Ditton railway station

Ditton railway station is one of two stations where Paul Simon may have composed the song "Homeward Bound", the other being Widnes railway station. It is uncertain exactly where the song was written. In an interview with Paul Zollo for SongTalk Magazine, Art Garfunkel says that Simon wrote the song in a train station "around Manchester"[5] while in an earlier interview for Playboy Magazine Simon himself mentioned the train station was at Liverpool.[6] It is likely, however, that it was written at Widnes station during a long wait for a train, as Simon was still on tour and travelling to a gig in Humberside[7][8] from Widnes, and was reportedly dropped off at Widnes station by the owner of the club where he had been playing.[9] A plaque commemorating this claim to fame is displayed on the Liverpool-bound platform of Widnes railway station.[10] Simon is quoted as saying "if you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible."[11]

The station was the first to be closed by Railtrack following the privatisation of British Rail in 1994. Passenger numbers declined during the 1960s and 1970s with the steady withdrawal of services. The Ditton Dodger to St Helens Central was the first withdrawal in 1951, followed by services to Manchester Oxford Road in 1962 and to North Wales via the North Wales Coast Line and Chester in 1975. The station was left with an hourly shuttle between Crewe and Liverpool. By the late 1980s even this service had begun to omit Ditton from its schedule and dwindling passenger numbers eventually led to its closure.[12]

As of 2023 the platforms survive and can easily be seen from passing trains, and the site of the station buildings is visible from the road, marked by the more modern brickwork of the bridge parapet.

• Fields, N; Gilbert, A C; Knight, N R (1980). Liverpool to Manchester into the Second Century. Manchester Transport Museum Society. ISBN 0 900857 19 6.