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The Great Western certainly held the GPO contract for the mails. The LSWR certainly had an agreement with the American Line for its passengers, not sure if the GWR ever conveyed passengers from other ships or whether the lines agreed between themselves, they may have done. The ship's arrival...

The LSWR and GWR competition to Plymouth was at its height roughly between 1890 (when the direct LSWR line from Lydford to Plymouth was completed) and 1907 (when the GWR line was shortened by the "Berks and Hants" cut off route). City of Truro's "alleged" 100mph and the fatal Salisbury rail...

Yes, King Edward (Boys) and Queen Mary (Girls) were between Ansdell and Fairhaven and St Anne’s. There was open land basically between the coast and the line occupied by the schools and the main Lytham to Blackpool Road - Clifton Drive. I grew up less than a mile away.

To quote from Nock (page 31) talking about the final approval in 1970..... It had taken 7 years in all to secure this decision because, as previously mentioned, the first tentative proposals were made well before the Euston-Birmingham-Liverpool-Manchester scheme was completed, in an attempt to...

On the passenger timetable side there were just two stages - Crewe to Preston was completed in July 1973 and then the whole thing in May 1974. I think freight started to Warrington in late 1972. IIRC the last section to actually be energised was Preston to Carlisle, Motherwell to Glasgow...

Yes, the April 1968 report at the railwaysarchives.co.uk contained an option for rationalisation and re-signalling only (with double-headed Class 50s) and an option for full electrification. According to O S Nock in his book "Electric, Euston to Glasgow", the delay in choosing...

Have a look at the railwaysarchive.co.uk Route Improvements Electrification- Weaver Junction to Glasgow A very interesting document from April 1968 “ Just to Preston” could have made sense but…. The proposal was only ever to do the whole thing in one go - including possible add on to...

Although not technically a replacement, there was the stage coach laid on to fill the gap on the London to Birmingham Railway during construction of Kilsby Tunnel in the 1830s wasn't there? So they had the idea of transfering to road and back again during the rail journey there - I wonder if it...

I am not sure if Blackpool Council had already earmarked a use for the site when they obtained it in 1964, others may know more, but things might have gone slower than they had hoped. The original 1903 station terminal building was converted to a bingo hall after the trains stopped and it was...

The National Library of Scotland is indeed a wonderful site. It might not help much, but if you are after more general background, I wrote a short history of the railways around Blackpool on my blog here - it uses some of the maps from the Scotland site, particularly the 19th century ones...

In one sense it is strange, but we have to remember that the original Beeching Plan intended to close Blackpool North (and Layton) and retain Central. The railway was looking to save money and both Blackpool North and Layton and all the track as far as Poulton were supposed to be part of that...

Point taken. :) The OS map could very well be wrong. Perhaps they removed the line on the map in anticipation, and a single line was kept to the gas works ? The 1978 SK Baker Atlas actually shows a short stub at the Kirkham end of the Marton line labelled "CCE tip". That is not on the OS...

Oh, that's a very good find - I knew he had 1962 up there but the 1965 one must be relatively new. So, I have my own copy of the following 1966/67 LMR passenger TT. In it the only trains that go to Bpl South non-stop from Preston are the SO Leeds train and the SUO Liverpool train shown in your...

That makes sense. Although it would depend on how late the decision to close Central in favour of North was made - surely after the Beeching Plan?, so perhaps the planning of where to site that box was past the point of economic cancellation by then? But it would seem that, as you say, they...

The original question about the Marton direct line is an interesting one. Looking at the map section of the original Beeching plan it appears in red (saved) alongside the South Fylde and Fleetwood lines. Only the Poulton to Blackpool North section appears in black (for closure). Whether it...

This topic also fascinates me. I did some walks over the proposed line sections myself last year - here on my blog - https://trainstobeyond.com/2021/05/26/2021-uk-walking-the-northern-heights/ I would reccommend getting a copy of Tony Beard's excellent book on the subject - "By Tube beyond...

I really enjoyed this part too. Thanks ! Once again, a lot of photos I hadn't seen before. I was fascinated to see the picture of Tokyo Station in July 1964 before opening - those temporary OLE gantries look like wooden posts !

In context though - Lancaster's service probably vastly improved with electrification.... Looking at 1971/72 - on a weekday in the space of 24 hours all we have going north over Shap are 0915 (ex Liverpool to Glasgow), 1025 (ex Crewe to Carlisle - stopping at Hartford) 1259 (ex Euston to...

A point on the 5hr to 5hr 8mins relaxation of the Royal Scot timings... July 1980 Modern Railways, gives the cause as extra speed restrictions (greater wear and tear on track than expected after 14 years of electrification). Of course, at that time, the headline London-Glasgow timing was...

Sorry to be a pain but if you have Table 65 handy ? Just out of interest, where were those XX00 trains from Euston heading in 1975 then? I recall, XX45 was Glasgow, XX10 and XX40 were Birmingham. Was Manchester XX30 and Liverpool XX50 ?? Certainly by the late 70s XX05 was Blackpool...