Talk:Blackpool Central railway station

Latest comment: 3 months ago by Ef80 in topic Busiest Station in the World?

Wartime fatalities edit

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission's register shows twelve fatalities in Blackpool on the date of the crash. Nick Cooper (talk) 10:28, 19 April 2008 (UTC)Reply

Largest station ever to close edit

I popped a {{citation needed}} on that statement because such a dramatic statement needs verification. John Marshall, in his "The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, vol. 1", states that following rebuilding in 1899-1900, "the new station [Blackpool Central], including the excursion platforms, provided 8,888 ft of platform face" (p. 98), but does not give any superlatives such as "largest". --Redrose64 (talk) 10:25, 12 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

Beeching Axe edit

In Marshall's book (previous thread), he does indeed state that the closure of Blackpool Central took place on 2 November 1964 (p. 99), but there is no mention of Beeching. Checking the Beeching Report itself, we find Blackpool mentioned four times:

  • Passenger Services to be Withdrawn
    • Blackpool North-Fleetwood (p. 104)
  • Passenger Services to be Modified
    • Blackpool Central-Manchester/East Lancashire (p. 107)
    • Liverpool Exchange-Ormskirk-Blackpool Central (p. 107)
  • Passenger Stations and Halts to be Closed
    • Blackpool North (p.109)

We cannot therefore imply that the closure was a direct result of the Beeching Axe. --Redrose64 (talk) 10:25, 12 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

I seem to remember there was a piece in the Railway Magazine concerning the closure - published around the same time - does that not mention Beeching? Lamberhurst (talk) 13:17, 12 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

Blackpool Central was not earmarked for closure by Beeching. Originally Blackpool North was to close but then Blackpool Council lobbied British Rail to have Central closed instead so it could buy the masses of strategically situated land at Central and its southern approaches. This is described in Blackpool railway books by Martin Bairstow and Barry McLoughlin. As an aside, Beeching also recommended the retention of Fleetwood & Thornton stations as part of the route from Preston via Poulton. 77.100.205.25 (talk) 10:12, 21 October 2010 (UTC)Reply

Found a reference for Blackpool Central as a Beeching closure - Railway World (June 1965), p. 213: "Several notable stations are scheduled for closure under the Beeching reshaping plan. Among them is Blackpool Central." Lamberhurst (talk) 22:18, 18 August 2012 (UTC)Reply

External links modified edit

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Multi-storey car park demolition? edit

The land reclaimed from the station buildings became the location of some seafront amusement arcades (Coral Island), a new police station and a multi-storey car park with some residual spare land

There is a photo from circa 1975 that shows a multi-storey next to the policestation, but it had disappeared by the time the Coral Island was build, although there are some remains of ramps and walls visible in the current flat car park site. Was it badly build or was there another reason to tear it down? --92.201.34.222 (talk) 12:09, 11 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

Busiest Station in the World? edit

I am proposing removal of the statement that it was the busiest railway station in the world in 1911.

I find that to be a ridiculous claim having some knowledge of Railways and Railway History. It seems to be based solely on a quotation from the Henley on Thames newspaper website by some unknown person (Harry Midgley) at a Rotary Club meeting! Cannot find any web references for this person as a railway historian at all.

I've seen this 'fact' quoted in several places but all point to this Wikipedia article. Happy to chat if I'm mistaken and my first time editing so grateful for any guidance. AndyPEss (talk) 10:00, 2 May 2023 (UTC)Reply

The claim is still there. I agree the ref is weak. While Blackpool Central was at times extremely busy during the first half of the 20th century, it's difficult to believe it was the busiest station in the world year on year - the major London commuter stations like Waterloo would have had higher overall passenger numbers, for example. Blackpool numbers were boosted by heavily loaded excursion trains during the peak summer season and the Illuminations. --Ef80 (talk) 14:27, 24 January 2024 (UTC)Reply