History
The station, opened by the CLC on 1 August 1873, was originally known as Farnworth (Widnes), Farnworth being at the time a village north of Widnes, but is now a northern suburb of the town. The station was renamed Widnes North on 5 January 1959, and finally Widnes on 6 May 1968 (Widnes Central and Widnes South, on other lines, having closed to passengers in 1964 and 1962 respectively).
Widnes Railway Station is one of two stations where Paul Simon reputedly composed the song "Homeward Bound", the other being Ditton 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" while in an earlier interview for Playboy Magazine Simon himself mentioned the train station was at Liverpool. It is likely, however, that it was written at one of the two Widnes stations during a long wait for a train, as Simon was traveling back from Widnes, where he had been playing. A plaque commemorating this claim to fame is displayed on the Liverpool bound platform of Widnes railway station. Simon is quoted as saying "f you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible."
Read more about this topic: Widnes Railway Station
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