2024 – UK – “Railcard Return”

A celebratory return to the Fylde Coast

Return of the Railcard

They say that “age is just a number” and there is probably some truth in that. Yet whatever else it does or does not signify, the fact that I have now reached 60 means that I am eligible to purchase a “Senior Railcard.” This entitles me to a third off all rail fares in Britain. To me that seems to be something worth celebrating.

IMG_9279 (002) — Young Person’s Railcard

It is incredible to think that it is 38 years since I last used a national railcard back in the summer of 1986. It seems just like yesterday. Although, looking at the photograph from my last “Young Person’s Railcard”, which for some reason I have kept, and comparing it to the one I have just taken for the new card, perhaps not.

The Young Person’s Railcard itself was introduced back in 1974, the first of several similar discount British Rail products for different groups. Originally aimed only at full-time students, it was first named the “Student Railcard” but was extended to include everyone between 14 and 24 in 1980. It became the “Young Persons Railcard” in 1982 before finally changing again to become the “16-25 Railcard” in 2008.

When I last used it back in 1986, the Young Persons Railcard was still giving me 50% off many fares, although that level of discount was altered the following year when the 34% off became standardised. At the same time the age until which child fares were charged was changed from 14 to 16. It is incredible to think now that up until the 1980s passengers as young as 14 were paying full fares.

Railcard History

The first Senior Railcard (known as Senior Citizen Railcard until 1990) appeared in 1975. It was originally only available to those over 65 but was extended to cover everyone over 60 in 1984. At first, the discounted fares offered were a lot more limited than those that could be purchased with the student equivalent. Although in some cases 50% off was possible, cheap travel was restricted by day of the week as well as by ticket type.

Conditions were gradually relaxed and by 1992 the Senior Card finally gave the same level of discount, 34%*, and applied to many of the same fares as the Young Person’s version. Today both cards are available in plastic or digital formats, and both are priced at £30 for a year or £70 for three.

* In September 2024 – it was announced the discount would fall to 33%

Railcard Return

I had been thinking how to celebrate my new railcard for some time. I planned to order the digital version in advance so that I could use it from the very first day. Originally, I decided on a short holiday with my wife, but events conspired to mean that trip would need to be postponed slightly. So, I was forced to plan a solo day out for my 60th; the fact that neither of us usually celebrate our birthdays, made this a lot easier than it might sound.

In the end, the choice of destination was easy. I decided I would go back to the exact place I was born and arrive exactly 60 years on. I would get a return ticket to Blackpool, with senior discount, and then take a selfie outside Victoria Hospital at 4pm.

Blackpool_branch_lines — Blackpool Branch Lines/ Open Street Map / Creative Commons / 3.0

As I planned the trip, I began to get quite excited. Since I lost both my parents over fifteen years ago I haven’t had too many chances or excuses to visit the Northwest. I decided I would go first to Lytham and St. Annes where I grew up, before heading up to Blackpool where I was born and where I went to school.

I purchased the digital railcard on line and then arranged the tickets. I would leave Otford after 7am and be back home before 11pm. This would still give me plenty of time on the Fylde Coast to relive some old memories and reminisce a bit.

To Preston

The big day finally arrived. Even though it was drizzling as I left Otford, the forecast for Lancashire couldn’t have been better: the Fylde Coast promised to be basking in bright sunshine with a high of 19 degrees Celsius. The railway behaved itself too: the 7:08 whisked me up to London Bridge in half an hour and, after a ride on a less-than-crowded Northern Line, I made it to Euston well in time for the 8:30 Glasgow-bound Pendolino that I had planned to catch.

*Red* – The giant advertising board at Euston was completely red. I wondered at first if it was some sort of tribute to the Labour Party, victorious in the recent election, but it turned out to be a commercial for an energy company.

*Avanti West Coast* – The operator of the West Coast Main Line from Euston has a pretty poor reputation and there have been several calls for it to relinquish its contract before it is due to expire.

*Seats –* Nevertheless, Avanti has not done a bad job of refurbishing the Pendolino trains that are used on the route. The new colours are an improvement on the previous garish Virgin red.

An hour at Preston

Avanti behaved itself for once and I was in Preston just over two hours later. I had decided in advance that I would spend an hour at the station. This was the place where I first got interested in railways, so it is a bit special. For 60 minutes I wondered up and down the platforms, in and out of the waiting rooms and sat with a coffee in the buffet reliving a lot of old memories.

Link to > Photographs of my hour at Preston

The South Fylde Line

The 11:49 to Blackpool South, operated by Northern, left Preston on time. We branched off the West Coast Main Line and headed west into the Fylde, the flat area of land that contains the seaside resorts of Lytham St. Annes and Blackpool. At Kirkham & Wesham we branched off onto the “South Fylde” Line.

This was once the main route into Blackpool Central (the resort’s main station at the foot of the Tower) until it closed in 1964. It was reduced to a shuttle service between Blackpool South and Kirkham in 1970, becoming single track a few years later. Today it sees an hourly service from Preston.

We arrived at Lytham at 12:09.

IMG_9095E — *The 11:49 at Preston* – The train was formed of an ex-BR Class 156 2-car diesel unit.

IMG_9102E — *Happy Train* – It was also nice to see the service really busy; we departed Preston with very few seats left. It seemed that everyone was making the most of the nice weather and having a day out by the sea.

*Lytham Station* – When I was growing up here in the early 1970s this railway was in serious decline. The station was reduced to a lonely platform and an unwelcoming bus shelter.

*Volunteers* – Now it seemed transformed. There were murals, planters with flowers and lots of information posters. This is all the work of the South Fylde Community Rail Partnership.

Lytham

I spent around an hour wandering around Lytham.

The political history of Lytham St. Annes is a little bit complicated. Lytham is the older settlement and was originally a small port that had already developed into a resort before the railway arrived in 1846. Most of the land here was owned by the Clifton Family whose residence, Lytham Hall, is now open to the public. The Cliftons leased some of their land west of Lytham to a development company and the resort of St Annes was created towards the end of the 19th century. The two towns initially had separate councils until they merged in 1922.

Back when I was growing up in the 70s, St. Annes had more investment and seemed the more prosperous of the two places, but now the situation has reversed. Lytham has benefited from its reluctance to modernise and having kept many of its original shops it now provides a popular oasis from modern chain stores.

*The Green* – Lytham doesn’t have a beach as such, but it does have a lovely expanse of grass facing the River Ribble estuary.

IMG_9121E — *A lovely clear day* – Views across the estuary to Southport.

IMG_9126CRD — *Pedestrianised* – Lytham’s centre: Clifton Square.

*Repurposed* – My mother’s old bank is now a pub restaurant.

*Floral Display* – The old market hall and war memorial

*Fresh Shrimps* – Many of the shops I remembered from my youth were still flourishing.

*Tom Towers* – It was great to see so many small businesses selling local produce.

*Wheelan’s* – One of my favourite fish and chip restaurants.

St. Annes

I jumped on the next bus to St. Annes. The trip took about twenty minutes. About half way we paused at Lindsay Avenue, the stop nearest to my house, where I used to wait every day for seven years at the start of my hour or so grind to school in Blackpool. This was literally a trip down memory lane.

I alighted at St. Annes Square and went for another wander. I never seemed to realise until I moved away to other places just how planned a town St. Annes was. It was one of the first in the country to be laid out with wide streets arranged in neat rectangles. Like the rest of the Fylde, it was totally flat too, fantastic for cycling around as a teenager.

*St. Annes Square* – In contrast to Lytham the familiar high street chain stores tend to dominate here and so it feels slightly less exclusive.

*St Annes Station* – The only manned station on the South Fylde branch. As at Lytham, the “friends” group have worked wonders.

*Ashton Gardens* – I remember playing here with friends, often reenacting the scenes from a film we had just seen at the nearby Plaza.

*The Pier (1874) –* I have memories here of riding the miniature dodgem cars and maybe a slab of Walls ice cream between two wafers afterwards.

*The Beach* – There were many advantages of growing up by the sea, and of course days spent here, just a few minutes’ walk from home, was the obvious one.

IMG_9156CRD — *Quiet* – St. Annes beach was never as busy as nearby Blackpool

*Lunch* – A Meat and Potato Pie from one of the little bakeries just off St. Annes Square. A staple of the Northwest, yet not readily available in the south.

*Pie* – It was delicious, and at £2.70 it was cheap too.

Blackpool South Shore

The bus ride from St. Annes Square to Blackpool brought back more memories of travelling to school in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We used to make the most of the long trip by attempting to do most of our homework on the way home.

The bus dropped me in front of the Pleasure Beach, Blackpool’s famous amusement park, first opened in 1896 and now home to a total of ten roller coasters. A visit to the Pleasure Beach was often an end of school year treat.

Running along the promenade right in front of the Pleasure Beach is the 11 mile Blackpool tramway. I caught a tram heading towards Blackpool North station in the centre of town.

*Bus* -The buses now have some seats upstairs arranged in bays of four with tables; that would certainly have made doing the homework a whole lot easier.

*The Big One (1994)* – I stood watching as the train reached the top of its lift hill and then plunged down towards me full of screaming passengers.

*Casino at the Pleasure Beach (1938)* – Blackpool boomed between the wars and as a result a lot of new “art-deco” style buildings were constructed in the town. This is one of my favourites.

*Blackpool Tramway (1885)* – Blackpool’s electric tramway was the country’s first system; now it is the only traditional one left. The fleet is a mixture of heritage and modern trams, but on a weekday the new vehicles (dating from 2012) dominate.

*Talbot Road –* The tramway has just been extended. A short branch totalling 600 metres runs up Talbot Road allowing trams to serve Blackpool North Station for the first time since 1963.

*Tram Terminus –* There didn’t seem to be many people staying on the tram for the new section. It terminated in front of a brand new Holiday Inn with a passageway leading through to North Station.

Blackpool Centre

I walked around the town centre remembering all the times I was brought to the theatre or cinema here. Blackpool always used to have famous names performing during the holiday season. Morecombe and Wise played six summer seasons at Blackpool. Back in the summer of 1964, the town offered a total of seven live shows with Ken Dodd appearing at the Opera House, one of the country’s largest venues. By contrast, most of the live entertainment in the town these days tends to be of the tribute act variety.

There was no denying that a few of the people in Blackpool seemed a little down on their luck. The town is home to eight of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods nationwide. There were quite a lot of homeless people on the streets. Nevertheless, it seems the council are trying their best to tidy the place up and there were signs of renovation everywhere. The town certainly deserves a much better future.

*The Odeon Cinema (1939) –* Another of my favourite 1930s buildings, It was the last Odeon to be completed before the war and the largest in Britain. I saw my first James Bond movie, Live and Let Die, here in 1973.

*The Grand Theatre –* It shares my birthday week and opened in July 1894. Designed by Frank Matcham, it has a stunning interior. We saw Ken Dodd perform his one man show here.

IMG_9183CRD — *Birley Street Sculptures –* Innovative street art.

*North Pier (1863) –* The first of the resort’s trio of pleasure piers to be completed. It was always the poshest; the only one that used to charge admission.

*Central Pier (1868)* – Easily distinguished by the Ferris wheel added in 1990. South Pier (1893) is further back down the coast towards the Pleasure Beach.

*Blackpool Tower (1894)* – 518 feet tall and Grade I listed. The entertainment complex at the foot houses a circus arena, a favourite when I was a child, and the famous Tower Ballroom, where my parents first met.

*The Comedy Carpet* – Laid out in a T shape in front of the tower. On the grid of 10 slabs are all the famous names of comedy along with thousands of their catch phrases and jokes.

IMG_9193E — *Blackpool Rock –* A boy in my class at school was from one of the family firms that owned a rock factory. He often brought us samples; needless to say, he was popular.

*Coral Island Amusement Centre* – It stands on the site of Blackpool Central Station. I have nothing against Coral Island itself, but looking at it always makes me feel sad.

Victoria Hospital

The two and a half mile walk inland to Victoria Hospital took me about forty five minutes. On the last part of the journey I went past some of the most expensive housing in Blackpool, alongside Stanley Park and its Golf Course. I arrived at the hospital, as planned, just before 4pm. I took my selfie and then spent about 30 minutes sitting out of everyone’s way in a quiet spot near the window. It felt a little weird, yet it felt rather satisfying too. I was now officially 60, I needed to celebrate, so I jumped on a bus heading back into town.

IMG_9205CRD — *Selfie* – Taken at 4pm exactly !

*Impressive* – The hospital had been extensively modernised and with a Costa Coffee, WH Smith’s and other shops, it was more akin to an airport terminal.

*Gazette 2024* – I got a copy of the local newspaper. It cost me £1.30 and as I sat reading it I wondered who still buys daily local newspapers like this on a regular basis.

*Gazette 1964* – I still have the copy of the paper that my parents kept for its listing of my birth. Inside the newspaper is a photograph of the Beatles boarding an aircraft at Blackpool Airport.

Celebrating

Back in town I found a great little craft beer shop just around from Blackpool North Station on Topping Street. I spent a very pleasant hour sampling some of the beers and chatting with the lady behind the bar. She was a local and when I told her what I had been up to, she seemed more interested in chastising me (in a very friendly way) for not visiting Blackpool for longer or more often. She was right of course, and as I wandered back up Topping Street, things were just getting interesting, people were wandering into the pubs and getting ready to enjoy the evening. I regretted I hadn’t been able to stay overnight. Next time, hopefully.

IMG_9221CMD — *A Great Find* – The Cask & Tap

IMG_9223E — *Porter* – One of the beers had a rather interesting name

*Dinner –* Fish and chips from Yorkshire Fisheries: Absolutely fabulous.

Heading Back

And all too soon, it was time to go. I walked into Blackpool North station and was relieved to see the 18:22 would be leaving on time. The line from here to Preston was electrified in 2018 and this was my first trip since then. We made a spirited run across the Fylde with stops at Layton, Poulton and Kirkham, and arrived in Preston on time. My 19:07 Pendolino was also running to schedule, and it had me back at Euston within a couple of hours. Then it was a quick schlep across to Victoria and the train back to Otford.

*Blackpool North* – The current station opened in the early 1970s. The previous building was where the tram terminus now stands.

*1930s* – The main structure dates from 1938. It was originally the excursion platform terminal.

*18:22 from Blackpool North*– My train was formed from a couple of Class 331 electric multiple units and was heading for Manchester Airport.

IMG_E9241 — *Tilting Ale –* As a final treat, I got a can from the buffet (or the shop as they like to call it). It was not bad, specially brewed for Avanti by the Redwillow Brewery in Cheshire, and I enjoyed it as the train tilted on the way back to Euston.

Home

I was back home again almost sixteen hours after I started out. To be honest, I am not a big fan of celebrating my birthday usually, but this had been a memorable and enjoyable day. I had covered more than 500 miles, managed several hours at my destination, enjoyed a few drinks and travelled in perfect comfort. None of this would have been possible with any other mode of transport. With my railcard now in my hand (or actually on my phone), I look forward to more trips in the future.

Link to > “The history of railways around Blackpool”

Published by trainstobeyond