minutes between 7:15 am and 6:30 pm, and every 12 minutes at other times of the day. Radcliffe Bridge station closed on 5 July 1958, and has since been replaced by the path of the A665 Pilkington Way (the new road has been built below the level of the old station). The path of the ELR line is still quite visible from aerial photography, with Outwood Viaduct fully restored, and the route of the line southwest of the town converted for use as a nature trail forming part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail. National Cycle Route 6 runs through the town, along the route of the former ELR line, through the town centre and continuing toward Bury along the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. New combined pedestrian and cycle crossings have been constructed to facilitate the route. A new cycleway has also been built along the line of the former Liverpool to Bury Railway, to the north of the town. Education One of the earliest schools in the parish was the Close Wesleyan Day School, a Dame school opened around 1840. St Thomas's day school was opened on 4 March 1861, and housed over 500 children. Due to overcrowding and the risk of subsidence caused by local mining activity, the school was rebuilt on a new site along School Street, provided by the Earl of Wilton. It was opened in October 1877 by Lady Wilton. On the opposite side of the town St John's school started life in 1860 as an institute along Irwell Street, and by 1864 contained 120 children. The buildings were enlarged in 1869. In 1897 eight teachers and a monitor taught 358 children. In 1899 the school leaving age was twelve, and many of the senior class were "half-timers" who would spend half the day at school, and the other half at work. This system was abolished in 1919. Regular epidemics of scarlet fever, chicken pox, mumps, and especially measles, meant that in 1897 and 1903 the school was temporarily closed. St John's School and the nearby church were demolished in the 1970s. Radcliffe also had a technical school on Whittaker Street. Formally opened by Lord Stanley on 7 November 1896, it adjoined the public baths on Whittaker Street. The building is now used as council offices. Radcliffe County Secondary School was founded in 1933 on the former Peel Park Ground near School Street, but Radcliffe's