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 railway station essential to the regions economic development. A number of schemes were proposed, including one by the LNWR, but it not until 1 August 1859 that scheme engineered by Henry Robertson received Royal Assent. The Vale of Llangollen Railway left the Shrewsbury to Chester main line south of , and built as a single track line on a double track route proceeded via to the new station at Llangollen. The line opened to freight on 1 December 1861, and to passengers on 2 June 1862 at a temporary terminus on the towns eastern outskirts. The extension to was undertaken by the