Talk:Blackpool Central railway station

Wartime fatalities
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission's register shows twelve fatalities in Blackpool on the date of the crash. Nick Cooper (talk) 10:28, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Largest station ever to close
I popped a on that statement because such a dramatic statement needs verification. John Marshall, in his "The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, vol. 1", states that following rebuilding in 1899-1900, "the new station [Blackpool Central], including the excursion platforms, provided 8,888 ft of platform face" (p. 98), but does not give any superlatives such as "largest". -- Red rose64 (talk) 10:25, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Beeching Axe
In Marshall's book (previous thread), he does indeed state that the closure of Blackpool Central took place on 2 November 1964 (p. 99), but there is no mention of Beeching. Checking the Beeching Report itself, we find Blackpool mentioned four times: We cannot therefore imply that the closure was a direct result of the Beeching Axe. -- Red rose64 (talk) 10:25, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Passenger Services to be Withdrawn
 * Blackpool North-Fleetwood (p. 104)
 * Passenger Services to be Modified
 * Blackpool Central-Manchester/East Lancashire (p. 107)
 * Liverpool Exchange-Ormskirk-Blackpool Central (p. 107)
 * Passenger Stations and Halts to be Closed
 * Blackpool North (p.109)
 * I seem to remember there was a piece in the Railway Magazine concerning the closure - published around the same time - does that not mention Beeching? Lamberhurst (talk) 13:17, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Blackpool Central was not earmarked for closure by Beeching. Originally Blackpool North was to close but then Blackpool Council lobbied British Rail to have Central closed instead so it could buy the masses of strategically situated land at Central and its southern approaches. This is described in Blackpool railway books by Martin Bairstow and Barry McLoughlin. As an aside, Beeching also recommended the retention of Fleetwood & Thornton stations as part of the route from Preston via Poulton. 77.100.205.25 (talk) 10:12, 21 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Found a reference for Blackpool Central as a Beeching closure - Railway World (June 1965), p. 213: "Several notable stations are scheduled for closure under the Beeching reshaping plan. Among them is Blackpool Central." Lamberhurst (talk) 22:18, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Blackpool Central railway station. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080418232602/http://web.ukonline.co.uk:80/lait/site/Botha-Defiant.htm to http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/Botha-Defiant.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110209101454/http://www.britishrailways1960.co.uk:80/CLPBStF10.html to http://www.britishrailways1960.co.uk/CLPBStF10.html

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Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 19:31, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Multi-storey car park demolition?
The land reclaimed from the station buildings became the location of some seafront amusement arcades (Coral Island), a new police station and a multi-storey car park with some residual spare land

There is a photo from circa 1975 that shows a multi-storey next to the policestation, but it had disappeared by the time the Coral Island was build, although there are some remains of ramps and walls visible in the current flat car park site. Was it badly build or was there another reason to tear it down? --92.201.34.222 (talk) 12:09, 11 July 2019 (UTC)

Busiest Station in the World?
I am proposing removal of the statement that it was the busiest railway station in the world in 1911.

I find that to be a ridiculous claim having some knowledge of Railways and Railway History. It seems to be based solely on a quotation from the Henley on Thames newspaper website by some unknown person (Harry Midgley) at a Rotary Club meeting! Cannot find any web references for this person as a railway historian at all.

I've seen this 'fact' quoted in several places but all point to this Wikipedia article. Happy to chat if I'm mistaken and my first time editing so grateful for any guidance. AndyPEss (talk) 10:00, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
 * The claim is still there. I agree the ref is weak. While Blackpool Central was at times extremely busy during the first half of the 20th century, it's difficult to believe it was the busiest station in the world year on year - the major London commuter stations like Waterloo would have had higher overall passenger numbers, for example. Blackpool numbers were boosted by heavily loaded excursion trains during the peak summer season and the Illuminations. --Ef80 (talk) 14:27, 24 January 2024 (UTC)