Northop

00, London Midland and Scottish Railway

Description    From the 1860’s there were plans to build railways through Central Flintshire. These were promoted to exploit the agricultural and considerable mineral wealth of the area. The London North Western Railway [LNWR] owners of the coast line strongly opposed these proposals seeing it as an attempt to grab some of the lucrative North Wales and Irish traffic. In practise despite support from County and District Councils no plans came to fruition. I have altered history and assumed the LNWR became so worried that in the late 1860’s it built a branch from Mold via Northop to Halykan in part have followed the route of the current A55. The branch was built as a cheep freight line as the LNWR felt that with the exception of Holywell (already served by a LNWR branch) the villages on the line were unlikely to support a profitable passenger service. This continued (despite campaigns) till the 1896 Light Railway Act made passenger services viable. Low level platforms were inserted and a passenger service started in 1906. In 1923, the LNWR was absorbed into the London Midland Scottish Railway. The layout is set in 1938. Operation is local passenger trains from Chester and Brymbo plus a great deal of freight activity.