Morecambe Euston Road railway station

Morecambe Euston Road was the terminus station of the London and North Western Railway's branch line to Morecambe, in Lancashire, England. It closed in 1963, after which all trains to Morecambe used the nearby Morecambe Promenade station.

History

The first railway to Morecambe was built by the Morecambe Harbour and Railway (MHR) company in 1848.^[1] It had its station at Northumberland Street, roughly the same location as the modern-day Morecambe Station. The MHR had, in 1846, amalgamated with the "Little" North Western Railway (NWR), which was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1874.^[2]

The rival London and North Western Railway (LNWR) built its own branch line to Morecambe in 1864, joining the main LNWR line at Hest Bank. The line connected to the NWR's Northumberland Street Station and the harbour, but the LNWR had to provide its own station at Poulton Lane because of increasing congestion at Northumberland Street. This was subsequently replaced by a rather more substantial terminus at Euston Road which opened on 9 May 1886.^[3][4]

The LNWR station at Euston Road remained much quieter than its Midland neighbour (although it did come into its own in the summer months) and it was the obvious one to be closed when traffic to the resort began to decline in the 1950s – service trains being diverted to Promenade from 15 September 1958,^[5][4] although it remained in seasonal use until complete closure five years later on 7 September 1963.^[4]

The station has been demolished but its goods shed survives in a builders' merchant's yard.

Notes

References

• Awdry, C. (1990), Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-049-7.
• Bairstow, M. (2000), The 'Little' North Western Railway, Martin Bairstow, Leeds, ISBN 1 871944 21X
• Binns, D. (1981), Railways Around Skipton, Wyvern Publications, Skipton.
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.