Preston Station - Past & Present
Station Tour - Platform 4 & 5
(formerly 6 & 7)
pic7The first 3 photos on this page were taken from similar positions and show some of the changes which have taken place over the last 40 years.

The first dates from 1967 and shows the reality of steam railways. A grimy 70022 passes the signal box adjacent to what is now platform 5.

pic8Just a decade later - Electric traction is now well established on the West Coast Main Line.

An unidentified class 83 and 84003 prepare to depart from the same platform. Like 70022 in the photo above, these locomotives are now a memory, having made way for more modern traction.

Photo by Alan Robinson

pic562005, Lord of the Isles lets off some steam prior to departure with the "Pendle Witch" railtour in 2003. In the background, Debenhams and the Fishergate Shopping Centre now occupy the space which was once the Butler Street Goods Yard.
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Stanier class 5 4-6-0 no 44800 cement train Preston 22-9-67.
Bill Watson
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Class 87 no. 87014 stands at Platform 4 - the usual platform for WCML expresses heading south.The photo was taken in 2004 towards the end of the end of their long reign on the West Coast Main Line.

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A Class 86 departs from platform 6 with a train of Mk1 coaches. In the background, part of the old East Lancs Goods yard are still standing

Photo by Alan Robinson

 

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47603 "North Star" stands at platform 5 on a sunny day in Preston during 1984. This loco is one of the survivors of the class, still working for a living in 2007 as 47840, and currently in the same livery as pictured here. Soon it will retire into preservation, with a repaint into two-tone green on the cards. There is a photograph of this locomotive in 2004, on the North End page of this website.

(c) Neil Dimmer (1984) 

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Platforms 3 & 4 are occupied by Brush type 4s, with an English Electric class 50 sitting alongside.

The trains are 1M20 10:10 Glasgow C to Euston Royal Scot and 1M23 10:25 Edinburgh to Birmingham.
The 10:10 from Glasgow was booked to pass Preston at 13/40 with 1M23 calling arriving 14:10 so it looks like the failure and loco change had cost the Royal Scot only 30 mins or so.

Before they migrated to the south west, the 50s were used on the non-electrified northern . Eventually, electrification was completed between Preston and Glasgow, but for a few years, the 50-strong class were as common as the Pendolino is today at Preston.

Photo and background information from Trevor Machell - dated 4th June 68

 

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AC electrics 84003 and 85017 exit the station southwards from platform 5

Photo by Alan Robinson

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Class 86 on platform 4 and a class 47 on platform 5, pictured in 1978.

Photo by Alan Robinson