The Platform Morecambe, Lancashire, UK
N 54° 04.290 W 002° 52.499
30U E 508180 N 5991484
Morecambe is a seaside resort that was extremely popular 100 years ago. Still popular today. This wonderful station is just one of many buildings preserved from Victorian and Georgian times, and is used as public house, tourist information centre and live stage. Current station is a modern island-platform replacement only a few hundred meters further back, but is now accessed as a branch from main line.
Waymark Code: WMTEY
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/07/2006
Views: 106
The Platform arts venue, and the Tourist Information Centre are both housed in the restored former railway station with a fine restored glazed canopy. At some point the local council took over this venue and run a busy program of live acts and local events. Indoor children's play area in adjoining old station building. Outside area is publicly accessible, with many art installations, as part of the TERN project (
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MORECAMBE Tourist Information Centre
Old Station Buildings, Marine Road Central, Morecambe, England. LA4 4DB
Tel: (01524) 582808. Fax: (01524) 582549
Summer opening: 9.30am - 5.00pm (closed Tues at 4.00pm. Sunday opening 10.00am - 4.00pm)
Winter opening: 9.30am - 4.30pm (closed Tues at 4.00pm, Sat at 5.00pm. Closed all day Sunday.)
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Live Acts (
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Community events (
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History
On 1st June 1850 the first train ran from Leeds through to the new harbour at Poulton-le-Sands, on the south side of Morecambe Bay. Alongside the port a new holiday resort was created, and a seaside home for wealthy industrialists. People were pouring in on excursion trains within months of the line opening. In 1852 the expanding Midland Railway took over the running of the Little North Western, who built the line, though full amalgamation did not take place until 1871.
The route between Wennington and Morecambe was much more direct than the one followed today. It ran alongside the River Lune all the way from Hornby to Green Ayre, and then crossed the river on the curved Greyhound Bridge before heading for the coast. The Old line is now a cycleway.
"Morecambe" was then the name of the bay where the new harbour was to be built, close to the fishing village of Poulton. It was not until 1889 that the new port and growing resort created by the coming of the railway added to itself the nearby villages of Bare and Torrisholme and officially took the bay's name for its own.
For around a hundred years the Leeds-Morecambe line flourished, with a comprehensive service of express and stopping trains, and numerous excursions at holiday times and weekends. The communities along the line could reach the cities of Yorkshire and Lancashire, and at Leeds and Lancaster they had connections to all parts of the country. Late trains on Saturday nights brought people home from dances in the Central Pier ballroom. In summer Irish labourers crossed to Heysham and travelled by train on to Bentham for the annual "hiring day". There was plenty of freight too, and each station had its goods yard and cattle dock.
In the late 1950s the scene began to change. Freight and passengers alike were drifting increasingly to the roads, and people started to look farther afield for their holidays. The railways were now nationalised, and losing money. From 1966 all trains took the Carnforth line and then reached Morecambe via the west coast main line and Hest Bank north junction. Passengers for Lancaster had to change at Carnforth. At the time there was still enough freight moving between Yorkshire and the Furness peninsular for this to seem a reasonable compromise, but the freight soon dried up.
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Address
The Platform,
Station Buildings,
Central Promenade
Morecambe
LA4 4DB
Parking adjacent and on street opposite, in front of Midland Hotel.