When
the Blackburn & Preston line was built, trains used the North
Union station, accessing the main line via a junction at Farington,
but this only remained the case for a very short time. Just months
after opening, it was taken over by the Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway, who also acquired the yet-to-be-built Ormskirk &
Preston Railway. When that railway was completed, it crossed the
main line and joined the East Lancs line at Lostock Hall. Trains for
Preston had to reverse at Lostock Hall to get to Preston - clearly
an unsatisfactory situation. The
Preston Extension solved that problem providing independent access
to Preston via a new line and a new Ribble crossing. At Preston,
several new platforms were added to the east of the existing ones,
along with a separate L&YR booking hall on Butler St. On the
other side of Butler St, the L&Y Goods station was also built,
all of which more or less doubled the size of the station.
In
many ways, the L&YR and the L&NWR were separate stations,
with their own facilities - including booking halls and buffets,
although the platforms were numbered in one sequence, with
easy access between them.
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This
photo was taken in 1983 and shows the Butler Street entrance
to the former L&YR station. This was also the booking
hall, but by the time this photograph was taken, the East
Lancs platforms had been gone for almost 10 years. In front of
the building are is a nice selection of British Leyland's
finest!
Photo
by Martin Brown |
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The
East Lancs side of the station is sadly no longer with us, having
been closed as part of the resignaling when Preston "Power
Box" was introduced in 1972. The photos below show how it
once looked, along with the same scene today. |
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[LEFT] The
East Lancs platforms and yard as it was in the early 1960s.
Black 5 45109 pilots class 4 no.75061 on a Liverpool train.
Photo
by Stan Withers
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The scene from the
same vantage point om 2004. |
Both photos were taken from Vicar's Bridge, which provides road-access to Park Hotel (laterly the Preston Council buildings). The original bridge deck was taken out many years ago and replaced with a "temporary" structure, provided by the Royal Engineers. The original bridge sides remained in-situ until March 2012, when they were finally demolished after being allowed to decay to an un-safe state.
Just beyond the station, the East
Lancs Line passed over the Ribble. That bridge is still in
place and was refurbished in 2011 to form part of the Guild Wheel cycle route. Today, the main deck is now accessible to the public, rather than the walkway seen here. |
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[LEFT] LMS tank no.42154 crosses the East Lancs bridge with a service
for Coln in the early 1960s
Photo
by Stan Withers
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The bridge today, still in use as a footpath. |
The
following five photos of the ELR Goods Station, by Keith Till, were were
taken in 1974 when the East Lancs platforms had already been
demolished and the goods station was disused with tracks
lifted.
(c) Keith Till - http://worldsteampictures.photos.gb.com/
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"Black 5" no 44734 from 9D
Buxton Shed passes through Whitehouse South Jn. towards Todd
Lane Jn. on the East Lancs line.
(c) Stan Withers |
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Photos (c) Keith Tillhttp://worldsteampictures.photos.gb.com/ |
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The closure of the East Lancs platforms and Goods Yard coincided with the introduction of Preston Power Signal Box and electrification of the northern part of the WCML. They lingered on through the 1970s and 1980s until finally being demolished to make way for the
Fishergate Shopping Centre.
Photos (c) Keith Tillhttp://worldsteampictures.photos.gb.com/
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The following three photos show demolition
in progress.
Photos (c) Keith Tillhttp://worldsteampictures.photos.gb.com/ |
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