Friday 10th November 2017 saw the last train run on the South Fylde Line for 3 months.
The friends of St. Anne’s Station met late on Friday night to wave off the last train for the next 12 weeks.
The volunteers marked the occasion by sharing a flask of coffee containing something ‘warming’ and displayed sad faced emojis whilst having the event recorded on camera. Although there were a few passengers on the last service of the year, at least the occasion didn’t go unnoticed. We’ll probably never know what the train crew thought of the whole thing!
Chairman of the group, and of the South Fylde Line CRP, Tony Ford said; “We’ve recently won two In Bloom Awards for the station and rather than let the last train just leave unannounced, we felt we ought to acknowledge the line closure and be aware that changes to signalling and track configurations further up the line may well reduce delays to the service in the future.”
Vice Chair of the Friends Group, Barrie Russell added: “We are also considering a number of options to welcome passengers back on 29th January 2018 when the line reopens.”
The line closure is part of the Great North Rail Project that will see the electrification of the route between Preston and Blackpool North. The South Fylde Line will reopen on Sunday 28th January 2018 whilst the line to Blackpool North will remain closed until Sunday 25th March 2018.
Network Rail have issued a briefing document that explains more about the project and this can be downloaded here Blackpool to Preston Great North Rail Project – November 2017