Deepdale railway station

Deepdale
The remains of the track in the disused tunnels in 2008
General information
Location	Deepdale, Preston, Lancashire England
Coordinates	53.7669°N 2.6912°W / 53.7669; -2.6912
Grid reference	SD545302
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 November 1856 (1856-11-01)	Opened as Deepdale Bridge
1867	Renamed Deepdale
2 June 1930 (1930-06-02)	Closed
Location Deepdale Location in Preston, Lancashire Deepdale Location in present-day Lancashire, England

Deepdale railway station (also known as Deepdale Bridge station) was on the Longridge Branch Line in Preston, Lancashire, England.

The station opened in 1856 as a replacement for Deepdale Street railway station which until then had been the Preston passenger terminus of the line. The new station lay on an extension, built in 1850, which connected to the earlier line near the level crossing in Skeffington Road. The extension passed through the 862-yard (788 m) Miley Tunnel to another new station at Maudland Bridge.

Deepdale station was the headquarters of the Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway, which had bought the Preston and Longridge Railway. The new line and tunnel were originally built to connect the Longridge line to the existing Preston and Wyre Joint Railway, as part of a planned route from Fleetwood on the Fylde coast to Skipton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. However, that plan had already collapsed by 1852.

The station, along with others on the line, closed to regular passenger services on 31 May 1930. The last passenger trains to use Deepdale station were 1970s football supporters' specials bringing away fans to Deepdale Stadium to watch a football match. This was done to keep visiting supporters away from the town centre before and after the match.

The line through the station continued to be used for goods trains until the 1990s, and the tracks, though rusty and overgrown, still exist as far as the Skeffington Road level crossing.

References

• Hunt, D. (2003) The Wharncliffe Companion to Preston — An A to Z of Local History, Wharncliffe Books, Barnsley, ISBN 1-903425-79-4, p. 117.
• Suggitt, G. (2003, revised 2004) Lost Railways of Lancashire, Countryside Books, Newbury, ISBN 1-85306-801-2, pp. 50–53.
• Till, J.M. (1993) A History of Longridge and its People, Carnegie Publishing, Preston, ISBN 0-948789-92-1, p. 91 and p. 98.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Maudland Bridge Terminus		Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway until 1885		Ribbleton towards Longridge
Preston Terminus		Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway from 1885