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The Chester & Holyhead Railway was Incorporated on 4 July 1844 to build a line from Chester to Holyhead, connecting with the Chester & Crewe Railway and thence to what is now known as the West Coast Main Line. The line was mainly envisioned as the means to get the Irish mails from Euston to Holyhead. The engineer was Robert Stephenson (1803-1859) and major engineering works included the Conway and Britannia Tubular Bridges. These two bridges alone cost a total of £2,238,129 11s. 5d. (£1/4 billion in twenty-first century terms). The first sod was cut on St. David's Day, 1 March 1845. The line was opened throughout on 18 March 1850 and continues to be one of Britain's major railways. The website lunatictravel.com has a fine collection of photographs taken along the line.
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| Map of the Chester & Holyhead Railway |
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| Conway Tubular Bridge. Note how this was designed to blend with Conway Castle, which is immediately next to it |
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| Bangor in 1852 from a lithograph by G. Humphreys. My great-grandfather, John Humphreys, owned the row of terraced townhouses that can be seen at the lower end of Upper Bangor. Note also Saint Deiniol's Cathedral in the center of the picture, and the London & North Western Northern Division green livery of the Allan 2-2-2 locomotive. |
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