The Lost WATERLOO ROAD Station - What Remains?
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Join me for a full exploration of the former site of Blackpool Central Station. This was once the busiest railway railway station in the world.
We begin at the site of Blackpool Central, and head all the way out of Blackpool towards the former track bed on the M55. We also take a look at the former Waterloo Road Station.
VIDEO INFORMATION CREDITS & THANK YOU'S
Lancashire Live
John Evans /flickr
Stephen McKay
Britain from Above
National Library of Scotland
National Railway Museum
Google Earth
70023venus2009 /flickr
John Burke
Peter Fitton
David Evans
Kye Cudlip
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COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER
A special thank you to all video content film makers and photographers who's footage or pictures are featured in this video. These videos are made under Fair Use for educational purposes. All contributors and available links to their work can be seen in the videos description.
#adventureme #blackpool #blackpoolcentral #railway #abandonedplaces
What a fantastic production I never saw the old Central station but with you amazing attention to detail and the skills you have used to help anyone who watches this mini series on the Central area to feel as though they have known the old area.
So many thanks for producing this it’s brilliant.
Thanks John
Master of the amazing 'photofades'
Thanks John
@@AdventureMe its absolutely true. Love them be they railways or buildings, inside or out, they are always beautifully lined up.
Thank you Darren, for a walk with you back in time. It’s amazing how much has changed since the original photographs taken back them. Your videos are the best. Cheers mate! 😊
Your videos demonstrate, Darren, better than any others I have seen, how places can change totally over time and become completely unrecognizable. And not just the places, but all the lives that surrounded them. All those people arriving in Blackpool looking for fun and a change from their daily grind.
Thanks Chris
Hi, maybe Trekking Exploration. Yeah I agree with you that places are completely unrecognisable over time.
Wow! Just wow!
Your attention to detail is second to none!
The crossfade on the pictures is just brilliant, you could actually believe that you (we) were standing right at that point at that moment in time.
As a Blackpool lover and also a railway lover these videos are just, well just brilliant!
Thank you so much for the time, effort and work you put into these uploads, it’s just fantastic!
Thanks Paul. Another one to come next week
@@AdventureMe can’t wait buddy!
A fine example of rationalisation failure. The picture of the Blackpool South signalbox with the 'signaller' in it, but without the tracks is interestingly eerie.
Last time I was in Blackpool was 25 years ago. We arrived by train and I don't remember much about the station but the awful trains back then. I had never heard of Blackpool Central so this was fascinating. Love the photo fades and the tower helps with the fades. Can't wait for part 3
You've done it again! Another amazing video! You've answered more questions that have bugged me for years lol. The scale of the tracks are absolutely massive!
Thanks Holli
Wow! It's totally unfathomable to think Blackpool was this 'full' of locomotive stock and indeed, heritage...
Amazing video as always 👌
Destruction,on this scale took place all over the country all through the mid to late sixties and seventies.The main man behind it was an intrepid tax dodger who was found by Lord Scarmen in 1973/4 to have tax issues going back thirty years. He fled his plush London home overnight to Luxembourg then to France where he owned a Chateax,probably also payed for by the British Taxpayer.
Who wants an efficient railway system when you are transport minister,have a nationwide construction company and hold nationwide with your pals companies all the government contrracts for new development.
I give you the late Ernie Marples,one time British Transport Minister,reputed participant in rhe Profumo Affair, appointer of Dr Richard Beeching (his hatchet man) at twice his predecessors salary. Scotland and Wales got hammered as well, I and friends lived through it. Some towns in Scotland in the seventies that once had a railway station for a hundred years and were pleasant places,such as Callander,Strathyre and Killin became Wall to Wall Cars by the seventies and eighties
Even Waterloo Road Station was before my time. After Blackpool South was closed as a station building on the bridge, it remained in use as a model railway shop whilst the poor passengers had to make do with no facilities down at platform level.
I remember in the 80's there was a model railway in the south station building.
Like others, I'm amazed by the acreage of sidings. Judging from the overhead shot at 12:34, the wagons were mainly covered and not coal. Was there a load of factories in Blackpool to warrant this number of wagons and sidings?
Very atmospheric, especially the felled signal gantry at 3:04.
A good job well jobbed Darren, thank you.
Given that at that time Blackpool was attracting more than 21 million visitors every year and that the majority of them probably arrived by train, I believe that the sidings were largely for the vast number of raiiway carriages which brought the holdaymakers into the town. The logistics of handling such a volume of passengers would have required enormous sidings as seen here. There has never been any large-scale industry in Blackpool and certainly nothng that would have required sidings on this scale. Deliveries of domestic coal would have arrived by train but Blackpool was dependent on the holiday trade.....hence the town's problems today now that much of the holiday trade has departed.
It's marvellous how Darren does those photo fades, plus I don't know why Dr breeching had to get rid of the central station anyway 🙁
I believe it was north due to go, but Blackpool Council wisdom determined that central going would be better
@@Black-1ce ahh ok 👍
I do - it was to suit the road builders and car manufacturers - look at all those car parks now.
MONEY!!
Dr.Beechings report recommended that it closed, but it was up to Marples and the Govt. to actually decide about the closure. But the reasons of car ownership having rocketed and priority given to road haulage had a lot to do with it.
Hi Darren, I'm back again with a further quandary: if central station wasn't a through station just imagine the logistics of shunting engines so there was always a suitable train engine to get each departure away. A nightmare for any controller 🧐 unlike today's double Ender's where the driver just walks to the other end cab. I'm sure some of the more train enthusiasts can enlighten me. Cheers DougT
excellent video , this will be used for many years to come, so people can see how blackpool was before beeching
Although the loss of this particular station and line was sad (as many of the 'Beeching' recommendations were), the reduction of tourism to Blackpool and increasing use of the car probably made many of the losses inevitable. The station further North could bring people in and this was a huge area of 'prime location'. We'll never know how the UK would have fared if there was no Beeching recommendations implemented but I think many were probably inevitable. The Waterloo Road Station looked an impressive building that seems to have been demolished in 1985. The fades on this video are very interesting as always.
Great vid Darren, im old enough to vaguely remember central station but never travelled to there by train. Unlike my parents, who apparently did. Sadly, like North Station, all the old buildings are long gone but traces remain that you've woven 8nto a fascinating story. Thank you.
simply stunning vid, the fades to the old B/W photos bring it all back to life. what a shame that there is nothing left
Thanks
another great rail history video that have great memorys of crewe works holidays stoke week and scotish holiday travelers born in 1956 my father worked in crewe works so we had holidays in blackpool and when dad was working we went with mum auntys and grandma and for a change we went to new brighton lol. ive seen the declinew of blackpool over the last 20 years to a point where it is no longer a family resort.
Thanks mate
Excellent video - effortless to watch and very entertaining - brilliant !
I love these videos especially the fades which bring the past to life. Roll on part 3.
A lovely video and what an incredible place it all was. Who would have thought that they would destroy the whole site one day. Love the superimposed pictures, many thanks.
Thanks mate
The desolate way is which BR left their land after the lines closed was really disgusting and disgraceful.
Enjoying this mini-series so far. Did see Part 1 but forgot to comment do remember those toilet blocks at the former Central Station and remember snapping a photo from that bridge in 2019 which is the one you can't get to now as they're building the car park and also enjoyed going down towards Blackpool South/Waterloo Road cannot wait for Part 3, great video.
Thanks SImon
The amount of land that station occupied! Wonderful photofades, thanks Darren
History comes alive in your videos. Amazing work.
Darren you are a star, the fade ins are superb. Morecambe is a good place for long gone stations.
Hi Darren, a quick glimps of the apprentice with you again 😂 Those early Ariel shots show the vast width of the Central stations 14(?) platforms goes to show how major a town Blackpool was for visitors in its heyday. Imagine staying in a Boarding house backing onto the rail lines, the noise, the steam, the smoke it must have been heaven for some hell for others. It reminds me of my ex's aunt who ran a lodgings for 'theatricals' in that area from the many theatres in Blackpool. I bet she had many a secret to tell 🧐 Keep up the excellent work Darren. Cheers DougT
It wasn't very pleasant from what I am told lol
Mate, absolutely fantastic! Brilliant knowledge and expertly done! Congratulations and thanks!
Another great history lesson.many thanks 👍
Brilliant video. Just love all the history of Blackpool 👍🏻
Absolutely brilliant. Really looking forward to the next one.
Another great video - many thanks.
Absolutely fabulous video, I believe beeching who was the executive of ICI was commissioned by the government in the early sixties to close all non profitable railways including Blackpool Central... just for interest ICI at the time was involved in the manufacturing of materials for car seats etc.
Amazing how you've lined up the old scenes along the line with the present day, Darren. So much has changed, but it's great to see that there are some brick walls here and there to remind us that there was once a busy railway running into town. The engine shed was a substantial one, taking into consideration how busy it could really be when excursions were the rule of the day, and not like nowadays - none. I noticed that the goods sidings were quite extensive too. What a place it was, and a mecca for railway enthusiasts in its time. Many thanks for this film, with the old photos as well. Looking forward to part 3.
I never would have believed that 'Blackpool' had so many tracks and stations !
Thank you for the vid !
Thanks for watching
Great stuff again! :) Looking forward to part 3 which ive found little info on in the past myself
I'm 73 now so I'm glad i was able to see blackpool in the 50's and keep all the wonderful memories before its decline
That's another extremely well produced video Darren. On the way into Blackpool, down Yeadon Way, it's very easy to visualise/imagine that you're on a train heading into Blackpool Central. Your video, with the amazing superimposing of old photos, very clearly demonstrates exactly how the railway lines and associated stations/buildings existed not that long ago. Having spent many happy holidays in Blackpool as a child in the late 1940s/1950s and then as a teenager in the 1960s , we always travelled there by coach. One or two of your old photos showed coaches lined up on the coast side of the railway lines. I seem to remember that the bus station was known as the Coliseum where we were met by local youngsters with adapted prams etc offering to transport your luggage to your boarding house for 2/6d. Do you happen to know exactly where this bus station was by any chance?
Your videos are always full of interest and it's clear you spend a lot of time researching your subject. Many thanks and very well done. Looking forward to the final part in this series.
Thanks mate
I remember playing in that signal box before they pulled it down in the 60,s
Yet another great video, amazing how it has changed over the years, looking forward to the next part as always.
Excellent video again.
Wicked video Darren, before and after beggars belief. Whenever I`ve parked my coach there I knew what I was on but didn`t realise the scope of things, amazing.
I swear there is somebody still in the signal box at 11mins 52secs at Blackpool South 👻👀
Yeah it was still in use then
@@AdventureMe ahh that would explain it lol thought i seeing old ghosts 😁👻 great video once again and the fades are so on point 👌🏻
Brilliant love the fade ins, so much has gone it’s unbelievable. 😮
For those who don't know. Part of the original Station building for South Shore Station ( that was at the base of Lytham Road Bridge opposite Station Road Junction can still be seen as a bungalow in Rough Heys Lane. It is obvious from how it looks which building it is. Well worth going to see, and then compare photographs as it was as the station.
This is in part three Geoff.
@@AdventureMe Sorry if I jumped the gun!
It's ok. It will be covered next Sunday though lol
Another fantastic video Darren that was excellent information great pictures I do love these old pictures and the history of blackpool I can't wait for more great video's of blackpool keep up the great work I hope you and your family and friends are well and safe
Thanks Wayne
Amazing how things change! Love the photo fades.
Thanks for that Darren. That was fantastic. It did make me feel rather sad tho to see what happened to stations. Thanks for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care
It makes me sad seeing this. Railway was the backbone of any town back-in-the-day.
The fact blackpool has gone from all these tracks and multiple stations, to 1. 5 stations and a 2 cart train shows how the town is dying.
So true
Absolutely superb work, brilliantly presented. Hard to pitch stuff like this. Too technical and geeky Vs too light yet you absolutely nail it time after time. I grew up in Blackpool and have learned so much from your work. Thank you...!
Thanks for watching
Excellent tour of before and after. Fade in and fade out photos brilliant. That was so good. Thank you again Darren.
Thanks again!
Fascinating Darren, the photo fades are a time machine, so well done, brilliant really.
Thank you so much 😀
Absolutely fascinating, brill job thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Beautifully Done,
If there was an RUclips award I would definitely give it to you! The details you add are so superbly done. Another fantastic Video Darren 👌
Thanks 👍
I do remember the platform building at Waterloo Road and the model railway they had in there. I didn't live very far away at the time, but I don't remember ever going to see the demolition. That is something which I would watch from start to finish these days.
Yeah me too. It would be fascinating.
I remember in Cubs in 1974 standing on that platform. Going to Gilwell Park :)) Only my second train journey. I was sad when they knocked the old building down. I am sure it could have been left as it wasnt doing any harm. You can not hardly even find a photograph now. I remener the Black and White tiles on the floor too. However I remember the floor sloped down from the road inside the Station. I also only remember the steps down to Platform 1 and 2, the Preston line. I think the other Platforms were there but closed as I do not remember the Kirkham line. (I don't know when it was closed but late 60s I think) and I am sure the station building was closed off so you could not walk over. I wish I could remember. Not one picture of inside it!
This is amazing! Imagine when people will be watching this in another 100yrs when it all would have altered again. History at your fingertips with the power of the Internet. Wow. Thankyou.
Thanks Brett
Great vid..What a huge amount of land the railway took up in central Blackpool.
You can see why they might have wanted it gone.
Excellent as per usual...
8.30 in Video by the bridge was a bmx track late 70's Yeadon way was just a gravel track after the trains had gone, Blackpool has changed so much thanks for the memories.
So much for progress. ☹️
Absolutely brilliant alignment of the photos. Superb video 👏👏👏
What a very eerie picture that is at 11 mins 49 seconds showing the Blackpool South Signal Box standing there completely isolated with no track in sight but there is still a man sat in there !!
It was still used for the station. Even though the tracks on that side had gone.
@@AdventureMe Ah, right then. Thanks for explaining that .
Thanks for posting I visited in 1967 and never realised Blackpool South existed as we came by coach.
At 8:01 Is that a WWII Spitfire on the map? Not to worry Darren, you're still the King of photo fades. So many changes going on over the years but the Blackpool Tower still stands after 132 years of salt air, making it through two world wars, the 60's, the 80's and all the new construction. Just shows "Build it right the first time." Thanks for posting.....
Hey Darren
Kings and Queens are all well and good. But, knowing the history of where you live can be just as fascinating.
Another fabulous video. Well done Sir!
Excellent vid my friend, that old cabin in the photo-fades was a good sized one. Wonder how many levers and block instruments there were? Also how many signalmen per shift? I did my "Absolute Block" training at Cuxton signalbox in Kent, even though my first official signal box was going to be London Bridge Area Signalling Centre, I still had to learn the old-way. Cuxton was only a one-station jobbie, but it had a gate-crossing, which was the brown painted lever for the gate lock and it was a bastard for trying to pull it out of the frame. All those bell-codes I had to learn n stuff in my noggin!! Of course, I knew I was kinda spoilt in that London Bridge was "solid-state-interlocking", pressing buttons to set routes rather than manually yanking iron levers. Thank you for your continuing education and historical entertainments. Cheers man.
Superb history. At a recent football match at Bloomfield Road with my son tried to explain the massive railway sidings which is now the car parks. Your film said it all and more. In the 50's the family used to stay at Squire Gate in a railway camping coach which was in the station siding’s. Who knew then what it would look like 70 years later. Happy days. Thank you for the memories.
Very interesting. that first part about the signal box etc , would have been altered not 1970's because of those coaches ,buses ,there from the 1950's 60's.
Absolutely brilliant I never knew it ever existed I only thought there was only Blackpool North Station
I remember going to Blackpool for the day in the early 70's from Dudley Port Station on what they used to call a Seaside Special. The M6 in those days was nothing like it is now and the journey to Blackpool took an age. Then with the M55 it became more easily accessible by car and the train wasn't required. Such a shame vast amounts of our railway network have gone forever.
So we’ll researched, so we’ll presented 👏👏👏👏👏👍🫡
Really enjoying these videos, really excellent work the way you so carefully line up the modern day images with old photographs and overlay them. Must have taken quite a bit of time and effort, so thanks!
Absolutely love how in the picture of the Blackpool South signal box at 12:05, the entire yard has been removed, but the signal box is still manned!
Such a shame to see how much infrastructure, how many wonderful buildings and how much easy transport accessibility and connectivity has been lost...
Love the photo fades, great video, thank you 👍
Thanks for watching
The 'quirky little arch' was probably a simple detail added by the designing engineer to add interest to an otherwise monotonous length of wall on the final curve. It looks contemporary with the rest of the brickwork and also 'suggests' a bricked up tunnel - ! 😁
Heart breaking how such a network and infrastructure has gone.....did it improve blackpool don't think so makes me so sad. still glad that blackpool was part of my childhood in the 50's your video's bring it all back thanks
I remember walking to the South signal box. It was very odd with nothing around it. I see now from your fades why there was so much land in that area, never knew there were so many sidings there.
Progress.....
My Grandparents ran a boarding house that backed onto the carriage sidings. I well remember trains clanking past to Central Station and watching the shunting through a hole in the fence. I also witnessed the oxy acetylene cutter chopping the rail up, how sad.
I can't believe how good this is, you must have spent many week or months on research. One of the best youtube channels I have found. I didn't even have to think about it before subscribing. The fades and views are amazing.
I remember going to a monster truck rally in the 80s at the wasteland where the track would’ve been on the pic you showed outside Bloomfield Road. I’ve always wanted to see that I could never remember it. I remember the tangerine club
I went to Blackpool Central alot in the 60's and have great memories sad that Beetching destroyed Lancashire railways in the 60's
I like how you explained about Blackpool on Part 1 that got me so fasinated about. I would like to go to Blackpool one day. Keep up the good work as always. 😊
Another interesting and informative video Darren. Thank you for sharing. We used to arrive and depart from (today's) Blackpool South when we stayed at South Shore. I knew it was a big station originally, but didn't realise just how big! 👍
Thanks Brian
Again Darren has done an excellent job, not only cataloguing what still remains, but how it fitted in with what was there and of course, showing just how much was lost by this, at the time, logical thinking, but which now fortunately, is viewed VERY differently.
Sadly too late now to do much to rectify it, though it would appear some of that thinking may still survive, as I met the developers of the "Blackpool Central" attraction at the project's launch a couple of years ago and I suggested a single or double track extension from South Station, running right into the new complex that might then negate the need for the multi storey car park, whilst only losing about fifty car park spaces, but the suggestion wasn't taken up.
Some of the comments already, show that many people didn't realise just how MASSIVE Central and it's infrastructure was, but it was, at one point, the busiest railway station...in the world!! Bar none.
So, yes, it needed to be HUGE.
Such a sad loss and in hindsight of course, so short sighted of those in power at the time.
Excellent video as always Darren. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Cheers.
Thanks Mr E
Well said, it's just from those Ariel shots you realise how much land it occupied and all for the visitors to arrive especially in the war years when Blackpool was a major(?) destination. That's a whole story in itself, I think.
@@AdventureMe You are most welcome
@@douglasthompson296 It is indeed. Basically, the most visited seaside resort in Europe, possibly the world at some point.
Up to twenty million a year have visited Blackpool and still vastly more than most and of course, also for longer with the addition of the illuminations to extend the season.
Genius!!
Thank you for another sad video, I look forward to seeing next week's installment.
Bloomfield Rd bridge was removed around 2004 when the climbing walls and gardens were built. They were also going to remove Waterloo Rd bridge but ran out of money (because of the additional cost of dealing with contaminated ground if I remember correctly)
I remember the Bridge being removed. Is it a Working Mens club between Lytham Rd and the stadium ? I’m sure that due to the ramp of the bridge being removed that steps had to be constructed as it was level access previously.
Thanks stew
@@SiRhodesDriverTraining yes that’s it, I seem to remember there being a big headache about that as well, possibly another reason for the lack of funds to remove Waterloo bridge as stabilising works will have been required for the club
Going by the age of the coaches at 3:05 I’d suggest this is actually the early 1960s since the buses all seem to be late 1950s or early 60s style.
Though I suppose it is possible they’re all 15 plus years old 😉
Blackpool looked better in those day back then I think you could get into North central and South by train more car's on road today people don't have much use for trains don't think theys a train going straight into Blackpool today you need to change trains to go to Blackpool these days I'm in Huddersfield think you have change at Manchester to go they as one time they was a train straight to Blackpool
BR did not want close this station but the north one. The council wanted to close this one and keep the north. They eventually got their way. The council saw the central land great potential for selling for big money for development.
i once worked on waterloo rd station for one summer, met quite a few of the stars who used the line to travel to studios in Manchester, including leslie crowther violet carson (ena sharples) and many more most not know today i would think, blackpool was different place then of course.
I find these things hard to watch, seeing what has been lost and what could have been. So sad that the greatest engineering country gave it all up voluntarily. Terrific fade work sir.
Everyone in Blackpool should stop paying council tax
Yet another excellent video. Love your work Darren. Thank you.
Another great video pal. There is an amazing photo of Blackpool Central Station at saint annes train station it's tuck at that Crossover time when steam and diesel engines wear both used.
hiya darren , another beautiful film , a work of art in fact , loved every minute of it , best wishes from nick and tracy in wigan , lancashire
Superb video ,the fade in's are amazing ,thank you for the work on this one .
You Forgot to mention the engine shed at rigby Road was also the illumination depot. Real shame they got rid of Central Station.
The way the old station building spans the platforms is very similar to the old trinity st station in Bolton.
Shame that all that rail infrastructure has been replaced by car parks and one scabby wee terminus. 😥
I used to play in the signal box as it was left complete so we used to play …..under all the bridges there were tunnels that were full of water rats …..