Talk:Widnes railway station

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Assessment Report

The article needs to be expanded.
It should make use of sections.
References and Citations are crucial for wikipedia, and so these must be added as the article is expanded. Make sure that as many as possible are "in-line" citations.(See WP:References, WP:V, and WP:CITE for guidance.)

Peter I. Vardy 16:09, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Untitled

Not sure "citations" are necessary for factual information about whether a station has 2 platforms and a car park etc, since these can be directly observed.

Exile 20:25, 10 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well the opening date and the reference to the architectural "style" could and should be referenced.Pyrotec (talk) 20:15, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Paul Simon and Homeward Bound

"Homeward Bound" was actually written at Ditton Station as the article says. Ditton Station was on the outskirts of Widnes and the commemorative plaque was originally displayed at Ditton. When the station closed in 1994 the plaque was moved to Widnes. Rickedmo (talk) 19:02, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It would seem that the story (and the plaque) are total fiction - I can find no reference to the connection between Simon, song and Widnes (and Ditton) anywhere. The three supposed references given cannot be verified. I have removed it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.29.120.10 (talk) 20:16, 27 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That you cannot verify the references is not a reason to remove content. Many if not most refs cannot be verified unless you have the source to hand. The sources here seem like good ones, and they are online, though behind paywalls, eg [1] and [2].--JohnBlackburne^words_deeds 21:23, 27 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ditton Station in Widnes is on the Liverpool to London line. The Widnes station in the article is on the Liverpool to Manchester line. If Paul Simon was to catch a train to London, he would certainly have headed to the correct railway station, Ditton station. The article should be corrected. Steved1973 (talk) 15:02, 21 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Did Ditton have a direct service to London? It was a small station, so I doubt it; so a traveller to London would have had to change trains at least once. Possibly at Runcorn or Crewe; another possibility is to travel in to Liverpool Lime Street and then get a fast train to London. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:59, 21 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Ditton Junction Station did in the 1960s have a service direct to London Euston. This service was withdrawn in the 1970s. As for the size of the station, Ditton had 6 platforms where Widnes only has 2. It is very likely, or common sense in the 1960s to go to Ditton station to catch the train to London. 92.9.37.192 (talk) 17:43, 1 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

He wasnt going to london he was going to his next gig in Hull. When asked Simon replied he couldn't actually remember where he wrote it. This version appeared in the Widnes weekly news some years ago. And was told by the local gig agent (Geoff Speed who died in 2019) who put him on the train. when Geoff was asked he said the train was already pulling in to widnes station so it would have had to have been the fastest wrote song ever ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7F:BAA9:E600:2996:8533:C72C:60BC (talk) 15:17, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've read various accounts elsewhere about the location being Ditton, Widnes, Runcorn, Warrington. Regardless of the arguments for and against one or another, it is an indisputable fact that Simon was in Cheshire when he wrote the song. That compounds the county's already significant influence, especially in the musical and creative arts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:EA01:1090:D895:5F97:1313:2AD8 (talk) 18:41, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but at the time, Ditton, Widnes and Warrington were in Lancashire, not Cheshire. It has never been suggested that the song was written in Runcorn, which was, and still is, in Cheshire.--Peter I. Vardy (talk) 07:54, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]