Preston Railway Station Heritage Event Tour Saturday 10th September 2016

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Major railway stations always have lots of history, and Preston, situated almost exactly midway between London and Glasgow, is an important transit point between North and South. The station was opened on Fishergate in 1838, killing horse drawn carriage and canal trade almost overnight. There were initially two separate rail companies who did not get on well with one another and before platforms were completed, passengers would have to walk along the tracks to reach connecting trains which rarely waited if the first train was delayed. In 1869, there was a derailment incident with a train misjudging its speed on a curve in the track approaching Preston. Though all the crowded carriages tipped over there was only one fatality. The railways massively boosted Preston as an industrial town, with Courtald’s being the first business in the UK to start hiring workers from Asia to help meet demand. The station has two subway footpaths for reaching platforms through though many passengers fail to notice the lower level one. We explored it and much of the tour presentation took place down there clear of the noise of trains and station announcements. The height of lines, gradients and tracks was misleading. Many buildings close to the station have double cellars. We had a railway police officer among our guides who described one officer narrowly avoiding injury when he pursued a felon who tried to escape by jumping over a wall into a nearby post office courtyard. The policemen’s colleagues caught the PC as he dangled over a deceptively sharp drop. The crook was not so lucky and broke several bones. His arrest was completed at his hospital bedside. We were told of a few other stories of police heroism and mishap. The young officer guiding us is compiling a book on policemen killed in the line of duty in the county of Lancaster, (which includes Preston). Up to the late 1940’s current stringent rules against crossing railway tracks were not enforced and one officer was killed by a train while pursuing a suspect across the lines approaching the railway station. We were treated to poems by local poet, William Michael Neary who was very entertaining and moving with his tribute to the war heroes, performed appropriately by the station’s war memorial. Charles Dickens visited the station by train in 1854 to research his book, Hard Times and write journalistic reports on strikes affecting the city. In 1897, Tzar Nicholas 2nd of Russia visited the city and its station. Famous trains to pass through or stop at the station included The Flying Scot, Royal Scot, The Mallard, The Manxman, The Belfast Boat Train, and the Deltic. The station was and remains a Mecca for train-spotters. A special viewing tunnel was set up for them, The Glass Tunnel, though it is now a stone tunnel. Another train of note was designated number 47472, but known prophetically as The City Of Preston, decades before the town was granted city status. For holiday-makers special discount Wakes-Week tickets enabled travellers from Northern Mill towns and cities to visit the region cheaply, with The Lake District being by far the most popular destination. During World War One, a recruitment drive involved letting men from towns and communities enlist and train and even fight together as ‘Pal’s Regimentes’ as they would be sure to watch out for one another. This sadly meant whole groups of friends were killed in clusters. One major pal’s Regiment was Preston Pals, who travelled from the station to the front lines, often never to return. The station set up a unique ongoing free refreshment buffet for all enlisted service men to use when going to fight or coming home on leave. This was run entirely by volunteers and later repeated in the Second World War. As the four guide tour reached its conclusion we were invited to join in with a fun re-enactment of a bit of alternative history. An actual amusing event occurred in 1896, or rather it didn’t. Queen Victoria was on the Royal train to Balmoral, and expressed her desire to stop for breakfast at Preston Station. Various dignitaries and citizens waited eagerly to greet her as the train arrive, but she was not woken in time and the train went through the station without stopping. Our restaging imagined how things ought to have gone had she arrived on the platforms. A lady was singled out to play Victoria and I was asked to wear a cool stovepipe hat and pretend to be Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Any delusion of historic accuracy vanished as other tourists were transformed with hats and wigs into Tommy Cooper, Lord Nelson, John Lennon and Zorro. We waved and cheered as the now amused at last Queen walked on a single square of red carpet, before our lovely tour came to an end. Arthur Chappell