Round trip from Preston Station to Strand Road. Distance 2.4 miles
July 2018 saw the closure of Alstom's Preston works, with the work still undertaken there transferring to a new facility in Widnes. It was the end of manufacturing for the rail industry going back to the 1840s. More detail about the closure of the works can be found in this BBC news article.
The above map shows the then disused North of England Railway Carriage and Iron Works on the east side of Strand Road. The works was taken over by the Electric Railway, Tramway and Carriage Works, a firm closely tied to Dick Kerr & Co in 1898. The site was expanded across the road in 1900.
The works built electric trams, locomotives and materials for the war effort in the two world wars including aeroplanes.
All manner of electrical equipment was also made at the site. After WW1 it became part of the giant English Electric group. One of the most famous locomotives produced was the Deltic prototype in 1955, this page on the Ribble Steam Railway website gives some detail of their locomotive production. This article on the Science Museum website also provides a good history of the site.
Below - A picture from the Ribble Steam Railway website above showing the prototype Deltic in the Preston works.
The East Works on the east side of the road is no longer there now. A business park, retail units and housing occupy the site.
I visited around the time of Alstom's closure of the works and at the time of writing most of the West Works still stands. The works was a short walk from Preston station, I then walked around the perimeter of the site. At the time there was a model shop in the former office buildings at north end of the site. I bought a model tram, though not an example of one built at the works. Unfortunately the model shop is no longer there now.
Below - View of the vast 1900 West Works from Strand Road. Around this end of the works a railway line once crossed Strand Road to access the East Works. The railways connected to the Preston Docks Branch which still runs from close to Preston station to the docks. Part of the docks branch is now the Ribble Steam Railway, though it is a heritage railway it still handles bitumen traffic from the docks. I passed the level crossing that took the docks branch over Strand Road on my way to the former works.
Below - At the south end of the works a stone shows the 1900 date for this part of the site. There is also a blue plaque to remember the pioneering Dick Kerr's Ladies Football team.
Below - A closer view of the blue plaque.
Below - The north end of the complex.
Below - The east end of the complex of Channel Way with what has in later years been the main entrance to the site.
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