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The early days of the Railways
The Preston and Wyre Railway opened the first railway through Poulton in 1840. The line linked Preston to Fleetwood and was used for goods and passengers.
The Preston to Fleetwood line was originally planned as a main route from London to Scotland. At the time it was thought that it would not be possible to put a railway line over Shap Fell, or make engines powerful enough to get over it. However, in 1848 they succeeded in doing so and the London to Scotland route via Fleetwood was bypassed.
The original station was at the junction of Station Road and Breck Road on the land now occupied by McCarthy & Stone Crocus Court apartments.


The station was on the East side of Breck Road with a level crossing allowing the trains to proceed North-West to Fleetwood.

Accommodation
Two inns were built to accommodate travellers – The Railway and Station Hotel and the Royal Oak, both now demolished. Before the 1846 branch line was built travellers for Blackpool had to disembark at Poulton and continue their journey by horse drawn carriage.




Passenger Complaints
Almost from the start there were complaints about the facilities at the original station as evidenced by the following newspaper articles of the time. (All links open in a new tab)
“Few words are needed to demonstrate the fact that the present railway station – or apology for a station – at Poulton is altogether inadequate for present requirements.” Blackpool Herald 2 April 1886 Part 1, Part 2
” The repeated memorials, prayers, entreaties, and even threats, that have gone up to the Railway Companies from Poulton people of late years, with regard to the dangerous nature of the level crossing, and the whole system at the Poulton junction, and the complete inadequacy of the fifteenth-century block of buildings which have hitherto posed as a station, at last appear to be bearing fruit,” Fleetwood Chronicle 23 October 1891
Fatal Train Crash
On 1 July 1893 there were three fatalities and many injuries when a train travelling from Blackpool to Stockport left the track on the sharp bend leading into the original Poulton Station.


The inquest and accident investigation determined that the train was being driven by a driver not trained on the route or the need to reduce speed as he approached the bend.
Poulton Railway Accident Report of inquest held at the Golden Ball Hotel, Poulton. Manchester Evening News 7 July 1893
Accident report into the Poulton Railway Accident which pressed the railway authorities to proceed with the building of a new station. Newcastle Evening Chronicle 30 August 1893
Even before the fatal rail crash the railway company was aware of the hazard of the tight curve on the Blackpool branch line and had planned a new route. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1892 authorising the new lines. However, the accident forced their hand to get on with the work.
Replacement Station
The problems listed above eventually forced The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railways and The London & Northern-Western Railways to create a better solution for a railway service in Poulton.
The result was the creation of a realigned railway passing through a cutting that enabled it to cross Breck Road under a road bridge with a new station opened in 1896.

The new layout was a huge undertaking and had a significant effect on the landscape of Poulton. There were 6 new bridges (there were previously only level crossings), 7 culverts and 5 new signal boxes. The station, costing £60,000 was brought from the margins of the town right into the centre. The length of the platform was 348 yards, one of the longest in the country, to accommodate excursion trains going to Blackpool. Several houses in Tithebarn Street and Breck Road were demolished and 300,000 cubic yards of soil removed to make cuttings and embankments.300 men worked on the project.
New Track Layout


The new layout incorporated double tracks to both Fleetwood and Blackpool; goods lines going as far as the old station, now used as a goods yard and in 1899 the Poulton Curve was added so that trains could travel direct from Blackpool to Fleetwood. Between 1908 and 1952 Poulton Curve Halt was operated so that passengers could alight and board at the halt off Tithebarn Street.
When the Curve Halt opened in 1908 there were three stations in operations as the original station was still an active goods station.
Signal Boxes
The new layout required 5 signal boxes to control the semaphore signals and points. When the passenger traffic to Fleetwood closed in 1970 and the goods traffic in 1999 most of these signal boxes became disused. Signal box No.3 remained until the line was electrified when the signalling and points were modernised and control moved to a central facility in Manchester.

5 signal boxes were needed to control the array of tracks and signals that surrounded Poulton; as shown on each tab.
Box No. 1 at the East end of the system guarded the entrance to the platform lines, the express lines and the branch to the goods station.
Box No. 2 at the East end of the platforms controlled the traffic to the platform (stopping) lines. It also had control over the loop lines on both sides of the station. These were used to reconfigure trains; to move a steam locomotive to the opposite end of the train for a return journey or to split a passenger train (part to Blackpool and part to Fleetwood).
Box No. 3. to the West of Breck Road Bridge controlled the trains arriving and leaving on the stopping and express lines going to Fleetwood and Blackpool. It probably also served to control the Western end of the loop lines mentioned above.
Box No 4. guarded the South end of Poulton Curve where it joined the Blackpool to Preston line.
Box No. 5 guarded the Northern end of Poulton Curve where it joined the Fleetwood to Preston line.
The Station Layout


The new station did not entirely meet with approval of passengers as evidenced by these press reports.
Report of opening day Preston Herald 1 April 1896
Complaints about lack of cover on some areas of platform and the excessive length Fleetwood Chronicle 13 November 1896
Complaints about the number of steps going down to the platforms Blackpool Herald and Fylde Advertiser 23 May 1911
The following recollections of old times at Poulton railway station are contributed by one who, 65 years ago [1865] was a telegraph clerk there. Fleetwood Chronicle 25 July 1930 Part 1, Part 2
The years of decline
- 1952 – Curve Halt closed
- 1964 – Fleetwood to Blackpool direct service closed
- 1968 – Goods station on Station Road closed
- 1970 – Passenger service from Poulton to Fleetwood closed. The line remained open for freight to Fleetwood power station (now demolished). the coal depot (until 1983) and the ICI (until 1999) after which it was mothballed.
Further Information
This has been a brief history of the railways through Poulton. For those looking for further details of the past, present and future of the subject visit The Poulton and Wyre Railway Society website.