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The Fleetwood branch line consists of the railway line from Preston to Fleetwood. It passed through many smaller stations along the way (most of which are now closed). When work at Fleetwood docks was under threat in the mid-1960s, the main Fleetwood station was closed; the remainder of the branch south to Poulton followed in 1970. Proposals exist to re-open the branch to passenger services in the near future.
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History
The line was first opened in 1840. In 1966, Fleetwood station was closed, and Wyre Dock station became the terminus; however, four years later in 1970 passenger services were curtailed as far as Poulton-le-Fylde. The line continued as a freight route to access the ICI plant at Burn Naze Halt until 1999, when all traffic on the line ceased.
Current situation
Some of the track is now clear of being overgrown as the northern track was never lifted up past Burn Naze Halt to just beyond Jameson Road Fleetwood although the road bridge was filled in below it. On this stretch the junction is still there where goods trains used to take coal to Fleetwood Power Station. If you look over the road bridge on Jameson Road you can still see the track (to both north & south) through the undergrowth. In the 1990s, the new A585 Amounderness Way bypass was built on the former trackbed, though sufficient space still exists for a reinstated railway should it be required.
Future of the branch
The Association of Train Operating Companies has supported the re-opening of the branch line to Fleetwood in its Connecting Communities report, and Lancashire County Council's (LCC) Rail Improvement Schemes draft report in March 2010 stated the case for re-opening was "compelling". Network Rail has stated that a feasibility study must first take place, which would cost around £30,000. As well as re-opening the branch, it is likely that a third platform would also be constructed at Poulton-le-Fylde.
The cost of re-opening the branch is estimated at £5.5 million as the northern track is still in situ to just past Jameson Road Fleetwood. The line will have a planned freight trip to Fleetwood Tip.
Preservation
The Poulton & Wyre Railway Society is a local organisation campaigning for the line to be re-instated and have taken a three-year lease on Thornton for Cleveleys station; LCC seeks to support the society to help to deliver the scheme.
The Society – having completed full restoration of Thornton-and-Cleveleys station, (as their headquarters) – have now begun work to clear vegetation & restore the disused platform at Burn Naze halt, (two miles north of Thornton-and-Cleveleys) as part of their ambition to restore most of the line for heritage trains.