The Lost WATERLOO ROAD Station - What Remains?
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 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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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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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
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
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! 😊
The amount of land that station occupied! Wonderful photofades, thanks Darren
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
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
I never would have believed that 'Blackpool' had so many tracks and stations !
Thank you for the vid !
Thanks for watching
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
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
I love these videos especially the fades which bring the past to life. Roll on part 3.
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.
excellent video , this will be used for many years to come, so people can see how blackpool was before beeching
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.
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
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
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.
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
Another great history lesson.many thanks 👍
Excellent video - effortless to watch and very entertaining - brilliant !
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.
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
Brilliant love the fade ins, so much has gone it’s unbelievable. 😮
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.
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.
Excellent tour of before and after. Fade in and fade out photos brilliant. That was so good. Thank you again Darren.
Thanks again!
Another great video - many thanks.
Brilliant video. Just love all the history of Blackpool 👍🏻
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!!
Amazing how things change! Love the photo fades.
Excellent video again.
If this video is half as good as the previous one, it will be FANTASTIC
Let me know if it was lol
@@AdventureMe I can confirm it was just as good as the last one.
Absolutely brilliant. Really looking forward to the next one.
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
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 .
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.
Beautifully Done,
If there was an UA-cam award I would definitely give it to you! The details you add are so superbly done. Another fantastic Video Darren 👌
Thanks 👍
In the late 50's and early 60's we visited by day-excursion trains from Stockport allways into the platforms 10 to 14 at central. The station was a lovely old building only a short walk from the allways crowded promenade, between Central pier and the North pier. That area with the start of the Golden Mile and the fine sandy beach was the most popular with visiters. On any sunny day in the early 60's the beach and promenade would be so busy that it was difficult to walk through, you had to arrive early ! We usually went north of the Tower towards Bispham to get a place on the sands and to paddle in the cold sea. What a lively place it was, happy days.
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.
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
Fascinating Darren, the photo fades are a time machine, so well done, brilliant really.
Thank you so much 😀
Yet another great video, amazing how it has changed over the years, looking forward to the next part as always.
Thanks for posting I visited in 1967 and never realised Blackpool South existed as we came by coach.
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
Mate, absolutely fantastic! Brilliant knowledge and expertly done! Congratulations and thanks!
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
An utterly wonderful production. Concise yet detailed, and evoking great memories of the rail infrastructure of Blackpool.
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.
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.....
Absolutely fascinating, brill job thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
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.
Excellent as per usual...
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!
Love the photo fades, great video, thank you 👍
Thanks for watching
Great stuff again! :) Looking forward to part 3 which ive found little info on in the past myself
Absolutely brilliant I never knew it ever existed I only thought there was only Blackpool North Station
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!
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.
Another excellent video Darren. Chapel Street, Princes Street and Rigby Road bridges were a lot lower than they are now and were not passable by double deck bus. Of course, a number tried it, a Standerwick "Gay Hostess" Atlantean coming to grief at Chapel Street and a Blackpool Leyland Titan PD3 (397) and an Atlantean (303) both tried Rigby Road bridge!
I love the way you phase in and out from the new to the old. Awesome!!!! More please.
Michael
Thanks Michael. Plenty more on the channel and more to come
Absolute superb to see it as it was and now is ,it is amazing just how different it all looks now .
An absolutely brilliant mini documentary on the history of Blackpool's railway stations, 'then and now.' Holidaying in Blackpool I recall the wasteland after Central Station was demolished in the 1970's and the tracks removed. Coaches of day trippers and long stays parked on the waste land. I love the way you interacted the past with the present showing us how it was. What a talent you have. TV producers are surely aware. Thank you! I look forward to part 2.
Thanks Clifford. You mean part 3. There's already two out lol.
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.
Absolutely brilliant alignment of the photos. Superb video 👏👏👏
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
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
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...
Fascinating comparisons between the pre-1960s and today. Great research, excellent old-new fades, detailed commentary - really appreciated it...even though I've been to Blackpool only a couple of times in the 1990s, arriving at the pre-electrification Blackpool North - which I thought was the town's main station. But your documentary has enlightened me...!
Thanks Richard
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.
Fantastic video production again Darren well done👍. I think from the comments made here about Blackpool Central covering a vast area is the answer as to why it closed. So much land was vastly needed and after it closed this land was turned into much needed car parking for the holiday town. It is nice to see one or two bridges and railway walls surviving today.
Yes I think it may have been justified in this case
Thanks again for another fascinating video. The Rigby Road bridge was raised because there were a few accidents with buses going back to the depot. Where the new houses are was a gas works. From what I remember when the Beeching act came British Rail wanted to close Blackpool North but the council wanted to keep it open so they closed Central.
Thanks Bernard
I honestly had no idea about the route of this train line at all and this video has been very informative.
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
An absolute master class in showing us what Blackpool was like. I visited Blackpool as a small child in the 1950's and what a place it was railway wise. So sad that so much was lost, and for what. Your use of fade overs to show what it looked adds another dimension to your presentation. I look forward to seeing more videos. Be Proud!
Thanks Keith
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. 😊
Thank you for another sad video, I look forward to seeing next week's installment.
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
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.
Thanks Darren, for another cool video! It’s awesome to see “then and now”, thanks to your photo fades. It’s so strange seeing the comparisons, and trying to imagine how Blackpool used to be.
My pleasure!
Yet another excellent video. Love your work Darren. Thank you.
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.
Superb video ,the fade in's are amazing ,thank you for the work on this one .
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
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.
Amazing video!! The number of times I've driven down Yeadon Way and wondered where everything relating to the trains and stations -and why they were demolished.
Your attention to detail is stunning. Looking forward to the next video.
Glad it was helpful!
Amazing so much history lost. Glad the new plans are keeping the history as part of the new
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.
The photofades are wonderful
Really interesting video, many thanks. So many of those who used to holiday in Blackpool now seek the sun of Spain etc., evidenced by the number of holiday flights from Northern airports. It's a real shame that so much of our rail infrastructure and architecture has gone and been replaced by car parks and roads. A sign of the times, although like so many seaside resorts, Blackpool has 're-invented' itself to some extent.
Incredible. What a shame it’s all gone.
Loved all the info and fade in out photos so much change.
Glad you liked it!
I remember playing in that signal box before they pulled it down in the 60,s
Great video didnt know any of this the times I've parked in that car park didnt know it was railway lines there you learn new things every day cheers Paul
Thanks Paul
Fascinating stuff. (Watching this from Abu Dhabi and still missing Blackpool 😊)
Enjoy dubai