LOSTOCK HALL MOTIVE POWER AT WORK
- around and about
Lines in immediate vicinity of Lostock Hall shed
The East Lancashire Line
The Liverpool Line
[RIGHT] No 44713 accelerates though Aughton Park on the outskirts of Liverpool with the Sunday 09-50 Liverpool Exchange to Glasgow, which it will work as far as Preston.
[FAR RIGHT] At journey’s end, No 45149 turns on the turntable at Liverpool Exchange, having just arrived on the 21-25 from Preston – a through service from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Its work over, it will shortly run light back to Lostock Hall. shed.
The West Lancashire line to Southport
[RIGHT] On 7th April 1968, No 44713 climbs up to Moss Lane Jct, on the direct connection from the WCML at Farington Curve Jct, with the Sunday 16-53 Preston to Liverpool Exchange – a through service from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
[FAR RIGHT] Another Black Five specially cleaned at Lostock Hall shed for the photograph was No 44806. It is seen during the early months of 1968, also climbing to Moss Lane Jct with the 16-53 (Sundays Only) Preston to Liverpool Exchange.
[FAR LEFT] Unusually with steam still on over the junction, in this instance later confirmed to be because the driver had been looking out for the photographer, the 09.50 (SuO) Liverpool Exchange to Preston joins the West Coast Main Line at Farington Curve Junction on 5 May 1968 with Black Five No 44713 at the head, driven by Lostock Hall’s John Burnett and fired by Colin Potter.
[LEFT] On 7th April 1968, No 44713 had been specially cleaned for the 16.53 (SuO) Preston to Liverpool Exchange (through coaches from Glasgow & Edinburgh) and is seen here taking the Liverpool line at Farington Curve Junction. The fireman was John Fletcher who still fires steam on the main line!
[FAR LEFT] In around 1948, former L&Y Class A 0-6-0 No 12368 shunts empty livestock trucks into the goods yard at Lostock Hall. The goods shed building can be seen in the background.
[LEFT] A class of locomotive synonymous with Lostock Hall for nearly 70 years, but now approaching the end of its career, on 29th August 1960, Class 3F 0-6-0 No 52429 is seen on shunting duties at the eastern end of Lostock Hall goods yard.
[RIGHT] On 28th August 1965, No 42295 rounds the connecting curve between Todd Lane and Lostock Hall Junctions with a Liverpool Exchange stopping service that has commenced its journey from the East Lancs platforms of Preston station. Utilising this less direct itinerary does mean that the train can now call at Lostock Hall.
[FAR RIGHT] Todd Lane Junction station, on the now-closed direct Bamber Bridge to Preston route into the East Lancs side of Preston station, sees WD 2-8-0 No 90331 passing through on a local freight working.
[FAR LEFT] Double-headed 8Fs at Bamber Bridge Junction in 1967. No 48002 (10D) pilots No 48666 (10F) on a freight for Rose Grove. Because of an earlier incident, and in order to save a path, two trains with both locos now at the front, have been combined.
[LEFT] One of the GreenbankSidings shunters, Yorkshire Engine Co diesel-hydraulic 0-4-0 No D2862, shunting wagons opposite Lostock Hall Wagon Works. Most of this class only lasted 8 years in service, but this one was purchased by the NCB for use at Norton Colliery and was finally cut up in April 1979.
[FAR LEFT] On 17th July 1968, No 45055 climbs through Hoghton and over the level-crossing past the site of the former station (closed in 1960, well before the ‘Beeching Axe’ era) with a load of coal empties bound for East Lancashire.
[LEFT] Lostock Hall ‘Black Five’ No 44971 passes Rose Grove shed with coal empties on 15 February 1968. In this view the LMS Standard No 2 coaling plant (identical to that at Lostock Hall) and the pre-1937 coaling stage - still supporting its original water tank - are clearly visible.
[ABOVE] On 27th April 1968,No 48730 approaches Copy Pit ‘box at the 749ft high summit of the climb from Burnley, with coal empties heading back to the Yorkshire coalfield.
[ABOVE RIGHT] Arch Street, Burnley on 31st July 1968. Typifying everything that was synonymous with Lancashire cotton mill country of the 1950s and 1960s, women in slippers and wearing head-squares over hair still in rollers, gossip in this back street cameo outside their smoke-blackened terraced cottages, whilst children play on flagstone pathways totally unhindered by parked cars and moving traffic. Apart from the viaduct itself (and perhaps some of the younger observers), everything in this view is no more – indeed, even the Bowling Green Hotel has gone. At the opposite end of the viaduct to the previous picture, with Rose Grove fireman David Hill surveying the scene, No 45388 can be seen slowly banking the rear of 8P21,the 10-50 Burnley Central to Wyre Dock coal train,up the hill to Gannow Junction.
[LOWER RIGHT] In June 1968 and in somewhat inclement conditions, No 44942 No 44942 (10D) passes the crumbling and still gas-lit platforms of Brierfield, with 3P20, the 19-14 Colne-Preston parcels. By this date, along with its outward working during the early hours, this was the very last regularly steam-hauled diagram of its type.
[LOWER FAR RIGHT] The weather has not improved at all as No 44942 crosses Burnley Viaduct with the same parcels working.
[FAR LEFT] In the spring of 1968, after breasting the summit of Hoghton Bank, No 45407 heads downhill over Pleasington viaduct with 3P26, the 10-40 Preston - Blackburn parcels.
[LEFT] On 1st August 1968, No 45110 is seen near Rose Grove West with 3P20. The driver is John Burnett and the fireman David Grimshaw.
[FAR LEFT] On 26th April 1968, No 45353 passes the tall fixed distant approaching Moss Lane Jct with the Sunday 16-53 Preston to Liverpool Exchange.
[LEFT] In this 1950s view, No 3F 0-6-0 52161 passes through the platforms of Midge Hall station (closed in 1961) with a Liverpool-bound freight.
[FAR LEFT] With cylinder drain-cocks open following a long wait in the East Lancs bay of Preston's Platform 11 on 13th July 1963, Stanier 2-6-4T No. 42494 draws the 17-30 Preston - Southport over the pointwork past one of the sun-bleached running-in boards. The structure in the background is East Lancs Goods Signal Box which controls the whole throat of this side of the station, as well as that to Butler Street Goods yard. Immediately in front of, and above it, is the timber-decked Vicars Bridge, which provided the only road access to the one-time LNWR and LYR jointly-owned Park Hotel.
[LEFT] No 42436 approaches the end of the Ribble Bridge, on the East Lancs exit from Preston station, heading for Whitehouse North Jct and where it will diverge to the right with a Southport service.
The West Coast Main Line - South of Preston
Preston Station and its immediate environs
The Longridge Line
Towards the Fylde Coast
The West Coast Main Line - North of Preston
Unfortunately that’s all we have in this section for now, so before you continue on to the next page, please do consider the following.
What you have just been reading is, of course, only a small part of the story of Lostock Hall MPD …. all of it having been gratefully received from the mere handful of contributors who have so generously assisted us to-date.
There are obviously many more stories out there just waiting to be told … only these haven’t as yet been passed on to us! Therefore, in order to start filling-in many of the missing pieces in the, still very incomplete, jigsaw, please do now consider making a contribution of your own.
Items of information and scanned photographs would be most welcomed.
NOTE: All information contained within these pages is original material - prepared specifically for the Lostock Hall MPD Website (www.LostockHallMPD.org.uk) and which remains strictly the express COPYRIGHT of the website administrators. Likewise, all photographs used remain the COPYRIGHT of the photographers identified. No item must be reproduced, or quoted from (in whole or even in part), in the absence of express prior permission being granted. (Please refer to the “Get In Touch” page in order to obtain the contact addresses of the administrative team.)
[ABOVE LEFT] All that epitomised the archetypal country station goods yard, that had existed almost unaltered since the 19th Century, can be seen somewhere in this superb picture. Rose Grove shed’s Stanier 8F No 48423 has paused between shunting duties at Kirkham, whilst in the course of working ‘No 25 Target’ which trips between Blackpool North and Preston N.U. Yard. Seen storming away from the station is Lostock Hall’s ‘Black Five’ No 45444 at the head of the 12-44 Preston to Blackpool South – a through portion of the 09.05 from London Euston. The road coach is one of the Ribble Motor Company’s ‘Burlingham Seagull’ bodied Leyland Tiger Cubs built in 1956 and is, presumably, providing transport for a permanent way gang employed in the neighbourhood. Some Sunday work in the area is clearly anticipated, as the sidings contain wagons of fresh ballast that have undoubtedly originated from quarries on the Grassington Branch.
[ABOVE RIGHT] No 48666 passes Bradkirk on 17th January 1968 with a freight bound for Wyre Dock. The tracks in the foreground are the truncated remains of the former Marton direct line to Blackpool South.
[RIGHT] No 43033, was another recently 'cascaded' engine that had arrived in 1965 from 12E Tebay. Here, it waits in Platform 5 at Preston on 6th April 1967, with the 20-50 to Blackpool South. It was finally withdrawn on 23rd March 1968.
[FAR RIGHT] In the final years of steam,Class Five motive power was often called upon to undertake station pilot duties. Here, in a 1966 picture, is seen No 45197 shunting coaching stock in the centre-road sidings between Platforms 2 and 3.
[RIGHT] One of many Lostock Hall ‘meet ups’ that still regularly occurred in 1966. No 48470 waits on the Up Through line at Skew Bridge, with the 18-15 Preston N.U. to Warrington freight as No 45402 approaches on the Down Slow with a Wigan to Preston stopping train.
[FAR RIGHT] WD 2-8-0 No 90721 heads south on freight across the NU bridge at Preston. Taken from the former Park Hotel – then part of the County Council Offices complex – this unusual panoramic view shows the entire sweep of the West Coast main line across the Ribble Valley.
[FAR LEFT] What better way to spend one’s day at work! Penwortham Cop Lane’s porter, Frank Taylor, puts down his newspaper, as a Southport-Preston service, headed by 2-6-4T No 42645 rolls to a halt in the wooden platforms. (Note the oil-lamps.)
[LEFT] A bright sunny summer Sunday morning, on 21st August 1964, and a dozen or so day-trippers intent upon an outing to the seaside are regarded with envy by the crew of Lostock Hall's Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42158 as it slows to a halt with the 6 coaches of the 10-12 Preston - Southport
[RIGHT] In the very early 1950s, No 42661 conducts an unidentified Black Five on the up-fast line near Farington Curve Jct. Its place of origin remaining unclear, the train was, nevertheless, almost certainly heading for Manchester Victoria.
[FAR RIGHT] Although, until the early 1960s, 8Fs were not that uncommon at the head of Blackpool-bound passenger workings on summer Saturdays , this somewhat later view shows No 48637 heading a northbound 20-coach train of empty stock on the down fast line at Farington Curve Jct.
[FAR LEFT] The "disgraceful old rust bucket" that was former Speke Junction No 44950. Despite this, it survived to the very end and was no stranger to passenger work at 10D. It is seen here arriving at Lytham on 10th May 1968 with the 12-44 Preston to Blackpool South.
[LEFT] No 45212 storms away from Lytham with the 12-44 Preston to Blackpool South on 9th February 1968.
[FAR LEFT] No 45444 passes the site of the former Preston MPD, bound for Garstang & Catterall yard with No 78 Target.
[LEFT] Looped at Barton & Broughton, No 45212 waits for an express to overtake as it heads northwards with the 18-50 Ribble Sidings-Carnforth freight.
[FAR LEFT] Whilst its crew take a breather at the trackside, No 45212 stands on the down goods line near Ribble Sidings 'box, awaiting the road to depart with the 18.50 Ribble Sidings - Carnforth freight.
[ LEFT] Pictured in around 1954, the NU (North Union) Yard pilot is former L&Y 0-6-0ST No 51526. A mainstay of Lostock Hall shed for many years, it finally departed to Horwich for scrap in October 1957.
[FAR LEFT] On 1st April 1954, No 42596 passes Euxton Junction signalbox, on the down-slow line, with a Wigan-Preston all stations train. This service ended in 1967, when the majority of the intermediate local stations were closed.
[LEFT] On a very wintry 2nd February 1963, three Lostock Hall engines make their way home along the WCML on the up-fast line. Reversing at Farington Jct onto the ‘back line’ to Lostock Hall shed, No 90157 conducts No 47472 and No 47008 after their shunting duties in Preston. The diminutive 0-4-0ST needed a pilot, essentially because its small wheelbase could not be relied upon to register on track circuits on the main line.
[RIGHT] No 40199, one of around half a dozen Stanier Class 2MT 2-6-2 tanks allocated to Lostock Hall in the early 1950s, crosses over the River Ribble bridge with a Southport service.
[FAR RIGHT] Standard 2MT 2-6-0 No 78041 prepares to turn left at Whitehouse West Junction with the 13-17 Southport-Preston on Sunday 6th August 1964 – the final day of services over the West Lancashire line. The tracks to the right led to Whitehouse South Junction and thence to Todd Lane Junction and onwards into East Lancashire.
[RIGHT] On 28th August 1964, No 78041 passes Back Lane Crossing, with the 14-10 Southport - Preston. The Lostock hall driver cracksthe regulator shut for the downgrade roll to a halt at Cop Lane station, about a ¼ mile distant.
[FAR RIGHT] The 16-52 Preston - Southport approaches Crossens station on Sunday 6th September 1964, with a commendably clean Fairburn 4MT 2-6-4 tank No 42296 at the head. Another Lostock Hall engine, Standard 2MT 2-6-0 No. 78041, is just starting away from the platform-end in the opposite direction with the 17-10 Southport - Preston.
[FAR LEFT] The 16.20 Preston to Wigan (North Western) plods uphill to Farington Curve Junction, behind No 45450 on 29th June 1963. The loco was priming, hence the steam on what was actually a hot day!
[LEFT] Unusually with steam still on over the junction, (many years later confirmed to be because the driver had been looking out for the photographer), the 09.50 (SuO) Liverpool Exchange to Preston joins the West Coast Main Line at Farington Curve Junction on 5th May 1968 with Black Five No 44713 at the head, driven by Lostock Hall’s John Burnett and fired by Colin Potter.
[RIGHT] This extremely unusual viewpoint shows the former extent of the station overall roof. On 29th July 1950, No 52272 pilots No 45578 ‘United Provinces’ into Platform 4 with a northbound empty stock working. Alongside, Crab No 42871 is working southwards with a Blackpool-Cleethorpes summer Saturday extra.
[FAR RIGHT] No 48476 heads northbound past Preston Station on the down through line with No 63 Target, comprising loaded coal wagons bound for Deepdale and Courtaulds Sidings on the former Longridge branch.
[FAR LEFT] No 44942, driven by 10D’s Terry Campbell, heads up a local trip freight through Platform 2 (the up slow line) at Preston, en-route to Farington Yard.
[LEFT] 3F 0-6-0T No 47472, the long-time Preston station pilot, fitted with steam heat for heating sleeping cars added or detached here, shunts empty stock past Preston’s No1 ‘box in 1966.
[FAR LEFT] The 16-20 Preston to Wigan all-stations, headed by 2-6-4T No 42102, departs and passes Preston Number 1 signalbox - one of the larger LNWR structures of which Preston possessed three, along with a number of smaller boxes.
[LEFT] 15th August 1953 sees Lostock Hall’s No 52174 deputising for a larger loco that may well have failed as it prepares to depart with with the Liverpool portion of the Summer Saturday 06.25 Aberdeen - Liverpool/Manchester .
[RIGHT] No 43027 was eventually the last operational Ivatt Class 4MT mogul in traffic, after No 43106 was stopped with a bent drawbar. It is seen on 26th March 1968, passing Preston No 2A box on an engineer's train. Historically, this loco was the guinea-pig for the experiment of replacing the original double chimney and blastpipe with a single unit.
[FAR RIGHT] Stanier 2-6-4T No 42546 is station pilot on 1st September 1966
[FAR LEFT] No 42187 is station pilot and awaits its next turn of duty, whilst No 70013 ‘Oliver Cromwell’ calls at Platform 5 with 3L14, the afternoon Crewe-Carlisle parcels.
[LEFT] No 42105 is station pilot this time. On 23rd July 1966, it attaches a van to the rear of a southbound express that has called at Platform 6.
[LEFT] On 1st September 1966 once more, the express having departed, No 42105 pauses before moving on to its next task and takes water from the column at the south end of No 6 platform. The footbridge overhead, up until the remodelling in the 1970s, connected this platform to the former railway-owned Park Hotel and will be fondly remembered by many as "The Glass Bridge".
[RIGHT] On a "Rail Day" in early 1968, No 45305 is seen standing in Platform 9 at Preston, with D244 and E3034 as exhibits. A sign alongside had a large arrow and the slogan “STEAM LOCOMOTIVE” … arguably a somewhat superfluous message!
[BELOW LEFT] The East Lancs side of the station, as it was on 8th June 1959. No 90266 passes through on its way back to shed. Today, all the trackwork seen and buildings to the right of the picture have been totally obliterated, with little trace remaining that the area was once a bustling hive of activity.
[RIGHT] Butler Street yard in very early BR days, sees ex-works and recently re-numbered ex-L&YR 0-6-0ST No 51423 shunting a long rake of goods vehicles between sidings. Today, a more modern type of transport occupies the same spot, in the form of rows of parked cars.
At the junction with the main line ....
[FAR LEFT] No 90277, a Lostock Hall Austerity 2-8-0, brings No 63 Trip onto the West Coast Main Line at Maudland Junction (by Preston No 5 ‘box) on 12th August 1964, transporting empty coal wagons from Courtaulds Red Scar Works and Deepdale Coal Sidings.
[LEFT] No 44878, one of the supposedly better examples cascaded to Lostock Hall upon closure of Carlisle Kingmoor depot, came to find passenger use one only one single occasion and otherwise was relegated merely to local trip workings, such as this one exiting the Longridge branch at Preston No 5 ‘box in early 1968.
[RIGHT] Grimsargh Station (closed to passengers in 1930) sees its daily visit of a goods train on 1st April 1966, in the form of Lostock Hall’s 8F No 48002.
[FAR RIGHT] On a wintry day in 1966, No 48679 passes through the remains of the platforms at Deepdale Bridge with the daily trip working, conveying coal to Deepdale Concentration Depot and Courtaulds Red Scar Works
[FAR LEFT] On 22nd August 1964, WD 2-8-0 No 90675 engages in a spot of shunting in the sidings that led to the Courtaulds rayon textiles factory.
[LEFT] Earlier the same day, No 90675 crosses over the level crossing at the Longridge branch terminus. The station closed to passengers on 31 May 1930. Goods traffic continued until November 1967, but, within the next year the tracks were lifted
[RIGHT] No 44816 passes Preston No 5 signal box with 1P58, the 12-44 Preston - Blackpool South, conveying through coaches from the 09-05 from London Euston.. By this time the signal gantry in the background was the largest surviving such structure in the country.
[FAR RIGHT] No 45345 passes Maudland Jct at the head of the same train. On the right can be seen the pit roads of what was once Preston MPD
[FAR LEFT] No 45353 passes Maudland Jct and onto the fast lines towards Kirkham & Wesham with 1P58, the 12-44 Preston to Blackpool South on 26th April 1968.
[LEFT] No 44800 on a Sunday morning p-way train, pauses between tasks alongside Maudland Viaduct signalbox. Today only a pair of tracks remain where once both fast and slow lines connected Preston with Kirkham North Junction.
[RIGHT] On 9th April 1968 view as No 44816 approaches Kirkham & Wesham station with the 12-44 Preston-Blackpool South. In the foreground can be seen the trackbed of the former slow lines.
[FAR RIGHT] Having just branched-off at Kirkham North Jct onto the Fylde Coast line, No 44971 passes Ribby Woods on 8th June 1968 with the 20-50 Preston-Blackpool South, conveying through coaches from the 17-05 ex-Euston.
[RIGHT] Lostock Hall’s No 45353 heads south from Lancaster with a Windermere - Euston express in 1967.
[FAR RIGHT] No 45345 waits at Heysham Moss Sidings on 24th February 1968, ready to depart with 6P52, the 14-30 Heysham to Preston NU Yard freight.
Page still under construction - further donations of interesting new pictures will always be welcomed!