The
branch to Preston Docks was initially opened by the North Union in
1846 to serve Victoria Quay, later being extended to reach the
rest of Preston Docks. The line still descends, as it did then, northwards from the West side of the station, on a
gradient of 1 in 29, curving sharply westwards. After passing
under Christian Road and through a cutting, the single line enters
Fishergate Tunnel, emerging a short way from Strand Road, which is
crossed on the level.
Here
is a general shot of Preston Dock when it was a dock! The view
is taken from the North side, in front of what is now Morrison’s
Car Park. The Harris Library and other still extant Town Centre buildings
can be seen on the left horizon, together with the long-gone Grain
Elevator, Conveyor Bridge and Ribble Power Station. The nearest vessel to
the camera appears to be heading for the Transit Shed berth at the
far end of the dock, whilst the ship on the right is discharging
wood
pulp direct into Preston Corporation internal user open wagons. The
white ship centre is the Geestland, one of the regular banana boats on
the run from the West Indies. Much of the wood pulp was conveyed from
the docks by rail, generally only a few miles to paper mills at
Darwen and Blackrod for example. Virtually all of the banana imports went
out by train, usually much further affield including Yorkshire, the North
East and Scotland.
Photo : (c) Trevor Machell |
A
network of lines developed as the docks grew, over 25 miles of it at
its peak, ensuring that the Dock
Branch was heavily used for around a century. However, the rise of
larger container ports elsewhere resulted in the steady decline of
Preston as a port through the 1970s and early 1980s. This was despite Preston handling more traffic
than any other port at it's peak in the mid-1960s.
One
of the Preston Corporation Bagnalls lifts a handful of pulp-laden
highs off the South side quay. There were around 7 of these locos
which carried names such as – "Progress",
"Princess", "Enterprise", "Energy"
and "Conqueror".
There
was also a Barclay fireless called "Duke" which usually
lived at the oil sidings – there was a steam generator there
which charged the loco as required so it would not have strayed
far from there. Finally there was the dreaded diesel
"Duchess" of which more later.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell 2nd October 1966 |
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Another
of the Bagnalls, or possibly the same one, shunting around in the
Exchange sidings parallel to Strand Road.
Perhaps
this, or the photo above, depicts "Princess", which was
the only one of the Preston Bagnalls to have escaped the cutter's
torch, and is now preserved at the Lakeside
and Haverthwaite Railway.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell 2nd October 1966
|
Energy is pictuered in this 1961 photo. Is this a train consisting
mostly of banana vans?
Photo
: (c) Tony Gillett February 1961 |
Progress idles its time away outside the shed, which was down near TW Wards
scrapyard in those days - the opposite end of the Dock Estate to the
present day shed.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell 2nd October 1966 |
The
following year...yet another of the
Bagnalls shunts a raft of BR "Hyfits" on the South Side.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell July 1967 |
Here, "Conqueror" rests between shunts in the yard behind the
Dick Kerr Works, which is famous amongst diesel enthusiasts for
having built DP1, the prototype "Deltic" locomotive which
usually resides at the National Railway Museum, but in 2012 moved to The Ribble Steam Railway for an extended loan.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell 4th November 1967. |
Taken
in July 1968 as when most rail enthisiasts' cameras were occupied
recording the last few weeks of BR steam, this photo depicts an 0-4-0
saddle tank in TW Wards scrapyard, opposite Ribble Power Station. It
may have been there for scrapping or perhaps it was used it for
shunting. Either way it
doesn't seem to appear in any other published photo of the docks
(other than here...see below!).
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell July 1968. |
Any
notion that this loco may have been at Preston Dock for scrapping
seems to be dispelled by this second, rare photo of the same
locomotive, some seven years earlier.
This
is from the camera of Tony Gillett, a locoman from Preston and
Lostock Hall sheds, who identifies the loco as a Robert Stephenson
& Hawthorne 0-4-0 saddletank.
Photo
: (c) Tony Gillett 28th February 1961. |
The
Bagnalls were withdrawn at the end of 1968 to be replaced by three
brand new Sentinels named "Progress", "Energy"
and "Enterprise". Here two of them stand outside the shed
in December 1968.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell December 1968. |
In
1932 Armstrong Whitworth built a 250hp Diesel Shunter - works No. D8
- which was trialled at various sites on the LNER and SR. The LMS
also purchased a similar loco and later expanded their fleet. They
were the forerunners of the vast numbers of diesel shunters built
for use throughout the country, and Preston Corporation acquired D8
in 1933, at
some point naming it "Duchess". Curiously this means it
was older than the steam fleet!
It
doesn't seem to have seen a huge amount of work, possibly due to
being somewhat prone to derailment. However here it is propelling a
rake of Preston Corporation opens.
It
is in almost the same position near the Grain Elevator as the photo
dated c.1937 which appears on a number of websites and in Gordon
Biddle's book "The Railways Around Preston - An Historical
Review". Perhaps it didn't move very much at all!
The
wagons shown here are Corporation opens There
seemed to be hundreds of these, usually sporting pre-grouping
railway initials on their axle-boxes and no doubt picked up cheap.
Photo
: (c) Trevor Machell July 1968. |
In
1961, Duchess is pictured either between turns, or perhaps
during one of its spells out-of-action.
Photo
: (c) Tony Gillett 28th February 1961. |
Bagnall 2893
"Conqueror"
Photo
: (c) Stan Withers, Mid 1960s. |
Bagnall
0-6-0ST "Perseverance"
Photo
: (c) Stan Withers, Mid 1960s. |
Bagnall 0-6-0ST
"Energy"
Photo
: (c) Stan Withers, Mid 1960s. |
Bagnall 2840
"Enterprise" hauls an RCTS Brakevan Special Docks train.
Photo
: (c) Stan Withers, Late 1960s. |