Station Name: CLOCK FACE

 

[Source: Paul Wright]


Date opened: 1852 (first appeared in timetable)
Location: South of the junction of Clock Face Road and Gartons Lane.
Company on opening: St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
Date closed to passengers: 18.6.1951
Date closed completely: 18.6.1951
Company on closing: British Railways (London Midland Region)
Present state: Demolished and cutting filled in
County: Lancashire
OS Grid Ref: SJ528915
Date of visit: 28.5.2005
Notes: Clock Face Station was on the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway which ran from St. Helens in the north to the banks of the Mersey at Widnes in the South, with no intermediate stations. On opening (21st February 1833) the line was owned by the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway Company. It was absorbed into the LNWR in 1864. Initially the line
was goods only but local people asked for a passenger service with a horse drawn service being introduced between the junction and St. Helens.



From 1845 a number of gradients on the line that had precluded locomotive working were eased and at about this time Clock Face station was opened. The station was situated on both sides of a small road overbridge in a cutting in the small village of Clock Face. The Widnes Platform was situated to the north of the bridge and had a small waiting shelter. The St Helens Platform was south of the bridge and had the main station building.

The line was always more heavily used by goods trains but over the years a steady service between St. Helens and Widnes developed latterly running to Ditton Junction where connections to Liverpool, Crewe, Manchester and even London could be made.

The service lasted until 16.6.1951 when Clock Face Station closed as a

passenger station. On 1.11.1981 the line closed as a through route. The section through the site of Clock Face station survived for a few more years as the connection between Sutton Manor Colliery and Sutton Oak Junction was retained. After the closure of the Colliery in the mid 1980's the line was cut back to Sutton Oak Junction.

Today nothing of the station remains and the cutting has been filled in.

Tickets from Michael Stewart

To see the other stations on Widnes - St. Helens line click on the station name: Ann Street, Appleton, Farnworth & Bold, Union Bank Farm Halt, Sutton Oak & Pleasley Cross




Clock Face Station in 1900
Photo reproduced by permission of St. Helens MBC Libraries, Local History & Archives Section



Clock Face Station in the 1950's


The site of Clock Face Station in February 1973 - showing a diverted passenger working heading north through the station site at the point where the northbound (St Helens) platform was situated.
Photo by Bevan Price from his St. Helens & South Lancashire rail and bus web site

The station site looking north in May 2005. The station was in a cutting which has now been filled in but the house on the right can also be seen in the picture above.
Photo by Paul Wright

 

 

 

[Source: Paul Wright]
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