Ditton railway station

Ditton
The disused station seen in 2012
General information
Location	Ditton, Halton, Cheshire England
Grid reference	SJ487846
Platforms	5[1]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	London & North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway London Midland Region of British Railways Railtrack
Key dates
1 May 1871	New station opened as Ditton Junction, replacing Ditton Mill
7 May 1973	Renamed (Ditton)
29 May 1994	Closed

St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway
Legend
Liverpool & Bury Railway Rainford Junction Skelmersdale branch Liverpool & Bury Railway Rainford Village Rookery Old Mill Lane Crank Halt Moss Bank Pilkington Gerards Bridge Liverpool–Wigan line to Wigan North Western St Helens Central (original GCR station) St Helens Central Liverpool, St Helens & South Lancashire Railway Liverpool–Wigan line to Liverpool Lime Street Peasley Cross Hays Chemicals Sutton Oak Liverpool & Manchester Railway to Manchester Victoria Robins Lane Halt St Helens Junction Liverpool & Manchester Railway to Liverpool Lime Street Clock Face Union Bank Farm Halt Farnworth & Bold Appleton Ann Street Halt Warrington and Stockport Railway Vladivar Vodka distillery Warrington Arpley Chester–Warrington line to Chester Warrington Bank Quay High Level│Low Level West Coast Main Line Whitecross Sankey Bridges Fidlers Ferry & Penketh Fiddlers Ferry power station Cuerdley Widnes loop to Sankey Tanhouse Lane Widnes Central Cheshire Lines Committee (Liverpool–Manchester) Hough Green Widnes South Runcorn Gap (second) Runcorn Gap (first) swing bridge Widnes Dock Ditton Mill Weaver Junction–Liverpool line to Weaver Junction & Euston Runcorn Bridge Ditton Junction Halebank Speke 1864 extension to Liverpool Church Road Garston Garston Container terminal Garston Dock Garston and Liverpool Railway to Hunts Cross Hunts Cross chord Liverpool South Parkway to Liverpool Central Allerton West Allerton Mossley Hill Sefton Park Wavertree Liverpool & Manchester Railway Edge Hill Liverpool Lime Street
This diagram: view talk edit

Ditton railway station, originally Ditton Junction, was a railway station which served the Ditton area of Widnes in Cheshire, England. It was located on Hale Road on the border between Ditton and Halebank.

The station opened in 1871 on the London-Liverpool line. It replaced an earlier station named Ditton Mill which was inconveniently located off the then new main line some 230 yards (210 m) to the east.

On 17 September 1912, 15 people were killed when the 17:30 train from Chester derailed while crossing from the fast to the slow line at speed.

The station was rebuilt between 1960-61^[2] at a cost of £48,500^[3] (equivalent to £1,363,600 in 2023).^[4]

Ditton closed to passengers on 27 May 1994 and the station buildings were demolished in 2005.

Ditton railway station is one of two stations where Paul Simon may have composed the song "Homeward Bound", the other being Widnes railway station. It is uncertain exactly where the song was written. In an interview with Paul Zollo for SongTalk Magazine, Art Garfunkel says that Simon wrote the song in a train station "around Manchester"^[5] while in an earlier interview for Playboy Magazine Simon himself mentioned the train station was at Liverpool.^[6] It is likely, however, that it was written at Widnes station during a long wait for a train, as Simon was still on tour and travelling to a gig in Humberside^[7][8] from Widnes, and was reportedly dropped off at Widnes station by the owner of the club where he had been playing.^[9] A plaque commemorating this claim to fame is displayed on the Liverpool-bound platform of Widnes railway station.^[10] Simon is quoted as saying "if you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible."^[11]

The station was the first to be closed by Railtrack following the privatisation of British Rail in 1994. Passenger numbers declined during the 1960s and 1970s with the steady withdrawal of services. The Ditton Dodger to St Helens Central was the first withdrawal in 1951, followed by services to Manchester Oxford Road in 1962 and to North Wales via the North Wales Coast Line and Chester in 1975. The station was left with an hourly shuttle between Crewe and Liverpool. By the late 1980s even this service had begun to omit Ditton from its schedule and dwindling passenger numbers eventually led to its closure.^[12]

As of 2023 the platforms survive and can easily be seen from passing trains, and the site of the station buildings is visible from the road, marked by the more modern brickwork of the bridge parapet.

Halton Borough Council has protected the site of the station as well as the Halton Curve from development prejudicial to their reuse as part of the rail network; the council notes that "there is an opportunity for the re-opening of this station, particularly with the possible increase in patronage from major industrial, commercial and housing developments in the area. It may be possible to use the station as a park and ride facility."^[13] The alignment of the "Shell Green Route" which linked Ditton with Widnes South and Warrington is also protected.

Liverpool City Region Mayor, Steve Rotheram, stated in an interview in July 2017 that re-opening the station was one of the several options that had been outlined in the Liverpool City Region's Long Term Rail Strategy. The success of the plan depended heavily upon the re-opening of the Halton Curve.^[14]

In February 2019 it was announced that Merseytravel and consultant company Arup had been conducting feasibility studies into the reopening of the station.^[15] Initial estimates put the cost of reopening the station at an estimated £10 million.

• Fields, N; Gilbert, A C; Knight, N R (1980). Liverpool to Manchester into the Second Century. Manchester Transport Museum Society. ISBN 0 900857 19 6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ditton railway station.

• Ditton station via Disused Stations UK

53°21′23″N 2°46′15″W / 53.3563°N 2.7707°W / 53.3563; -2.7707