which will be lasting to most of us"

That was in 1967, four years after the passenger railway closed down. 47 years of fading memories, a new generation, population expansion from outwith Rhuthun and the motor car have broken those "sentimental bonds" forever. And the old station site and yard is beneath the Tesco car park. The adjacent roundabout was once called the Old Station Yard Roundabout. We've even forgotten that original name: somehow, at some point, the roundabout's been renamed after our twin town, as the Briec Roundabout. Can there be anything less culturally fitting as a reminder of our glorious pairing other than a road that doesn't begin, doesn't end and instead just goes nowhere? In any case, most people call it the Craft Centre roundabout or worse the Tesco roundabout.

So, what’s now actually left in town of our so-called agricultural railway line?

The Park Place

This was intended as the railway hotel. The line was to come due south from Rhewl to a station where we currently have Bridge Services and then proceed south via Cae Ddol. But landed gentry fearful of this new "monster" in their midst put paid to that. Instead, the branch was skewed east to the aforementioned station at The Old Station Yard Roundabout.

Red brick houses on Park Road

Near the Park Place, these four were designed to be railwaymen’s cottages.

Railway Terrace

These were speculative builds. There was actually to be another rank opposite Railway Terrace.

Station Road

Named after the coming of the railway, obviously.

Market Street

This new round punched from St Peter's Square (the Market Place) to the station at the foot of the hill was a deliberate act to assist people from train to town.

The Station Road cutting

This is now a dual-purpose footpath & cycleway, resurfaced in 2014 but initially converted to a landscaped walkway in 1987. The railway was sunken within to the demolished Well Street overbridge. For some 20 years after the railway's closure, this cutting was nothing other than waste ground.

Beechings

Aptly-named, this property lies behind the remodelled Well Street/Station Road junction.

Embankment and parts of cutting

This borders the backs of Llanfair Street and Wrexham Road as a low ridge and cut. Some has been infilled, though often it's possible to see the old levels. Thereafter, it's possible to trace much of the railway south to its terminus at Corwen (change for Abermaw/Barmouth, Rhiwabon and Wrecsam).

Station house

An imposing property on Lôn Parcwr that now looks totally isolated within the sea of light industrial units that form the town's main business district.

Station yard crane

Repositioned by the vehicular entrance to the Craft Centre and now, it has to be said, in need of considerable renovation.

Walling along Station Road

People think that this has been intact in situ since the railway. Parts were knocked down at the turn of this century during the remodelling of the County Hall site, to assist pedestrians parking off the Old Station Yard Roundabout and walking to temporary accommodation during County Hall's refurbishment. It was widely believed that the wall was carefully reconstructed so that each piece went back as was. Think again. There was no such attention to detail.