LET'S MAKE A START ON WARRINGTON

Warrington is a large town, with a lot of interesting stuff. Therefore I'm going to split it into two posts. In this one, we'll look at the railways and the two former breweries. There's a couple of pubs too.

First, we approach the town via the suburb of Sankey, where we come across one of Warrington Corporation's trams.

Warrington Bank Quay station, some distance from the town centre, seen in 1970.

Just some of the traffic along the West Coast Main Line at Bank Quay in British Rail days.

A short-lived postal service calls.

EWS managed to get most of the freight traffic through the station.

Virgin Trains, of course, had the WCML Intercity services.

In 2014, Arriva Wales 175 107 arrives at Bank Quay.

Just to the south is Arpley Yard, where 37 584 is seen.

From Arpley Yard, a curve leads down to Arpley Junction, connecting with the freight only line passing under Bank Quay station. Here's some EWS traffic in 2003.

Warrington's other station, Warrington Central, is, as the name suggests, right in the middle of the town. First North Western 150 215 calls in 2003.

A fairly modern signal box controls movements here.

Here's a reminder of a former Warrington brewery - Greenall Whitley - found in town.

Another vanished brewery, a modern one, but it's closed now. Tetley-Walker's establishment in 1990.

The Tavern is now the tap for Warrington's 4T's Brewery.

We'll conclude this post at Porter's Ale House.

Next time, we'll take a tour around the town for the buses and more pubs.

NOT A GREAT AREA FOR CASK BEER

As promised, we're heading in to Runcorn, but first we must call at the suburb of Weston (see the map here), viewed from the air (Creative Common  License).

Here is St John's church in Weston Village (Creative Common  License).

Arriva run the buses in Weston Village.

Despite the title of this post, the Prospect Inn at Weston Village does have real ale.

I'm not certain as to the cask beer situation in the Royal Oak.

If you like industry, Weston Point, where the Mersey widens, is the place for you.

Not far from Runcorn town centre, the yard of Yates' Coaches.

Both Halton Transport (formerly Widnes Corporation) and Warrington Transport ran into Runcorn.

However, the main operator was once Crosville.

This Ribble battery operated Leyland National is seen at Crosville's Runcorn depot, not operating.

Runcorn locks once took the Bridgewater Canal down to the Mersey.

The locks have now gone and the canal terminates in Runcorn town centre.

A visit to Runcorn station in 1995 saw a variety of traction.

In days of yore, there were two ways of crossing the Mersey; the transporter bridge or the railway viaduct.

Over the river is Widnes and the railway here turns towards Liverpool.

Widnes once had a loco shed. Standard 2-6-0 78015 was found here in the 1960s.

Halton Transport ran the local buses from a depot in Widnes. Several Leyland double deck vehicles were owned.

In later years, Halton ran only single deckers, including this rare East Lancs bodied Leyland Leopard.

Leyland buses were favoured by Halton Transport. The company ceased trading in 2020.

The "new" North Western Road Car also served the town of Widnes.

That's where I'll leave you for now. Next time, it's the Warrington area.