Notes: Pulford was opened by the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway (S&CR) as Pulford & Dodleston on 4 November 1846. The S&CR was formed in July 1846 out of a merger of the North Wales Mineral Railway (NWMR) and the Shrewsbury, Oswestry & Chester Junction Railway (SO&CJR). The NWMR had been formed on 6 August 1844 to create a line between the industrial areas around Wrexham and Chester. They started construction of a 14½-mile long line later that year. The SO&CJR was set up to create a route between Shrewsbury and Chester and the merger enabled that task to be carried out through an extension of the NWMR line. The NWMR section of the line opened between Saltney Junction (near Chester) and Rhosymedre on 4 November 1846.

The station at Pulford & Dodleston was in a remote spot half a mile north-west of the village of Pulford on the south side of a level crossing which carried Dodleston Lane over the double-track line.

The main facilities were located on the up platform (Shrewsbury direction) in a single-storey Tudor cottage orné building with decorated bargeboards and spike finials.

The station had goods facilities in the form of a siding located on the north side of the level crossing, west of the line.

At the time of opening passenger trains ran between Chester and Wrexham. There were six trains in each direction on Monday-to-Saturday and two each way on Sunday.

The line between Ruabon and Shrewsbury opened on 14 October 1848 and passenger services were extended to run to a temporary station in the Shropshire county town from that date. From 23 December 1848 Pulford & Dodleston was also served by trains to and from Oswestry when a branch to that town opened.

By 1849 Dodleston had been dropped from the station name.

The March 1850 timetable showed four up and five down trains Monday-to-Saturday as shown in the table below. On Sundays there were two trains in each direction.

On 1 September 1854 the S&CR was taken over by the Great Western Railway (GWR). To read more about the events that led up to the take over click here.

Being in a remote location Pulford & Dodleston proved to be un-remunerative for passenger receipts and the GWR closed it after January 1855. The line became a busy trunk route of the GWR linking Birmingham with the River Mersey at Birkenhead.

Being a busy main line the siding continued to be used until 18 July 1959 by which time the line was part of British Railways Western Region.

On 2 February 1986 the line was singled with the former up line being removed and the down becoming bi-directional. Following a period of passenger growth in the first decade of the twenty-first century the line became a double-track railway once again in 2016.

Route map by Alan Young

Sources:

• A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume II North & Mid Wales - Peter E Baughan - David & Charles 1980.
• Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies - Christopher Awdry - Guild Publishing 1990.
• Paddington to the Mersey - Dr R. Preston Hendry & R. Powell Hendry - Oxford Publishing Company 1992.
• Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain - a Chronology - Michael Quick - Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009.

To see the other stations on the Shrewsbury - Chester General line click on the station name: Shrewsbury S&C, Leaton, Oldwoods Halt, Baschurch,
Stanwardine Halt, Haughton Halt, Rednal & West Felton,
Whittington Low Level, Weston Rhyn, Trehowell Halt, Llangollen Road, Whitehurst Halt, Rhosymedre, Cefn, Rhosymedre Halt, Wynnville Halt,
Johnstown & Hafod, Rhos, Rhosrobin Halt, Gresford,
Rossett, Balderton and Saltney