Railway line reopening hopes for Corwen to Denbigh route

An old station sign has been preserved in Corwen from the line which closed in the 1960s

A councillor whose father was a train driver wants to see the reopening of a rural line which closed in the 1960s.

Brian Jones, Denbighshire's lead member for transport, said he would be keen to bid for a slice of the UK government's £500m fund to restore lost routes.

He said no-one with foresight would have closed the Corwen to Denbigh line.

Vale of Clwyd Conservative MP James Davies said the area would benefit from restoring connections to the North Wales main line.

Denbigh station as it looked two days before passenger services ended in April 1962

The Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway opened in 1865, closing to passengers in 1962, and completely in 1965, as part of widespread cuts to the UK rail network proposed by Sir Richard Beeching.

Lines in Lancashire and Northumberland have already been earmarked to receive some of the £500m funding to reopen routes, although the rail union RMT has called it a "drop in the ocean".

Councillor Jones told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "My father was a train driver and he used to take me on the footplate of the steam trains."

The former railway station at Corwen is now a trailer showroom

He added: "I'm definitely in favour of bidding for the money.

"Goodness knows who owns the land now - but I would be in favour.

"I've had the conversation a few times over the past years. If someone had had the foresight to see where we are in 2020, they never would have shut the line down."

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The Denbigh station site is now occupied by a retail park while a craft centre stands on the station site at Ruthin.

The former Corwen station remains intact, but is used as a retail outlet for a local trailer manufacturer.

Vale of Clwyd MP James Davies has invited people to suggest routes to reopen, saying: "Projects with the greatest likely potential, viability and economic benefit will be prioritised."

A new Corwen station, to the east of the town, is due to open this year as part of an extension to the Llangollen heritage steam railway.