Blackpool North Railway Station

Blackpool North railway station is the main station serving the seaside resort of Blackpool in Lancashire, England. It is the terminus of the main Blackpool branch line – 17.5 miles northwest of Preston and managed by Northern Trains. It’s one of five train stations on the two lines serving the town of Blackpool.

Find it at: Talbot Road, Blackpool, FY1 2AB

About Blackpool North Railway Station

Blackpool North station is the terminus of the Blackpool branch line. From there you can catch regular services to Manchester Victoria, York, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Airport, and a daily service to London Euston.

It’s really easy to get to on foot or by car. Although located just on the edge of the town centre it’s in handy walking distance to all the main parts of the town. The seafront is a ten minute walk straight along Talbot Road – the town centre ten minutes (or less) to the South.

Blackpool North Station operates almost around the clock.

• There is a ticket office which is open Monday to Friday, 6.30am to 8pm. Weekend hours differ, please check with the National Rail website before visiting.
• Staff help is available at the station from 5.30 to 00.35, Monday to Saturday. Sundays it’s 7.30am to midnight.
• The car park is available 24 hours a day.

Take a look around –

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Facilities at Blackpool North Station

Along with the ticket office, there is also an accessible ticket machine. Find it on the right, just inside the concourse, it’s opposite the ticket office. The machine accepts cash and cards. You can also collect tickets at the machine which you have bought online. You’ll pass through automated barriers before you enter the main station area – as is the case in most station around the country.

Shops and services within the station include a cafe and a newsagent. There are plenty of food and drink facilities in the area around the station, including take-away from Sainsbury’s and Subway. There’s also a Starbucks coffee shop and public bar in the new Holiday Inn.

Travel to and from Blackpool North

Taxis: There is a taxi rank at the station. The taxi rank is located outside the front of the station, only about 16m (17yd 1ft) from the main entrance.

Parking: You can travel by car to Blackpool North station and leave it in the car park there. It’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so you can leave your car overnight, or for the duration of your trip. There are 30 spaces in the car park. Please pay for parking via the ticket office inside the station.

Nearby there is also a large car park across the road at Sainsburys and a multi-storey NCP at Talbot Road. A new Blackpool Council car park is also opening on the Holiday Inn site. More here about parking in Blackpool.

Trams: As of June 2024 you will also be able to travel by tram to North Station. The new tramway extension officially opens on 12 June 2024, carrying fee paying passengers from Sunday 16th. Trams travel along Talbot Road to the tram stop located at the side of the Holiday Inn, adjacent to the underpass to the station.

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History of Blackpool North Railway Station

MANY THANKS once again to Nick Moore and his fascinating History of Blackpool for the historical information used in this page. You can read it here.

The Blackpool North Station we know today opened in it’s present form/location in 1974.

But an earlier Blackpool Railway Station was previously built in 1846, on a gentle rise opposite the Talbot Hotel. Originally it had only two lines, but extra excursion platforms were soon added, opening to the top of Queen Street. This previous Blackpool Railway Station was first opened, a little further west along Talbot Road, on 29 April 1846 by Preston and Wyre Joint Railway.

Did you know? Spoil from excavations at Blackpool North was dumped on the seashore, later to become the foundation for North Pier!

Thomas Clifton did a deal to use his land as a route to extend the railway from Poulton to Talbot Square Station, opening on 29 April 1846. For the first time this brought many thousands of working people to Blackpool, now that cheap excursion trains could arrive from industrial Lancashire and Yorkshire.

In 1872 it was renamed Blackpool Talbot Road Station. On 14 May 1883 new excursion platforms were opened, complete with new signalling system. In 1898 the station was rebuilt, complete with veranda, impressive clock tower and two immense train sheds. The terminal building was at Dickson Street (then called Warbreck Road), between Talbot Road and Queen Street.

North or Central?

On 6 April 1863 a small cabin railway station called Hound Hill opened at the northern end of the new line from Lytham. Renamed Blackpool Central in June 1878 and by 1905 officially the busiest in Europe!

But it was controversially closed, by order of Blackpool Corporation, on 1 November 1964. Doctor Beeching actually recommended that North and Layton Stations should close instead. But as far back as 1940 they’d seen that closing Central would release a lot of valuable development land. What a shame that it took 80 years to realise that vision! The redevelopment of Blackpool Central as a leisure destination is only now getting underway.

Blackpool North as we know it

Blackpool North Station opened in January 1973 – officially opened by the Mayor on 8 April 1973. It’s based on the canopy of the old Excursion Sheds at the top of Queen Street. Last used in late January 1974, the old Talbot Road Station was demolished in March of the same year. The site became (as always!) a temporary car park until construction on Fine Fare began on 27 September 1974. Fine Fare of course became Wilko – now redeveloped as the new Holiday Inn and tramway extension – Phase 2 of Talbot Gateway.

Blackpool North received the area’s first automatic ticket gates on 21 January 2008. Then in September 2017 work began to reduce the eight platforms to six. This change allows trains to enter and leave the station more efficiently and, from May 2018, deliver more reliable journeys.

The Arrival of Electric Trains

Work also began at Blackpool North to accommodate electric trains, which was first announced in December 2009. First of all bridgeworks took place along the route to raise and rebuild those that had insufficient clearance for overhead wires. Then electrification work at Blackpool North began in early 2017.

The track layout was changed and re-signalled. New electrical overhead line equipment and gantries added, along with a new train washing facility.

Services to Blackpool South and North were suspended from 11 November 2017 to allow the track layout at Blackpool North and Kirkham to be remodelled. A third platform was also built at Kirkham and Wesham station. Services to Blackpool South resumed on 29 January 2018, and the line to Blackpool North re-opened on 16 April 2018. Electric trains operated from 20 May 2018 using Class 319 and Class 390 Electric multiple units.