Morecambe Euston Road railway station

{{Short description|Former station in Lancashire, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}

{{Infobox station

| name = Morecambe Euston Road

| status = Disused

| image = Morecambe Euston Rd station (1972).JPG

| caption = Pictured ten years after closure

| borough = Morecambe, Lancaster, Lancashire

| country = England

| coordinates = {{coord|54.0707|-2.8623|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}

| platforms = 5

| original = London and North Western Railway

| postgroup = London, Midland and Scottish Railway

| years = 9 May 1886

| events = Opened as "Morecambe"

| years1 = 2 June 1924

| events1 = Renamed "Morecambe Euston Road"

| years2 = 15 September 1958

| events2 = Summer excursions only

| years3 = 8 September 1962

| events3 = Closed to passengers

| years4 = 9 October 1972

| events4 = closed completely

| map_type = United Kingdom Morecambe#United Kingdom City of Lancaster#Lancashire

| map_caption = Location in Morecambe##Location in the present-day City of Lancaster district##Location in present-day Lancashire

}}

Morecambe Euston Road was the terminus station of the London and North Western Railway's branch line to Morecambe, in Lancashire, England. It closed in 1962, after which all trains to Morecambe used the nearby {{stnlnk|Morecambe Promenade}} station.

==History==

The first railway to Morecambe was built by the Morecambe Harbour and Railway (MHR) company in 1848.Bairstow, p.16 It had its station at Northumberland Street, roughly the same location as the modern-day Morecambe Station. The MHR had, in 1846, amalgamated with the "Little" North Western Railway (NWR), which was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1874.Awdry, p.97

The rival London and North Western Railway (LNWR) built its own branch line to Morecambe in 1864, joining the main LNWR line at Hest Bank. The line connected to the NWR's Northumberland Street Station and the harbour, but the LNWR had to provide its own station at Poulton Lane from November 1870 because of increasing congestion at Northumberland Street. This was subsequently replaced by a rather more substantial terminus on the town's Euston Road, which opened on 9 May 1886.Bairstow, p.53Butt, p.163

The new station (originally known only as "Morecambe" or "Morecambe (LNWR)") was initially built with one long platform with glass canopy and a substantial two-storey main building built from yellow brick.[http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/morecambe_euston_road/index.shtml "Disused Stations - Morecambe Euston Road"] Disused Stations; retrieved 2014-04-11 A goods yard was also provided alongside, next the original connection onto Midland metals. Services initially ran to and from {{rws|Hest Bank}}, but the commissioning of a new south-facing curve from {{rws|Bare Lane}} to the main line in May 1888 saw most of them transferred to {{rws|Lancaster}} Castle instead in an attempt to compete with the existing Midland service. By 1895, nine trains per day each way were running on the route and the volume of traffic using the station had reached the level where one platform was no longer adequate (especially in the summer). Accordingly, two new island platforms were built by the LNWR, bring the total number of faces in use to five.

File:Lancaster & Morecambe Carnforth RJD 14.jpg

After the 1923 Grouping, the station came under the control of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway along with its erstwhile Midland rival half a mile away and so was officially designated as "Euston Road" from 2 June 1924 (the Midland station becoming {{rws|Morecambe Promenade}} on the same date). Under LMS auspices Promenade would become the town's principal station, but the volume of summer holiday traffic to the resort was such that Euston Road continued to be heavily used - the 1932 timetable for it featured departures for destinations as varied as {{rws|Barrow-in-Furness}}, Manchester Victoria, London Euston and {{rws|Crewe}} on top of the frequent shuttle service to/from Lancaster. This pattern continued after World War 2 and the subsequent nationalisation of the UK railway system in January 1948, when it became part of the London Midland Region of British Railways.