Poulton-le-Fylde railway station

Poulton-le-Fylde railway station serves the town of Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is managed by Northern, but also served by Virgin Trains and is 14+1/4mi northwest of Preston.HistoryThe original station was about 400yd north-east of the current location, at “The Breck”. The railway to the fishing town of Fleetwood passed along a straight line east of the town. From 1846, there was a junction to Blackpool just north of the station, with tight connecting curves facing either way. In 1893 a fatal accident occurred when a train took the curve too fast. Subsequently, in 1896, the tracks were realigned to follow a much gentler westward curve to Blackpool, with the new station halfway along the curve. The Fleetwood branch then curved to the east to rejoin the original alignment. The old station continued to be used as a goods station until 1968.Passenger services to Fleetwood were withdrawn by British Rail on 1 June 1970 during railway restructuring, although a freight service continued to the ICI plant at until 1999. The line is still extant (albeit overgrown and disused), but the junction with the Blackpool line west of the station was removed in April 2017 in preparation for electrification of the route. Since June 2006, there have been plans to restore (and preserve) the passenger rail link towards Fleetwood via Thornton & Cleveleys, as a heritage railway; a £30,000 feasibility study is needed to be undertaken to explore the re-instatement of the link and the addition of a third platform at Poulton-le-Fylde.