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In the opening paragraph of this article, it states "an ambitious plan to link the Lancashire coast to the heart of Yorkshire. The plan failed, and the line closed to passengers in 1930 and to goods in 1967."
Sorry, but I don't consider a railway line that operated from 1839 to 1967 (128 years) a failure, not when you consider its closure was a result of the Beeching cuts, and especially not when you consider the line was bought by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and later jointly owned by the London and North Western Railway i.e. if t was a failure, it would have closed much early than it did, and was lucrative enough to be purchased by another company. There is also the fact that it extended its original Preston terminus from Deepdale Street to Maudlank Bank.
I have therefore amended the opening paragraph to "...the heart of Yorkshire. The line closed to passengers in 1930 and to goods in 1967." Blammy1 ( talk) 22:52, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
As currently described in this article, I believe that he actual date that this line began operating needs to be confirmed, as sources other than those cited for this article state that the line was "completed" in March 1839 and "inaugurated" on 1 May 1840, whereby the opening date stated in the article is this inauguration date. [1] [a] [2]
As to the railway's original terminus at Deepdale Street, records refer to its opening date (which is the same as the inauguration date for the railway) rather than its construction date. Furthermore, I cannot locate any reputable sources stating what date actual operations commenced i.e. confirmation whether or not the line in use between its "completion" and its "inaugruation". Also, I have seen references to the fact that quarries (plural) existed around Longridge, including at Longridge Fell and at Tootle Heights Quarry, which I cannot ascertain to be one and the same, but I have historical records (in PDF but no longer have the reference details) that at least four (4) quarries were operating at Tootle Heights between 1830 and 1860, and that the "quarry masters" who owned them were messrs Fletcher , Flemings, Marsden and Spencer [3] [4]
I have established that the Tootle Heights Quarry was operating before 1839 and that the tramway from the quarry to Longridge - the first section of the line to be opened - was also open by the end of 1839 (interestingly, it should be noted that although railway operations commenced from Longridge no later than 1 May 1840, the station itself was not built until 1848) at that at Longridge the "stone was loaded onto wagons and transported to Preston and on to the docks" but I can no longer find this reference nor can I recollect whether the wagons to Preston where transported by road or rail. However, I have located a photo showing a tunnel on this section of the line and a construction date of 1839. [5]
Furthermore, under the relevant Companies Act, Railways Act or Railway Companies Act (Individual) of the day, all details regarding the (proposed) operation of the railway must be defined, and if approved, brought into effect by an Act of Parliament (eg. the Preston and Longridge Railway Act) which defines the conditions associated with the company, and passes ownership of the land for the line from the Crown to the company. Based upon this, the following key information sources have been identified: [6]
However, the articles are only accessible offline from the respective archives, and are not documented on Wikipedia. Therefore, all that I can confirm from the existence of these records is that:
Please note that David Hindle's book All Stations to Longridge (2010, ISBN 9781445602004) may provide an answer without having to sight the artefacts that I have listed above.
To conclude, although I believe this issue needs to be resolved and if necessary, the article updated according (or amended to differentiate between key dates), I feel I have already added my tuppence worth and I am not doing anymore research into this, as I am already writing a number of Wikipedia articles which are taking up FAR too much of my time.
Blammy1 (
talk) 03:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
The planned tram line has been an extremely long ,still, unresolved venture. Personally, as are many others, we are keen to see this development actually materialise, but it has been a 13 year wait....so far. Come on and move forward!! Meleril ( talk) 10:11, 10 April 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | The route diagram template for this article can be found in Template:Preston and Longridge Railway RDT. |
In the opening paragraph of this article, it states "an ambitious plan to link the Lancashire coast to the heart of Yorkshire. The plan failed, and the line closed to passengers in 1930 and to goods in 1967."
Sorry, but I don't consider a railway line that operated from 1839 to 1967 (128 years) a failure, not when you consider its closure was a result of the Beeching cuts, and especially not when you consider the line was bought by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and later jointly owned by the London and North Western Railway i.e. if t was a failure, it would have closed much early than it did, and was lucrative enough to be purchased by another company. There is also the fact that it extended its original Preston terminus from Deepdale Street to Maudlank Bank.
I have therefore amended the opening paragraph to "...the heart of Yorkshire. The line closed to passengers in 1930 and to goods in 1967." Blammy1 ( talk) 22:52, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
As currently described in this article, I believe that he actual date that this line began operating needs to be confirmed, as sources other than those cited for this article state that the line was "completed" in March 1839 and "inaugurated" on 1 May 1840, whereby the opening date stated in the article is this inauguration date. [1] [a] [2]
As to the railway's original terminus at Deepdale Street, records refer to its opening date (which is the same as the inauguration date for the railway) rather than its construction date. Furthermore, I cannot locate any reputable sources stating what date actual operations commenced i.e. confirmation whether or not the line in use between its "completion" and its "inaugruation". Also, I have seen references to the fact that quarries (plural) existed around Longridge, including at Longridge Fell and at Tootle Heights Quarry, which I cannot ascertain to be one and the same, but I have historical records (in PDF but no longer have the reference details) that at least four (4) quarries were operating at Tootle Heights between 1830 and 1860, and that the "quarry masters" who owned them were messrs Fletcher , Flemings, Marsden and Spencer [3] [4]
I have established that the Tootle Heights Quarry was operating before 1839 and that the tramway from the quarry to Longridge - the first section of the line to be opened - was also open by the end of 1839 (interestingly, it should be noted that although railway operations commenced from Longridge no later than 1 May 1840, the station itself was not built until 1848) at that at Longridge the "stone was loaded onto wagons and transported to Preston and on to the docks" but I can no longer find this reference nor can I recollect whether the wagons to Preston where transported by road or rail. However, I have located a photo showing a tunnel on this section of the line and a construction date of 1839. [5]
Furthermore, under the relevant Companies Act, Railways Act or Railway Companies Act (Individual) of the day, all details regarding the (proposed) operation of the railway must be defined, and if approved, brought into effect by an Act of Parliament (eg. the Preston and Longridge Railway Act) which defines the conditions associated with the company, and passes ownership of the land for the line from the Crown to the company. Based upon this, the following key information sources have been identified: [6]
However, the articles are only accessible offline from the respective archives, and are not documented on Wikipedia. Therefore, all that I can confirm from the existence of these records is that:
Please note that David Hindle's book All Stations to Longridge (2010, ISBN 9781445602004) may provide an answer without having to sight the artefacts that I have listed above.
To conclude, although I believe this issue needs to be resolved and if necessary, the article updated according (or amended to differentiate between key dates), I feel I have already added my tuppence worth and I am not doing anymore research into this, as I am already writing a number of Wikipedia articles which are taking up FAR too much of my time.
Blammy1 (
talk) 03:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
The planned tram line has been an extremely long ,still, unresolved venture. Personally, as are many others, we are keen to see this development actually materialise, but it has been a 13 year wait....so far. Come on and move forward!! Meleril ( talk) 10:11, 10 April 2023 (UTC)