Kal

Hi yes they were, the whole are between chapel road which no longer reaches clifton drive and glasdon was gasworks. I think olympic way is the end of where chapel road used to be. the old buildings pretty much covered the information centre, petrol station and carpark to left of tescos. The right hand boundry of the gasworks is what is now between the end of the tesco building and matalan. an old lane that i mentioned carried on south there as far as the railway, continuing langdale road over clifton drive and up the east side of the tesco building. I also found this site while looking, but you may have already seen it: http://www.disused-s...tal/index.shtml Regards Kal

Hi Just checked the google maps sat view, and yes yu can see the old platforms, they are grey and the cars tend to park on them, the black areas are where the lines used to be. Yeadon way follows the path of th railway very well, but it was odd to see some of the country lanes like chapel road now lost in urban growth, it was a very different enviroment in my youth. Regards Kal

HI The M55 was built between late 1973 till 1975 from memory. Preston New Road A 583 crossed a small bidge called Peel bridge in the middle of what is the motorway start/ bridge roundabout junction. We used to ride bits of fibreglass down the inner edges pf the slope under the bridge to where the rail lines used to be. All the kids were very upset at the demise of peel bridge and our cresta run!. We held a protest for about 20 minutes until our mums called us for tea lol . Anyway the new motorway bridges were much faster and longer. Glasdon was there at the time, and there was an old lane up the side of it which was a large traveller encampment for as long as i can remember. Tescos, sits on the site of a large gas works complex that was closed before my memory begins, we used to play in the old factories. As you say beyond that to the south was quite rural. We used to travel along the embankment to go fishing, there were two good ponds in the fields near by. You could walk along the enbankment past the back of the dairy, The bass charington depot and daintee sweet factory and round the back of St georges school up to where there was a brige over by the Welcome inn. From there on to the junction of Watson road, St annes road and marton drive, which had a very big Steel Girder Bridge with FERNOD written across it. and a slope down to watson road park on one side and palatine school on the other. The embankment then dropped down then in a right hand curve to meet warterloo rd station and join the line that follows the coast through salwick and ansdel. You could then walk along a much wider stip of waste land, under waterloo bridge to Bloomfield rd and under the bridge that used to be at the side of the football ground. From there it turned into semi tarmac, very wide strip, where the coaches used to park when Blackpool was a much busier place. Past the old Blackpool Borough rugby league ground / dogtrack on your right, over rigby road with the tram depot on your left, over chapel street and eventually followed by the police station on the left , with the old toilet block on your right and coral island to your front. Unless they have resurfaced, you can still see the old platforms at central where they just filled in the "holes" between where the tracks used to be. Do not know what happened to the old model ralway but it was big, I think it was 8p for entrance for kids , I seem to remember that because I could then afford either a pack of quavers or 8 mojos with the tuppence change. From memory the layout was at least 100 ft circumference and had ,multiple levels that meant as a kid of about 4 ft ish I could not see over the other side of the display making like a mountain in the centre. Hmm, the memories Regards Kal e

Hi I do not remember the central station other than fleeting memories when i was very young, but do remember the area not long after it was closed, the embankment between mereside and central was a much used short cut by foot or by bike or many years. I remember the old peel bridge before it was demolished to build the M55. I remember Blackpool south when it was a much bigger station and also saw the flying scotsman there one summer around about 1978. Blackpool South had a vey large Model railway and shop in the old booking hall which was called platform three. I also remember Blackpool North before it was demolished and replaced by Finefare supermarket. Sadly all I have are some memories, no photographs i am afraid. Regards TNT