Fleetwood Station

At Fleetwood the L&YR company is erecting a large new passenger station for the accommodation of travellers by the Belfast and Isle of Man boats, together with extensive storage accommodation to meet the requirements of the important cattle traffic with the Irish ports. The station will consist of one central platform, 250 yards in length, with a line of way on side, and a covered in roof, 516 feet in length. The station will be constructed with a complete set of apartments, consisting of refreshment and waiting rooms, in connection with which will also be dressing rooms for the accommodation of the steamboat passengers. From the station to the boats there will also be a covered way, so that the passengers can change from the one to the other completely under shelter. L&YR Minutes January 1882] 

EXTENSIVE NEW RAILWAY WORKS AT FLEETWOOD - Works of a very extensive and costly character are at present in progress at Fleetwood. They will entail an expenditure of nearly £300,000. The works, which are being carried out at the cost of the L&YR Company, who are the lessees of the railway between Preston and Fleetwood, and the owners of the docks at the last-named port, include new passenger and goods stations, a granary and steam corn elevator, and the extension of the pier. The new passenger station, 670 feet in length, will run immediately in front of the site from which the Belfast steamers are dispatched. The structure, which is being built of brick, with stone dressings, has been designed by C C Greene, one of the L&YR Company's engineers (sic). The outer walls will be surmounted with gables, having iron principals with ornate spandrels. There will be fourteen gables along the length of the building, each of which will have an ornate finial. The station will be covered in with a roof partly of glass and partly slated. Large and handsome refreshment rooms and a dining room form prominent features of the station buildings. There will be two spacious entrances to the station, one leading by way of the refreshment rooms straight to a covered way to the steam ships, but both go on to the same platform. The ground floor of the end block will contain two large refreshment rooms, first and second, together with the dining hall. The block containing the different offices and waiting rooms will run down the centre of the station proper, its entire length being 350 feet. On each side of the block there will be spacious platforms, one of which is 290 feet in length, and the other 260 feet in length. Passengers proceeding by steamer on arriving by railway at Fleetwood will be under cover all the way from the train to the steamer, which will be reached along a covered subway, 500 feet in length. A short distance from this subway there will be a large warehouse, 400 feet long and 50 feet wide, with another subway underneath for cattle. This is in connection with a new goods station, also in course of erection. The goods will be moved to and from the warehouse by hydraulic machinery. The contract for the new stations and warehouses has been let to E Gabbutt, builder, of Liverpool, the amount of the contract being £120,000. J Hodgson of Manchester is the clerk of works. 

The extension of the pier is also a work of considerable importance. The extension will be about 130 feet in length by 40 feet in width. The work is also in progress, pile driving having been commenced last week. The construction of the new granary and corn elevator, to facilitate the discharge of cargoes at Fleetwood, is likewise in progress. The designs for this structure have been prepared jointly by Mr. Davies, CE. of Manchester, and Mr. Matlock CE, resident engineer at Fleetwood. The warehouse will be 200 feet long by 90 feet wide, and will be of great height, with a tower carried up to a height of 170 feet, to which altitude the grain will be elevated. The design of the building is altogether of a novel character, so far as this country is concerned. The two engineers specially visited New York for the purpose of inspecting similar buildings there for the shipment of grain, and the structure now in course of erection at Fleetwood is the result of their visit to the States. The elevator will be worked by steam, the engines being of 250 horse-power, which, with the whole of the machinery, is being supplied by Messrs. Hick, of Bolton. Messrs. Cooper & Tullis, of Preston, are the contractors for the building, which has already been carried to a height of 50 feet. The cost of this portion of the works will be about £50,000; but it is stated that a much larger expenditure will have to be incurred in collateral works. (The Builder, 7 January 1882)  

OPENING - On Tuesday, 1st. May the large and handsome station of the L&YR at Fleetwood was used for the first time for boat traffic. It provides accommodation and conveniences which have long been desired for passengers to Belfast and the Isle of Man. The station and buildings connected with it have cost about £120,000. (Manchester Courier, 3 May 1883) 

NEW STATION - The new station at Fleetwood belonging to the L&YR has been opened this week. The station and the buildings connected with it have been erected by E. Gabbutt, the contractor, from designs by C. W. Green, the architect of the company; the cost has been estimated at about £120,000. The covered portion of the station occupies an area of 570 feet by 82 feet. The roof contains 17 spans, and the girders, which are of iron, as well as the pillars, are painted of a light blue colour. Directly opposite the main entrance and across the station is the entrance to the covered way which leads down to the Belfast and Isle of Man steamers. At the extremity of this passage, the doors open upon the stage alongside which the Isle of Man steamers lie at high water, while there is another passage by which the vessels can be approached at low water. There is a commodious waiting room here for the passengers by the boats. In connection with this station the workmen are engaged in erecting a warehouse, 350 feet long by 65 feet wide. (Manchester Evening News, 3 May 1883)