Preston railway station
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Preston railway station in Preston, Lancashire is on the West Coast Main Line. It is served by Northern Rail, Virgin Trains,Central Trains and First Transpennine Express. Also two early morning sleeper services serve Preston, provided by First ScotRail.
Formerly one of the largest Lancashire stations, Preston suffered from the cut-backs of the 1960s and 1970s. Platforms were destroyed or blocked; a number of links to the communities immediately south were demolished to create a shopping centre. Signs of the old station still exist - old railway lines are now pathway walks through parks and former railines can still be seen through the city itself. There are currently 6 full sized and 2 "stub" platforms at Preston.
- Platform 1 runs branch line services to Blackpool North and Blackpool South. Ormskirk services terminate here.
- Platform 2 runs branch services to Liverpool and Manchester, and also TransPennine links on the East Lancashire Line.
- Platform 3 is used almost exclusively for Virgin trains northwards to Lancaster, Carlisle and Scotland. Local branch services to Lancaster, Barrow and Morecambe also use this platform. At the far south end of Platform 3 is "3c", used mainly for services to Liverpool Lime Street.
- Platform 4 is used for Virgin trains to London Euston on the West Coast Main Line. It is also used for Manchester bound services. As with Platform 3, there is a "4c" at the far south end of platform 4. Its use is decreasing by the year. Neither of these bay platforms have functioning display screens.
- Platforms 5 and 6 are used for a mixture of southern and northern services, both Virgn and local branch lines.
- Platform 7 does not strictly exist but it is numbered as "7" although it has not been used for passenger services at any time in recent memory.
- Platform R.E.S This is also a platform used as the preferred alternative platform for Royal Mail services platforms which are the former platforms 1 & 2 the use of which was temporary during severe technical problems and engineering works.
Previously
Preston Station was originally three stations. Platforms 1 and 2 were the Northern Union, 3 to 7 the LMS and 8 to 13 East Lancashire.- Platform 1 was for trains mainly for Manchester Victoria-Blackpool North railway station services, and Platform 2 the reverse trip.
- Platforms 3 and 4 were used for general purposes.
- Platform 5 was used for Euston, London-Scotland, and regional Carlisle,Barrow and Blackpool sevices. Platform 6 served the reverse. Platform 7 was used as a loop
- Platforms 8 & 9 served East Lancashire-Blackpool.
- Platforms 10,11 and 12 were bays for trains to Southport and Liverpool.
- Platform 13 was a through line
Some of the stations former glories can still be seen, for example at the north en of platform 3, a disused bay platform can be seen. At the far north end of platform 4, some rolling stock is visible to the north and in a tunnel between paltforms 3 and 4, under the station approach. At the north of paltform 7 is the blocked up remain of an old railway tunnel.
External links
- [Train times] and [station information] for Preston railway station from National Rail
- [Map] and [aerial photo] of Preston railway station from Multimap.com
Services
| West Coast Main Line |
| Principal stations (from south to north) London Euston Watford Junction Milton Keynes Central Rugby Nuneaton Tamworth Lichfield Trent Valley Stafford Crewe then >Manchester Piccadilly or >Liverpool Lime Street or Warrington Bank Quay Wigan North Western Preston Lancaster Oxenholme Lake District Penrith North Lakes Carlisle Lockerbie Carstairs Junction then Motherwell Glasgow Central or >Haymarket >Edinburgh Waverley |
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