St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
The St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was an early railway line owned by a company of the same name in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It was later known as St Helens Railway. It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area which would later develop into the town of Widnes. Branches were opened to Garston, Warrington and Rainford. The company was taken over by the London and North Western Railway in 1864. The line from St Helens to Widnes and the branch to Rainford are now closed, the latter terminating at the Pilkington Glass' Cowley Hill works siding near Gerard's Bridge, but part of the lines to Garston and to Warrington are still in operation.
1832 view of the bridge over the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first bridge of one railway over another in the world.
Details of the line at Rainford, 1908 (lower)
Details of the line around Widnes, 1909 (left)
Widnes is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021 census had a population of 62,400.
Widnes Town Centre
St Luke's Church in Farnworth
Widnes during the late 19th century demonstrating the degree of pollution in the town
Spike Island c. 1900