Ditton Mill railway station

Ditton Mill railway station was on the western edge of Widnes, England, that operated from 1851–1871. It was located east of Ditton Brook on the border between Ditton and Halebank. The station opened in 1851 on the Garston extension of the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway which was being built westwards towards Garston. Through traffic to and from Garston commenced on 1 July 1852. The line was taken over by the LNWR in 1864. In the 1860s the LNWR built a line from a short distance west of Ditton Mill south east to Weaver Junction and Euston, building and crossing the Mersey by the Runcorn Railway Bridge. This was and remains a hugely greater enterprise than the Widnes to Garston line. Ditton Mill was stranded on the "wrong side of the tracks", being a short distance east of the junction therefore useless for accessing the London to Liverpool main line. The LNWR were aware of this and built Ditton Junction west of both Ditton Mill and the junction. The new station opened and Ditton Mill closed on 1 May 1871. Ditton Mill station was demolished and no trace remains.

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Ditton railway station

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.

Landmark Train

Ditton Junction rail crash

Ditton Junction is near Widnes on the Liverpool spur of the former London and North Western Railway. This complex junction had eight running lines and associated signal gantries. On 17 September 1912 the 17:30 Chester to Liverpool express was signalled to cross from the fast to the slow line, but the driver, Robert Hughes, age 41, from Llangwstenin, Conwy, who had little experience of the junction and had never been switched here before, misread the signals and thought he had a clear run through. The crossover had a speed limit of 15 mph but the train hit it at 60 mph. The locomotive, a 2-4-0 of the Precedent class turned on its side and travelled some distance, striking the pier of an overbridge (partially demolishing it) and breaking in two. The six carriages following ploughed over the engine and were all destroyed - forming a heap of wreckage between the station platforms. Punctured gaslighting cylinders ignited, turning the scene into an inferno. The driver, fireman and 13 passengers were killed. Blame was attributed by Horatio Arthur Yorke to the driver for not applying for a pilot at Chester. The confusing signalling at the junction was also criticised.

Historic Site Landmark

786 m

Ball o' Ditton

Ball o' Ditton is a village in Cheshire, England.

Landmark Neighbourhood

Ditton, Cheshire

Ditton is a residential area of the town of Widnes, in the borough of Halton, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It borders Halebank to the south and west, Hough Green to the north and north west and an area just outside Widnes town centre (the Ball o'Ditton) to the east. Formerly within the historic county of Lancashire, Ditton is a local government ward, with a population of 6,249 at the time of the 2001 Census. It has three small areas of shops ("Alexander Drive", "St Michaels" and "Queens Avenue") and the Roman Catholic St Michael's Church – a local example of Gothic Revival architecture. The area also houses two medium-sized industrial estates. There are three public-houses in Ditton; the Blundell Arms, the Yew Tree (now demolished, with apartments built on the land) and the New Inn. To the south east of Ditton runs Ditton Road, which connects the A562 Ashley Way Central Widnes By-pass to the Halebank area of the town. This an industrial stretch of road containing remnants of Widnes' manufacturing and trade, including a chemical plant and large timber yard which sit on an expanse of land which leads to the River Mersey. The area also once contained a popular golf course – St Michaels Municipal, however it closed due to arsenic contamination, which is a reminder of the industrial waste that lies beneath. Ditton railway station, situated on Hale Road between Ditton and Halebank, closed to passengers on 27 May 1994. The site is now a railway junction with concrete remnants of platforms. Near to the former station is Ditton Brook, which runs from the eastern part of Liverpool to Ditton, where it flows into the River Mersey. The River Ditton, runs through the area also flowing into the River Mersey. The area has recently benefited from new-build housing developments (such as Redrow's Chapel Gate development) with units primarily being purchased by first time buyer owner-occupiers, many of whom are indigenous to the area.

Church Industrial