Clock Face was situated on the Widnes and St Helen's line which had originally opened on 21 February 1833 as the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway (SH&RGR). Built primarily for the movement of coal from the St Helens coalfield to a dock on the river Mersey (Widnes Dock) at the Runcorn Gap the line did carry passengers from its first year of operation, but there were no intermediate stations between the dock and St Helens.

On 21 July 1845 the S&RGR became the St Helens Canal & Railway Company (SC&RC) when it merged with its competitor the Sankey Canal Company. In the years following the original line was improved through doubling and the eradication of two inclined planes, and the overall network of the SC&RC expanded. From the early 1850s intermediate stations were provided along the line and passenger services improved.

Clock Face station first appeared in the public timetable in November 1856. It was located at the point where Clock Face Road crossed over the railway. The ‘up’ (St Helens direction) platform was on the south side of the road overbridge in a cutting. A single-storey brick building which provided the booking facilities stood on the platform. The ‘down’ (Widnes direction) platform was located on the north side of the road overbridge; it had only a simple waiting shelter.

Clock Face station would have been served by trains running between St Helens and.

On 1 November 1911 the LNWR introduced a rail-motor onto the Ditton – St Helens service. It was given the nickname of the ‘Ditton Dodger’. The service proved to be very popular, and the rail-motor became inadequate. It was replaced with LNWR Webb coal tank locomotives and coaches fitted to operate in push-and-pull mode. The name Ditton Dodger for the service stuck and continued to be used by local people, passengers and railwaymen. After the Great War a passenger service began to run from St Helens Shaw Street to Clock Face Colliery and to Sutton Manor Colliery. Clock Face Colliery, located to the east of Clock Face, had started production in 1908 and Sutton Manor, located to the south-west, in 1916. The service called at all stations between St Helens and the collieries, except for Clock Face. Presumably it was thought that miners living in Clock Face could easily walk the short distance to their place of work.

In July 1922 there were nine services in each direction Monday to Saturday, as shown in the table below; on Sundays there were no passenger trains on the line at all.

In 1951 British Railways proposed the withdrawal of the Ditton Dodger service and complete closure of Clock Face. Despite local opposition the service was withdrawn on 18 June 1951. The station was demolished shortly after.

The line itself remained busy in the 1960s. From 14 December 1969 the line through the site of Clock Face became single between Farnworth & Bold and Sutton Oak. The former up line was lifted, the down becoming bi-directional. It remained busy with coal train workings from Sutton Manor and with a variety of through services, in particular coal for Garston.

On the 31 October 1981 a class 40 (40 124) passed through the site of Clock Face and headed north towards St Helens and onwards to Wigan. It was the last movement over the line between Widnes and St Helens as on the 1 November 1981 it closed as a through route. Trains continued to pass through Clock Face as the line remained open from Sutton Oak to Sutton Manor.

However, following the 1984-5 miners’ strike, Sutton Manor Colliery closed, and the last train ran on 15 August 1987. The line from Sutton Oak to Sutton Manor was taken out of use on 10 October 1987 and was lifted by the end of 1989.

Click here to return to main page