An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens
Part 16 (of 41) - Transport in Sutton (St.Helens)
Researched & Written by S.R.Wainwright ©MMX Contact Me 
An illustration of the Rainhill Trials which took place between Sutton and Rainhill during October 1829
In 1829 the Rainhill Trials took place on a two mile level stretch between Rainhill and Sutton. A prize of £500 was on offer for the winning steam locomotive and the five competing engines ran the equivalent of 70 miles backwards and forwards. The Rainhill Trials were, of course, won by Robert Stephenson's Rocket and he and father George, received the contract for the new railway. A ceremonial opening of the new line and station took place at Lea Green in September 1830.
A postcard of the Bury-Ackermann print of the Sutton intersection bridge
Although England's first fully fledged railway cut through the perimeter of Sutton township, it largely bypassed what was to become the borough of St.Helens. The Sankey Canal had provided a means of transporting St.Helens coal to Liverpool markets and beyond, but the railways were a much faster and more cost-effective alternative. So in February 1833, the St.Helens and Runcorn Gap railway which connected with the Mersey, was officially opened.
Around this time, Sutton's main station was opened and was briefly known as Bottom of Sutton Incline, before being renamed St.Helens Junction. Other stations were at Peasley Cross, Sutton Oak, Robins Lane Halt, Clock Face, Union Bank Farm, Farnworth and Bold. The St.Helens and Runcorn Gap railway was also the first time in the world that a railway crossed a railway. In 1845 the St.Helens and Runcorn Gap railway amalgamated with the Sankey Brook Navigation and became the St.Helens Canal and Railway company.
In the picture above a locomotive of the'Novelty' type is crossing the Liverpool and Manchester Railway by the two-span Intersection Bridge in Sutton, hauling coal wagons to the dock at Widnes. Beneath it heading towards Manchester is a 'Rocket' type locomotive. At the right of the picture, beyond the bridge, Leach Lane becomes Penlake Lane.
Passengers alight from a steam train at Sutton Oak station (undated)
The railway ran from St.Helens to Widnes serving passenger stations at Sutton Oak (first appearing in a timetable in 1852, closed 18.6.1951), Farnworth, Bold and Clock Face. It was mainly used for freight and served collieries and other industries in Sutton and St.Helens. However, the railway was also popular with passengers who could use the line for connecting to trains throughout the north west. Sutton Oak station was originally known as 'Sutton' station, gaining the 'Oak' prefix in 1864. The bridges in Sutton, especially near Reginald Road, reveal that up to ten tracks crossed them.
Some residents of St.Helens Junction now found themselves living in a triangle composed of two sides of railway lines and referred to the area as 'Pudding Bag' with just one way in.
Edward Borrows' workforce at their Sutton Junction Providence Foundry which made about 50 locomotives
The Junction district also had a number of locomotive manufacturers. Edward Borrows & Sons (originally J. Cross & Co, later H.W.Johnson & Co, then Allen Barton (Engineers) Ltd.) built around fifty locomotives at St.Helens Junction which being compact and robust were mainly employed at collieries in and around St.Helens and at works such as Pilkingtons. The latter transported glass by rail until after WWI with each of their works connected to the main line railways.
'Agnes' pictured at Edward Borrows & Sons Providence Foundry at St.Helens Junction in 1883
Proprietor Edward Borrows had been a locomotive superintendent at the St.Helens Canal and Railway Company. In the staff photograph above, the management wear bowler hats, ties and velvet-collared jackets. The workers by contrast wear caps, mufflers, waistcoasts and clogs. The apprentices are on the front row and are little more than children. Starting work at twelve in Sutton, St.Helens was quite common.
The St.Helens Canal and Railway Company had its own workshops in Sutton and they made the White Raven engine which was a 2-4-2 tank passenger locomotive. Initially called 'The Raven' and produced in 1863, it became known as 'The White Raven' as it was once painted in white livery. It was the last locomotive built by the company before it was bought out by the London and North West Railway Company in 1864.
Clock Face station with its station sign (inset) and below right a close-up of the porter and station dog
The Widnes platform was located to the north of the bridge and had a small waiting shelter and the St.Helens platform was south of the bridge by the main station building. In this picture of a porter at Clock Face station, it seems that passengers would also be greeted by a station dog!
However, the cost of train travel was a deterrent to many and travelling just five miles was quite an event for some in those days. Tram and bus services were embraced more enthusiastically but were slow in reaching much of Sutton. In 1879 an Act of Parliament incorporated The Saint Helens and District Tramways Company in which single-track, standard gauge tramways were authorised. One was intended to connect St.Helens town centre with the outskirts of Sutton, or more precisely Marshalls Cross, at the corner of Robins Lane.
Steam engine no.8 hauling passenger car no.6 photographed at Peasley Cross c.1895
There were a number of complaints about the high speed of trams with some said to be dangerously exceeding 10 mph! On 12th April, 1903 a tram from St.Helens Junction collided at full speed with a steam tower-wagon which was undertaking maintenance work on overhead wires, which caused severe damage to both vehicles. Bridges could also be problematic, especially at Peasley Cross. Not only was it prone to delays through severe flooding but it was capable of decapitating standing passengers on the top deck of open-top trams! So a large warning sign was erected on both sides of the bridge.
The Sutton Manor bus driver changes the destination board at the Market Street terminus
Edie Carter, who was a regular contributor to 'Whalley's World' in the St.Helens Star, recalled how there were very few bus stops during the 1920s and '30s, so much walking was needed to catch a bus, especially from Mill Lane where Edie lived.
Tram 14 pictured at St.Helens Junction in 1933
On May Day 1935, trolleybuses replaced trams on the St.Helens Junction route but there was no extension of services further into Sutton. Although much of Sutton had been bypassed by the tram and trolleybus networks, the expansion and popularity of motor buses plus use of trolley buses from the town to the Junction was starting to hurt the train operators. An early indicator of how the transport infrastructure in the town was being repositioned, was the ephemeral railway station at Robins Lane Halt. It opened on 12th October, 1936, situated on the line that connected the Widnes and Runcorn Gap railway with the Liverpool and Manchester line.
Robins Lane Halt was opened as part of a policy to address the drift of passenger traffic to motor and trolleybuses by creating new, convenient railway stations close to residential areas. However, the station was closed just two years later (26/9/1938) due to insufficient passengers. The only remnants of its brief existence are part of the two station entrance signs which directed passengers to its north and southbound platforms. These can still be discerned underneath a Robins Lane bridge by Ellen Street (pictured above right taken in 2008 - click image for large versions of both entrance signs).
Before long there was some easing of the service reduction and some buses were run to Sutton Leach and Sutton Manor. With collieries and many factories in full production, it was realised that extra bus services were required to transport workers. Additional services included St.Helens to Warrington via Clock Face and Bold Heath plus St.Helens to Widnes via Bold Heath, as well as Sutton Manor. In December 1943, with Britain’s fortunes in the war improving, there were increased services to the Manor.
Post-war, the growth of new housing estates in the Sutton district led to pressure placed on St.Helens Corporation’s transport department for new and extended services. In September 1946 a new service to Sutton Leach was launched which was extended to Clock Face and Bold in the following February. This brought frequent daily services to the district for the first time. In 1950 the Bold and Gorsey Lane routes became linked to Clinkham Wood and the Sutton Heath service was extended to Sutton Manor.
Gateway to Sutton - A Leyland Titan (TD1 No 70) double-decker bus bound for Sutton Manor passes under the notorious Peasley Cross bridge which was a hazard for open-top tram passengers who chose to stand-up
In 1952 all trolleybus services ended and were replaced the following day by motorbus services. The spread of new housing estates required a widescale expansion of transport services and further investment in trolleybus infrastructure was not cost-effective. Motorbuses were much more flexible and as electricity had been nationalised and no longer municipally supplied, it was not as financially beneficial for local authorities to provide electric transport for their citizens.
From 1958 St.Anne’s RC Church boasted its own Sunday bus service. Worshippers were ferried to the church in St.Helens Cororation buses, which would wait in Monastery Lane during the service and then take the worshippers home. However, by this time bus numbers were starting to decline through an increased use of private transport and the growth of television. People were staying in more at night and not travelling to the cinema or theatre. The peak year for bus transport was in 1955-6 when 60 million passengers were carried in St.Helens.
The changing times were also causing problems in staffing, as drivers and conductors were taking up employment in sectors that offered better hours and more pay. One-man bus operation was seen as the solution and in April 1967 the 22 route between Lancots Lane and Eccleston became one of only two routes in St.Helens to begin using one-man vehicles.
Sutton Oak Junction Signal Box with a steam train from Parr. After the line was closed, British Rail agreed for the signal box to be removed and placed in Pets Corner in Sherdley Park but vandals got there first and burned it down. Retired railwayman and founder of Sutton Historic Society, Eric Coffey, rescued the Sutton Oak Junction sign and placed it over his garage in Mill Lane
An enlargement of one of the last Clock Face tickets - issued 16th June, 1951
Interestingly this new Lea Green station was first announced almost 64 years earlier (see Times cutting below from 1936) to service an expanding residential population and compete with the buses which were becoming increasingly popular. However, the failure of Robins Lane Halt, seemingly caused a rethink.
Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages:
01) Township of Sutton & St.Helens | 02) Lords & Masters
03) Michael Hughes of Sherdley | 04) The Sherdley Estate
05) Sutton's Halls & Houses | 06) Dr. Henry Baker Bates
07) Religion in Sutton | 08) Rev. Henry Vallancey
09) Education in Sutton | 10) Mineworking in Sutton
11) Sutton Manor Colliery #1 | 12) Sutton Manor Colliery #2
13) Clock Face Colliery | 14) Bold Colliery
15) Industry in Sutton Township | 16) Sutton Transport
17) Sutton Transport Timeline | 18) Health & Sanitary Conditions
19) Old Sutton Pubs | 20) Sport in Sutton
21) Sutton Boxers & Wrestlers | 22) Rapid Rise of Sutton Harriers
23) Leisure & Entertainment | 24) Sutton Celebrations
25) Sutton Streetnames | 26) Pudding Bag
27) Notorious & Curious Crime | 28) Sutton Tragedy #1
29) Sutton Tragedy #2 | 30) What's Wrong With Sutton?
31) How Sutton Has Changed | 32) Memories of Sutton Part 1
33) Memories of Sutton Part 2 | 34) Memories of Sutton Part 3
35) Memories of Sutton Part 4 | 36) Memories of Sutton Part 5
37) Memories of Sutton Part 6 | 38) Memories of Sutton Part 7
39) Sutton Trivia & True Facts | 40) Clog Clatters in Old Sutton
41) Research Sources, References & Bibliography
Transport; Sport, Leisure & Entertainment; Sutton Streets;
Sutton Manor Colliery #1; #2; #3; #4; Clock Face Colliery;
Bold Colliery; Sutton Industry;
Sutton Beauty & Heritage strives for factual accuracy at all times. Please do also get in touch if you believe that there are any errors, with details of any corrections contained within the site's update history page, which also details the regular updates. Many individuals from all over the world have kindly contributed Sutton information or photographs. If you would like to participate in this project, I would be delighted to hear from you and this website always credits any assistance given. Do also consider contributing any recollections of old Sutton that you might have for the Sutton Memories pages, which are proving very popular. I respond quickly to all emails and if you haven't received a response within 12 hours, please check your junk mail folder or send your message again. Thank you! SRW
