Maudland Bridge railway station was once the Preston terminus of the Longridge Branch Line, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It was located on Maudland Road, between a bridge over the

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (Historic counties of England, historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River ...

and Cold Bath Street. The Maudlands district of Preston gets its name from the medieval St. Mary Magdalen's leper hospital, which once stood near the present-day

St Walburge's Church St Walburge's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Preston, Lancashire, England, northwest of the city centre on Weston Street. The church was built in the mid-19th century to a design by the Gothic Revival architect Joseph Hansom, the designer ...

History

In 1850, the Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway (FP&WRR) built the Miley Tunnel to connect two existing lines, the

Preston and Longridge Railway The Preston and Longridge Railway (P&LR) was a branch line in Lancashire, England. Originally designed to carry quarried stone in horse-drawn wagons, it became part of an ambitious plan to link the Lancashire coast to the heart of Yorkshire. The ...

at Deepdale, and the

Preston and Wyre Joint Railway The Preston and Wyre Railway (P&WR) was built to connect Preston, Lancashire, Preston, on the London and North Western Railway West Coast Main Line, with the port of Fleetwood, at the mouth of the River Wyre. It opened in 1840. An associated comp ...

(P&WR) at . The plan was to link

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

the Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to ...

coast to

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. However the plan collapsed in 1852, and so the tunnel was initially used for goods traffic only. In 1856, the FP&WRR revived and diverted passenger trains via the tunnel to a new Maudland Bridge station. By 1867 the line was owned jointly by the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company before the Railways Act 1921, 1923 Grouping. It was Incorporation (business)#Incorporation in the United Kingdom, incorpo ...

and the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR). In 1885, the track layout at Maudland was altered to allow Longridge trains to run on the adjacent LNWR

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

Preston railway station Preston railway station, in Preston, Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, England, is an interchange on the West Coast Main Line; it is approximately half-way between Euston railway station, London Euston and Glasgow Central station, Glasgow Centra ...

, and Maudland Bridge was closed. A goods station, to replace the demolished P&WR Maudland station, was built nearby. Although the line through Maudland Bridge station closed to passengers in 1930, it continued to be used for goods until the 1990s. Some of the tracks, now rusty and overgrown, still exist, although the station itself (which was situated on the northern side of Maudlands Street opposite where the

University of Central Lancashire The University of Lancashire (previously abbreviated UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in ''The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge'', founded in 1828. Previously k ...

's Foster and JB Firth buildings are now located) is long demolished.

Accidents

The disused Miley Tunnel has been the site of several accidents in recent years. Two young men were injured in separate incidents in 1998 and 2000, each falling over into the tunnel off a wall near Moor Lane. On Christmas Day 2002, a drunken youth fell to his death at the same point.

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

erected fences six weeks later. In October 2003 another drunken man fell onto the disused line at Maudland Bank but escaped serious injury.

The future

In 2003, the Preston City Link Canal Trust was formed with a plan to reopen part of the

to a new marina to be constructed in the vicinity of the former Maudland Bridge station. One option being considered is to reopen the Longridge line as far as Deepdale or Ribbleton, the line passing by viaduct over the new marina."Preston City Link Canal Trust"
accessed 13 June 2007

Notes

References

* Hunt, D. (2003) ''The Wharncliffe Companion to Preston — An A to Z of Local History''
Wharncliffe Books, Barnsley
. * Suggitt, G. (2003, revised 2004) ''Lost Railways of Lancashire''
Countryside Books, Newbury
* Till, J.M. (1993) ''A History of Longridge and its People''
Carnegie Publishing, Preston
{{City of Preston culture Disused railway stations in Preston Former Preston and Longridge Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1856 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1885