serve the increasing steelworks traffic. Passenger traffic on the joint line from Brymbo to Coed Talon declined during the Second World War, however, with only two passenger trains a day in each direction, largely maintained for schoolchildren attending school in Mold. The passenger service was finally withdrawn in 1950 by British Railways, with the final closure of Brymbo station, although its goods siding remained open. The Brymbo-Coed Talon line was taken out of use in 1952, although it was not formally closed until 1963. Working the route The route from Croes Newydd to Brymbo was double-tracked, and built to a standard designed to cope with heavy coal and freight trains to and from the steelworks. These trains were usually worked by traincrews from Croes Newydd shed using GWR 2800 Class locomotives based there; given the steep climb from Wrexham to Brymbo, which reached gradients of 1 in 36, a bank engine (such as a GWR 5600 Class locomotive) was often used. The more lightly built section beyond Brymbo West to Minera was worked by smaller locomotives, such as the 5700 Class, with engine 9610 being used almost exclusively on this line. In later years BR Standard Class 9F and ex-LMS 8F locomotives were also used on steelworks traffic. Steam locomotives continued in use on the line until relatively late under British Railways, with Class 24 and Class 25 diesels being introduced to Croes Newydd shed from 1967–8. One unusual aspect of workings on the line was that gravity shunting was permitted at Brymbo on shorter trains even as late as the 1970s. The gradients here could be problematic: there was an incident in the 1970s in which a train ran out of control on the former Vron Branch, and broke through level crossing gates in Brymbo. Final closure By the early 1970s the section of line from Brymbo West to Minera saw only two trains a week, and it was closed in 1972, shortly before Minera Limeworks was itself closed. The last part of the system, the 3-mile line from Brymbo West to Wrexham, remained open for freight trains to and from the steelworks, and as late as the mid 1970s there were 7 return workings a day. This section of line was taken out of use on 1 October 1982, due to increasing amounts of steelworks traffic being sent by road. The steelworks itself closed in 1990–91, along with