Sixty thousand trippers a day
RECENT pruning by British Railways of Blackpool’s rail facilities prompts a look at a former source of substantial revenue which regrettably would appear to have been lost for ever. Blackpool’s first rail connection dates from 1846, when the Preston & Wyre Railway Company built a 3¼ mile long spur from Poulton, terminating at Talbot Road (now Blackpool North) station. In 1863, a second line was opened, diverging nearer Preston, at Kirkham station: by way of Lytham and St Annes-on-Sea, this terminated at Blackpool Central.
By the end of the last century the fast-developing seaside resort already had a three mile long three-piered promenade which extended from the South Shore Pleasure Beach to Gynn Square at the north end. Throughout its length it was served by electric trams, which made connections at the north with those of the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company, and at the south end with the Lytham Company’s gas-engined tramway system, to be replaced in June 1903, by a conventional electric tramway.
It mattered not if inclement weather ruled out the golden sands or a cruise on a paddleboat
With 17 miles of coastal tramways, Blackpool by the turn of the century was well-established as the holiday resort for the workers of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It mattered not if inclement weather ruled out its golden sands or a cruise on one of the paddleboats of the Blackpool Steamship Company; the Tower, Winter Gardens, Palace, Big Wheel, and the piers could provide a variety of undercover entertainment to suit its visitors of all ages. Workers in the nearby industrial towns
