Blackpool North Train Station

The station in its current form opened in 1974, replacing an earlier station located a few hundred yards away on Talbot Road, which had first opened in 1846 and was rebuilt in 1898. The present station incorporates the 1938 concrete canopy that once covered the entrance to the excursion platforms of the former station. Blackpool North was part of the InterCity network until 2003, when Virgin Trains withdrew HST and Voyager services to London Euston and Birmingham. Services from Blackpool to London Euston, previously operated by the local franchise holder First North Western, were subsequently discontinued.

Blackpool’s other station, Blackpool South, located in the southern part of the town, provides services to Preston and Colne but does not connect to Blackpool North. Given Blackpool’s status as a popular tourist destination, known for attractions such as the Pleasure Beach and its beaches, various measures are in place to prevent fare evasion. These include automated barrier checks and conductors on the trains. The station is situated approximately half a mile along Talbot Road from the Blackpool tramway.

Although these couldn’t be considered Blue Plaques in the strictest sense, they are from the Heritage Trust, which makes them very close cousins.

The plaque from the Heritage Trust above reads: The two Cast Iron Plaques below were originally attached to the main entrance gates of the former Blackpool North Station situated at the junction of Talbot Road & Dickson Road. They were rescued when the station was demolished in 1973. They represent the two companies, the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L& Y) and the London North Western Railway (LNWR) which jointly ran services into the town until their merger in 1922, a year prior to the formation of the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) one of the four groups to operate the Railway System until Nationalisation in 1948. Kindly Sponsored by First North Western.