Morecambe Promenade railway station

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Morecambe Promenade

Location

Location

Morecambe

Area

Lancaster, Lancashire

Grid reference

SD428642

Operations

Pre-grouping

Midland Railway

Post-grouping

LMSR
London Midland Region (British Railways)

Platforms

History

24 March 1907

Opened (Morecambe)

2 June 1924

Renamed (Morecambe Promenade)

6 May 1968

Renamed (Morecambe)

7 February 1994^[1]

Closed

Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom

Closed railway stations in Britain
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UK Railways Portal

Morecambe Promenade Station was a railway station in Morecambe, Lancashire. It was opened in 1907 by the Midland Railway and closed in 1994 when a new Morecambe Station was opened on a site closer to the town centre.

[edit] History

Built by the Midland Railway Company as the terminus of the former "little" North Western Railway, Morecambe Promenade Station first opened to passengers in 1907.^[2] It served as a replacement for the inadequate Northumberland Street Station (which was ironically situated on the site of the new two-platform Morecambe station).^[3]

The Promenade Station was built to cater for a large influx of passenger numbers. To this effect, the station comprised of four main platforms and a goods siding.^[2] When the station first opened, there was some controversy over the segregation of passengers into 1st and 2nd class waiting rooms. Many passengers disapproved of this and chose to wait instead in the station concourse.^[4] The Midland Railway sought to exploit the potential of moving holidaymakers between Morecambe, Heysham and Lancaster and to provide a speedy and efficient service for workers at the then state-of-the-art 1905 port.^[5] The station was therefore constructed opposite the old Midland Hotel, enabling tourists arriving overnight by rail to stay in the hotel before taking the boat to the Isle of Man and Barrow from the Stone Jetty. Passengers using the facilities came from Leeds and Bradford as well as the West Coast of Scotland.^[6]

The Midland Railway also electrified the branch line to Morecambe Promenade on 13 April 1908^[2] and the line remained electrified until 1966 when, in the wake of the rationalisation programme put forward by the Beeching Report, the electrification system was dismantled. The Report's author, Richard Beeching - the Chairman of the British Transport Commission, treated branch lines as irrelevant to the overall operation of intercity rail networks, believing that car owners would drive to and park at mainline stations before taking the train. A mere seven years before the dismantling took place, what is now known as the West Coast Main Line from Crewe to Glasgow had been electrified. ^[7]

Although the Promenade Station managed to survive the Beeching Axe, by the late 1980s tourism in Morecambe was rapidly declining,^[8] which may have led to the decision to close Promenade Station in 1994 and its subsequent replacement with a new station situated closer to the town centre.

[edit] The station today

The station building remains intact and became an entertainment venue in 1997 when the pub-cum-restaurant "The Platform" was opened.^[9], as well the Platform Arts Centre.^[10] and Morecambe Tourist Information Centre which has been based in the station since 1992.^[11]^[4] The station building has been sympathetically restored to its original Midland Railway condition and has won two design awards - the "Ian Allen National Railway Heritage Award" in 1999 (Highly Commended) and an "Access for All Design Award" in 1998.^[6] A special concert was held at the station on 24 March 2007 to celebrate its 100th anniversary with Lancaster's Mayor, Councillor Janie Kirkman, giving a speech, followed by a concert from Brian Lancaster.^[6]