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FLEETWOOD TO POULTON LE FYLDE
For a town that holds about 25k residence you’d be thinking there would be a platform and current building to suit the town’s needs, however for those who don’t live locally I have to sadly say Fleetwood is one of the biggest towns in the UK without a railway station. Fleetwood lies on the most northern tip of the Fylde Coast, its sister resort Blackpool just 7 miles south.
Mr Peter Heskeh one of the main landowners and founders of the town, originally considered naming the town Wyreton or New Liverpool, but prior to this he took on his maternal ancestors name, thus 1831 he decided to name the town as Fleetwood. In the beginning in 1835 he commissioned various sites for a station to be built, especially alongside the river Wyre. The original station plan was for the end of London Street, directly from the Mount, but the plan was not followed.
Being the preferred location, just by the estuary The Preston & Wyre Railway and Harbour Company Incorporated had the original station built in 1840. A year after officially opening in 1841 for seven years after the line from Fleetwood though Preston off the London was the West Coast Mainline.
Because with the high hills and steep valleys of the Lake District no trains could venture up that far. So if you wanted to get up into the Lakes or further north to Scotland this is as far as you could go.
Alighting here you would then jump onto a Packet Boat to Ardrossan in Ayrshire to finish your journey. A 27 hour trip if you went to Glasgow. Hence why one of the main hotels in the town is called The Euston, people would often settle here overnight before continuing north. Disused Burn Naze Railway Station
Burn Naze Halt railway station served Burn Naze in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, England, between 1909 and 1970. The platforms were heavily overgrown with vegetation until recently when the Poulton & Wyre Railway Society began restoration work. This will be one of the stations desired to open under the Restoring your Railways Fund offered by the Government.
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Sir Peter Hesketh - Founder Of Fleetwood Town in Lancashire
Fleetwood Dock Railway Station in the early 1840's
As the line ends in 2020, looking back at Jameson Rd from the old Fleetwood line.
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This all came to an end in 1848 once the line was built over Shap in the Lakes and beyond to the Borders. The single-track line ran over an embankment with timber trestle bridge northwards across the marshy Wyre estuary, with the station at the far end of the bridge. The harbour area was very extent with sidings and tracks for many industries and uses especially to transport fresh fish. Once a very busy bustling well deserved station, however it fell victim to the beaching report commissioned by the government to help salvage an ageing, dilapidated and expensive public run railway.
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Locomotive 740 on the Platform at Fleetwood Station - date unknown.
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Closed in 1966 Fleetwood's Wyre Dock Station about half a mile south was renamed "Fleetwood" but passenger services between Poulton-le-Fylde and Fleetwood were withdrawn after the last train on 30 May 1970 and then station was demolished.
The line stayed for the Wyre Dock as light industry remained in the area, and freight like the ICI trains ran along the line until 1999 then the whole line was shut. Closed it has been, but not forgotten. Most of the track bed and a single line railway remains. Severed at the Poulton le Fylde end during the electrification it continues to run along via Thornton - Cleveleys and stops short of the town by about half of a mile.
The station at Thornton- Cleveleys & Burn Naze was leased by Network Rail to the Poulton & Wyre Railway Society allowing volunteers access to the site to return the station to a restored condition.
NODROG IMAGE © The PWRS team sat with a BR 108 DMU with hopes to run it on a short section of line in the future.
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1969 image of Fleetwood Station's demolition.
Thornton for Cleveleys Railway Station as well kept by the PWRS
PWRS: "Improvements have occurred since the society have been working on the station, it’s now cleared of vegetation, almost all the picket style fences rebuilt and the society resurfaced the down platform."
"In April 2013 they were granted permission to extend their licence and begin work on the next station along the line towards Fleetwood at Burn Naze. With this, and the restoration of a passenger train there is hope the line will one day see services back to Fleetwood. Granted, not in the same spot but nor was the last main station." |
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With this, and the restoration of a passenger train there is hope the line will one day see services back to Fleetwood. Granted, not in the same spot but nor was the last main station.
For the life of it’s railway history it has come and gone so fast, it had changed so very much but the passion to keep a railway of sorts going to this town has never been axed, demolished or lost. |
NODROG IMAGE © The location for a possible new railway station for Fleetwood.
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Restoring Railways Fund
Speaking on a visit to the Fleetwood and Poulton-le-Fylde line (28 January 2020), where the Prime Minister announced the policy in November 2019, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps launched the new investment that will drive forward the reversal of the controversial Beeching cuts. The Fleetwood line was closed in 1970. The cuts, which were initially proposed by British Rail chief Dr Richard Beeching in 1963, ended passenger services on around a third of the rail network, closing more than 2,300 stations and up to 5,000 miles of track across the UK. |
NODROG IMAGE © Grant Shapps Visit to Poulton le Fylde, the station junction for Fleetwood albeit severed.
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To launch the reversal scheme, the government is also giving funding to develop proposals for re-opening 2 lines in the near future:
- £1.5 million to the Ashington-Blyth-Tyne Line in Northumberland
- £100,000 to the Fleetwood line in Lancashire
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: |
NODROG IMAGE © The Fleetwood branch line seen from under the Preston bound station arch, cut off from the parent line during the electrification upgrand in 2018.
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Recognising that not all growing towns can re-open previously existing stations, and that some areas may never have been served by rail, the government is also announcing a fresh round of the New Stations Fund.
Two previous rounds of the scheme have already helped develop 10 brand new stations across England and Wales. The new round will be allocated £20 million. |
As shown in the photo, Thornton - Cleveleys Railway Station.
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The Transport Secretary has invited MPs, local authorities and community groups across England to come forward with proposals on how they could use funding to reinstate axed local services. £300,000 has been committed to an ‘Ideas Fund’ to kickstart the process to encourage innovative ideas that will then be considered for further funding in the future.
The £500 million fund will help develop these proposals, and accelerate the delivery of schemes that are already being considered for restoration, making possible the rapid reopening of certain stations and lines.
The thousands of miles of railway that were axed under the Beeching cuts are in various states of repair. Some still maintain freight services, some sit unused and overgrown whilst others have been built over or converted to cycle routes or pathways.
The government will also consult Network Rail and train operators which will be instrumental in delivering the benefits to communities.
The thousands of miles of railway that were axed under the Beeching cuts are in various states of repair. Some still maintain freight services, some sit unused and overgrown whilst others have been built over or converted to cycle routes or pathways.
The government will also consult Network Rail and train operators which will be instrumental in delivering the benefits to communities.
Related images | Track side to Fleetwood
Possible site for a new Fleetwood Railway Station opposite the Three Lights Pub.
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Below show the section between Shirley Hights and Amounderness Way nr Thornton.
