The Preston and Wyre Joint Railway (PWJR) – in full, the Preston & Wyre Railway and Dock Company – was the result of a merger in 1839 between the Preston & Wyre Railway and Harbour Company, formed in 1835 and the Preston & Wyre Dock Company, formed in 1837. The Dock Company was vested jointly between the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) – one third – and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway – two thirds – on 28 July 1849 to become the PWJR.
The railway was originally built to connect Preston on the LNWR West Coast Main Line with the port of Fleetwood at the mouth of the River Wyre. In 1861 the Blackpool and Lytham Railway (B&LR) was opened; this was included in the Joint Railway, amalgamated in 1871. A branch from Poulton-le-Fylde to a station at Talbot Road, Blackpool, completed the 45 miles (72 km) of track.
The following stations exist or have existed on the line:
Lea Road: closed 2 May 1938
Salwick: closed 2 May 1938; reopened 8 April 1940
Kirkham and Wesham – junction for the Lytham (B&LR) line; and the "Blackpool direct" line to Blackpool South station (line now closed; most of the trackbed is now part of the M55 motorway and Yeadon Way, Blackpool.)
Wrea Green: closed (1961)
Moss Side
Lytham
Ansdell and Fairhaven
St Annes-on-the-sea
Gillett's Crossing Halt: closed during World War II and permanently 1 January 1949 .
Squires Gate
Blackpool Pleasure Beach on site of former Burlington Road Halt
Blackpool South Shore closed 1916
Blackpool South: was originally Waterloo Road
Blackpool Central: closed 1964
continuation of main line from Kirkham:
Singleton; closed 1932
Poulton-le-Fylde: junction for line to Blackpool North:
Layton: was named Bispham Station.
Blackpool North was named Talbot Road Station
continuation of main line from Poulton-le-Fylde; this section is closed to traffic:
Thornton for Cleveleys serving Thornton and Cleveleys: between here and Bispham (see above) was a curve (now closed) on which stood Poulton Curve Halt
Burn Naze halt
Fleetwood Wyre Dock serving Fleetwood: there was a goods branch to Wyre Dock; it was the terminus from 1966 until 1970, when it closed.
Fleetwood serving Fleetwood: closed in 1966, when the terminus transferred to Fleetwood Wyre Dock.
