Journey with us in the cab of a Transport for Wales class 158 from Chester to Shrewsbury. It\u2019s a spectacularly beautiful day with bright blue skies, and we\u2019re treated to a view of the landscape we pass through at its best.<\/p>\n
We begin from platform 4 at Chester as a Merseyrail service from Liverpool Central arrives at platform 7. Initially, we travel on a section of the Chester & Holyhead Railway\u2019s tracks to cross the River Dee close to Chester Racecourse. The bridge was the scene of a fatal accident less than a year after its opening when one of the cast iron girders failed.<\/p>\n
At Saltney Junction we diverge south to cross the Welsh border at Pulford, and then there\u2019s a single track section which takes us to the first stop at Wrexham.<\/p>\n
From there, we\u2019ve further stops at Ruabon, Cefn, Chirk and Gobowen, and cross the Vale of Llangollen on what was the biggest viaduct in Britain on completion.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of history to see, from disused branch lines and a private railway to long-lost stations whose surviving buildings celebrate the architecture of the Chester & Shrewsbury Railway and the GWR. At Gobowen there\u2019s a view of a pair of class 144 sets planned for use on a hoped-for future re-opening of the branch to Oswestry,<\/p>\n
Our arrival at Shrewsbury coincides with the departure of an opposing service back to Chester, and we\u2019ve a view of the smaller of Shrewsbury\u2019s signal boxes at Crewe Junction.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s full, knowledgable commentary to guide and inform as we head south.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Journey with us in the cab of a Transport for Wales class 158 from Chester to Shrewsbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5952,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[36,39],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5469","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-cab-rides","7":"product_cat-featured","8":"desktop-align-center","9":"tablet-align-center","10":"mobile-align-center","12":"first","13":"instock","14":"shipping-taxable","15":"purchasable","16":"product-type-variable"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/product\/5469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_brand&post=5469"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_cat&post=5469"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatrailwayvideos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_tag&post=5469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}