Farnworth & Bold Station was situated on the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway’s (SHRGR) line which ran from St. Helens in the north to the banks of the Mersey at Widnes in the South. The station was located less than half a mile to the east of Farnworth Village.

The SH&RGR opened its line on the 21st February 1833 and it was their intention that it would be purely for goads services, in particular for the movement of coal from the St Helens area down to the banks of the River Mersey at Widnes where railway company had built a dock which they named Widnes Dock. Not long after opening the public lobbied the SH&RGR to provide a passenger service. The company was persuaded and they hired two coaches from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (LMR) at £1 per week in order to do so. The SH&RGR did not operate specific passenger trains they merely attached the coaches to goods services. The only stations that were provided were at St Helens and close to Widnes Dock, the latter being named Runcorn Gap.

The passenger service was very slow due to the line being a single track railway and because of two ‘Inclined Planes’ up and down which trains had to be worked by means of a cable. The ‘Planes’ were far too steep for locomotives to climb. One of the ‘Inclined Planes’ was just to the south of the point where Farnworth & Bold Station was later to be built. The other was at Sutton near St Helens.

Due to fierce competition with a Canal, the Sankey Navigation, the SH&RGR was not a financial success. In order to overcome the problem the railway and canal companies merged with effect from the 21st of July 1845 as the St Helens Canal & Railway Company (SHC&RC). This improved the financial situation and both the railway and the canal became profitable. The

The ‘Inclined Plane’ to the south of Farnworth was levelled out and the new alignment was ready for traffic by the end of 1850. Shortly afterwards five intermediate stations opened along the line all of which first appeared in the public timetable in June 1852.

Farnworth & Bold was firstly known simply as Farnworth. It was situated on the north side of a level crossing that carried Derby Road across the line. It had a single storey brick built building on the northbound platform which provided passenger facilities. A simple waiting shelter was provided on the southbound platform. There was also a signalbox on the southbound platform towards its southern end. A crossing keepers cottage was provided on the south side of Derby Road on the east side of the line. On the west side of the line behind the northbound platform goods sidings were provided.

At the time of opening passenger trains would have operated between Runcorn Gap and St Helens. By July 1852 the SHC&RC had opened an extension of the line from Widnes to Garston and this resulted in some of the passenger train services running on to the latter.
    
On the 31st July 1864 Farnworth Station became part of the London & North Western Railway (LNWR). They carried out further improvements to the line which had become a very busy artery for freight. Factories had sprung up along its route including at Farnworth. By 1874 there was a manure works to the east of the station and by the 1890s a brick works had opened just to the west of the station. Also by the 1870s a bridge had been constructed to the north of the station and Derby Road was diverted to run over it. The level crossing was taken out of use although the keepers cottage survived.

On 2nd of January 1890 Farnworth Station was renamed as Farnworth & Bold. This was probably to avoid confusion with a station that had been opened on the west side of Farnworth by the Cheshire Lines Railway (CLC) in 1873 and which they named Farnworth.

By the early part of the 20th Century large factories had developed just to the south of Farnworth & Bold Station on both the east and west sides of the line. A large wood yard had also developed on the north side of the Derby Road bridge. All of these facilities were rail served and all of them provided passengers for the station. Train services had settled into being very much of a local nature although excursions to further afield locations did run.

From the 1st of November 1911 the LNWR introduced a railmotor service on the line and to coincide with its introduction they opened two Halt’s one of which was just over a mile to the north of Farnworth & Bold Station at Union Bank Farm. The service was very popular with local people and was given the name of ‘Ditton Dodger’ as it ran between Ditton Junction and St Helens Shaw Street. At Ditton Junction connections to Liverpool, Crewe, Manchester and even London could be made. It was not long before the railmotor was inadequate for the service and it was replaced by a Webb Tank locomotives and Coaches which could be operated as ‘Push and Pull’ sets. The name ‘Ditton Dodger’ however stuck and the service was referred to by this name until it ceased to run.

On the 1st of January 1923 Farnworth & Bold Station became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). Very little changed though and the service continued to run between Ditton Junction and St Helens Shaw Street. The LMS Summer Timetable for 1932 had thirteen trains leaving Farnworth & Bold for St Helens and thirteen trains for Ditton Junction on weekdays. Additional trains ran on Saturdays. 

During the Second World War the passenger service was cut back to only six trains per day in each direction and they ran only in the morning and evening peak hours. There were midday services on Saturdays for shoppers but bin the main the line was given over to goods services and troop trains. At the end of the War the services at Farnworth & Bold remained sparse although the trains that did run were popular with local people for travelling to work and for Saturday Shopping trips.
 
On the 1st January 1948 Farnworth & Bold became part of the nationalised British Railways (London Midland Region). The 1950 timetable had morning trains to St Helens from Farnworth and Bold at 07:11 and at 08:15. There was then nothing to St Helens until 16:24 followed by trains at 17:15, 17:41 and 18:19. To Ditton Junction there were trains at 06:38, 07:03 and at 08:40. In the afternoons passengers could travel to Ditton Junction at 16:52, 17:36 and 18:12. As during the war midday services did run on Saturdays. No services run on Sundays.

British Railways wanted to concentrate on goods services and so they proposed the line for closure. Despite local protest and despite the replacement bus service taking considerably longer passenger services were withdrawn on the 16th June 1951.

Farnworth & Bold Station closed to goods services on the 1st June 1964 although it was to remain on the railway map as a destination for goods trains that still served local factories. It is known that on the 5th February 1966 a passenger service called at the station. The service was an LCGB Railtour that was held to mark the end of Push and Pull trains and it was booked to stop at Farnworth & Bold for ten minutes to allow photographs to be taken.

In December 1967 the line from Widnes Junction to St Helens was reduced to goods line status although interestingly diverted passenger services continued to use it right up until the early 1980s. With effect from the 14th December 1969 the line was singled from a point to the north of the Derby Road bridge through to Sutton Oak. The signalbox at Farnworth & Bold Station now took on an important role as trains had to stop to collect or pick up the single line tokens that were required for the Sutton Oak to Farnworth & Bold section. The box also controlled the twice daily trip workings that operated from Widnes Hutchinson Street Yard to the Turners Asbestos Company Factory that was adjacent to the station. The trip brought in prestflo cement wagons that had been brought from Hope in Derbyshire. The wagons carried tickets that stated

With effect from the 4th of November 1973 the section of line from Farnworth & Bold to Widnes Number 1 signalbox was singled and Farnworth & Bold box closed. At the station site a section of double track was retained from a point several hundred metres to the south of the station site to a point several hundred metres to the north of the Derby Road bridge. The line adjacent to the northbound platform was effectively a run around loop for the Turners trains. The line adjacent to the southbound platform became a bi directional single track.

Up until Farnworth & Bold signal box had closed the station had remained in relatively good repair but its platforms began to become choked with vegetation after 1973. The station building had remained in use after its closure in 1964 for a variety of industrial purposes unrelated to the railway. Towards the end of the 1970s it had become the offices of the Roy Jacks removal company. When the Turners Asbestos Company announced that it was no longer going to be using the railway to bring in materials British Rail decided that it could close the line as a through route and divert through trains. It announced its intention to close the line in 1981 but as it had been thirty years since passenger services had run the decision caused no protest. The line closed as a through route on the 1st of November 1981 but the last trains had operated a few days earlier. The line was severed at Farnworth and Bold station almost immediately. At first the track was lifted northwards to clock face and early in 1982 it was lifted south for about a mile. Farnworth & Bold Station’s building fell out of use and it was burnt down in 1982.

The station site survived until the mid 1990s when it was swallowed up under a new bypass that became Watkinson Way. Today there is no sign that the station ever existed.

Ticket from Michael Stewart & (Earles Sidings) Paul Wright

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