Llangollen route 418, offering journeys to Wrexham and to London via Shrewsbury, Telford and Birmingham. The Ellesmere Canal was intended to connect the coal mines and ironworks at Ruabon and Wrexham to the canal network and thence to the sea via the River Mersey and the River Severn. The plans were altered, and instead of connecting Trevor northwards to the sea via the River Dee and southwards to the Severn, the canal ran eastwards to join the national network at Hurleston Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal near Nantwich. A feeder canal, navigable to Llangollen, was constructed from Trevor to tap
Llangollen Canal later that year. By 1954, the Llangollen Canal was in a curious position. Under the terms of the LMSR Act of abandonment, obtained in 1944, navigation had been abandoned, but the right to sell water had been retained. This was to be for a period of ten years, during which those who bought the water were required to make alternative arrangements, which they failed to do. Since the nationalisation of the canals in 1948, the canal had been managed by the British Transport Commission, who had to obtain Parliamentary approval to extend this arrangement. Meanwhile, a number of pleasure boats