IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Widnes Southern By Pass Section, WA8 0ZW

Looking, from the towpath of the Sankey Canal, towards the ThermPhos factory at Widnes. The factory, formerly Albright & Wilson and then Rhodia is one of the few remaining chemicals factories in an area that was once dominated by the chemical industry but a recent article http://www.runcornandwidnesworld.co.uk/news/10220668.Long_established_Widnes_chemical_plant_faces_closure/ in the Runcorn and Widnes World suggests that it may soon close.

View NE, towards Appleton and St Helens. The train is going SW off the ex-LNW line (original St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway and closed to passengers from 18/7/51) and is heading for Spike Island Sidings. The line forking left had been the 'normal' line through Widnes South (ex-LNW) station (closed to passengers 10/9/62) to Ditton Junction and Liverpool (Lime Street), which connected just off here to the right with the line from Manchester (London Road) and Stockport via Warrington (Low Level). Crossing over the bridges in the background are the direct ex-LNW goods line between Carterhouse and West Deviation Junctions - missing Widnes South station. Crossing in parallel with and behind it would be the ex-GC & Midland Joint (not CLC) loop line from Widnes Junction (CLC) through Widnes Central station to Hough Green (CLC). (The 'Direct' CLC main line passes further north through Farnmouth (Widnes) station (renamed Widnes North 5/1/59, plain 'Widnes' 6/5/68) and the loop through Widnes Central was closed on 6/10/64). The locomotive is LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2T No. 41237 (built 9/49, withdrawn 9/64). Great Chemical Works dominates the area and the train has its products in tank wagons.

View southward in the complex of lines and east of Widnes South station on the then ex-LNWR St Helens/Warrington - Ditton Junction - Liverpool line, but since close (passengers 10/9/62, goods 31/3/69). Three LMSR Class 3 2-6-2Ts are visible. In the foreground already withdrawn in 11/61 are Stanier Nos. 40134 and 40143, and outside the Shed Ivatt No. 41230.

Part of the Thermphos works seen from the footpath to Spike Island.

Shown as "Iron Bridge" on the OS map, this wooden footbridge is the westernmost bridge over the Sankey Canal. It replaced an earlier rail bridge.

Shown as "Iron Bridge" on the OS map, this wooden footbridge is the westernmost bridge over the Sankey Canal. It replaced an earlier rail bridge.

The ThermPhos factory, formerly Albright & Wilson and then Rhodia is one of the few remaining chemical plants in an area that was once dominated by the chemical industry but a recent article http://www.runcornandwidnesworld.co.uk/news/10220668.Long_established_Widnes_chemical_plant_faces_closure/ in the Runcorn and Widnes World suggests that it faces closure after the Dutch parent company went into administration.

View from the footpath to Spike Island through the Thermphos chemical works. The tower in the far distance is the Van de Graaff generator at Daresbury research labs.