Poulton-le-Fylde Station
Poulton-le-Fylde station is a station on the Blackpool North branch line. After my troubles at Oxenholme, I decided to use my ticket to explore some of the stations on the branch. These are some pictures I took.
Although the station looks rather disabled-unfriendly, it does have a lift.
There is still a track from here to Fleetwood, which in some reports might be reopened as an extension to the Blackpool tramway. It is clearly visible in this Google Earth image.
Poulton-le-Fylde Station
As the Blackpool tramway has been made tram-train ready, this might mean that tram-trains run from Fleetwood to places further inland.
Trouble At Oxenholme
These pictures don’t really tell the whole story of my changing of trains at Oxenholme from the Windermere branch to go to Carlisle, from where I intended to get the train to Leeds via the Settle-Carlisle Line over one of the most spectacular lines in England.
Normally, the interchange probably works well, as it appears trains on the main line going north and south are timed to meet the Class 185 train to or from Windermere.
But!
A West Coast Railways charter train, hauled by a Class 68 had broken down at Carlisle station. According to Virgin station staff the errant train had broken down twice before it actually got on the main line. Apparently, it wasn’t the brand-new engine, but the geriatric coaches. According to Wikipedia West Coast Railways are not having a good time.
West Coast Railways’ operating licence is currently suspended by Network Rail. The suspension came into force at midnight on 3 April 2015, for a minimum of six weeks, due to ongoing safety concerns relating to a serious SPAD (signal passed at danger) incident involving WCR on 7 March 2015.
I shall not be going anywhere near any of their charters.
I spent an hour on a Virgin waiting to get to Carlisle and as they said progress would be slow, I gave up and took a train south to Preston.
So I went to Poulton-le-Fylde instead.
An Excursion To Windermere
I caught a train from Preston direct to Windermere to have a look at the town.
I walked from Windermere station to the town, which is a couple of miles downhill and rather badly signposted. Coming back I took a taxi up the hill, as I wanted to catch a train, which was dead on time and dumped me right in it at Oxenholme. But that wasn’t their fault and as expected there was a ready Virgin waiting.
I should note, that I had an excellent gluten-free lunch at Hyltons close to the lake.
The Windermere Branch Line is almost an oddity on the UK rail network, in that it is a very simple out-and-back line with no passing loops from Oxenholme that runs a better than hourly service using modern trains ( Class 185 trains). Signalling at present is non-existent and it relies on just one train being on the line at a time.
So now sixteen million pounds is going to be spent to electrify the line. Unless the line is given a modern signalling system and a better track layout, this won’t in itself give a better train service, than that at present.
Could the one platform Windermere station cope with anything more than a half-hourly four coach train?
So I suspect there is another motive behind electrifying this line.
The line has to be operated by diesels at present and this may give problems about where the trains are stabled at night, as they will need to be refuelled. And where would you park it overnight, as there is no siding at Oxenholm, so you’d have to leave it in a platform at either end of the line.
Currently, I suspect the first train in the morning comes in from Preston and then the last train of the day goes there for fuelling and an overnight clean and service.
My train direct from Preston to Windermere actually split at Preston, with the front half going to Blackpool. When Blackpool is electrified and electric trains serve that route, this splitting will not be possible, as you’d need to send a diesel train to Windermere, unless the branch was electrified.
Does an electric train working the branch give much greater flexibility in planning the schedules and providing a top class frequent service?
I think it probably does.
The only alternative to electrifying the Windermere branch is to use a battery-assisted electric train, like the one I rode in at Manningtree. But although that technology appears to be very successful, no train company would have just one of these, as what happens when it fails?
The Anonymous Widower 