Maudland Bridge railway station was once the Preston terminus of the Longridge Branch Line, in Lancashire, England. It was located on Maudland Road, between a bridge over the Lancaster Canal and Cold Bath Street. The Maudlands district of Preston gets its name from the medieval St. Mary Magdalen's leper hospital, which once stood near the present-day St Walburge's Church.Hunt, p.81
History
In 1850, the Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway (FP&WRR) built the Miley Tunnel to connect two existing lines, the Preston and Longridge Railway at Deepdale, and the Preston and Wyre Joint Railway (P&WR) at . The plan was to link Fleetwood on the Fylde coast to Skipton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. However the plan collapsed in 1852, and so the tunnel was initially used for goods traffic only.Hunt, p.117; Till, pp.91–92; Suggitt p.50
In 1856, the FP&WRR revived and diverted passenger trains via the tunnel to a new Maudland Bridge station. By 1867 the line was owned jointly by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). In 1885, the track layout at Maudland was altered to allow Longridge trains to run on the adjacent LNWR West Coast Main Line to Preston railway station, and Maudland Bridge was closed. A goods station, to replace the demolished P&WR Maudland station, was built nearby.Hunt, p.117; Till, p.101; Suggitt pp.50–51
Although the line through Maudland Bridge station closed to passengers in 1930, it continued to be used for goods until the 1990s. Some of the tracks, now rusty and overgrown, still exist, although the station itself (which was situated on the northern side of Maudlands Street opposite where the University of Central Lancashire's Foster and JB Firth buildings are now located) is long demolished.
Accidents
The disused Miley Tunnel has been the site of several accidents in recent years. Two young men were injured in separate incidents in 1998 and 2000, each falling over into the tunnel off a wall near Moor Lane. On Christmas Day 2002, a drunken youth fell to his death at the same point. Network Rail erected fences six weeks later.
In October 2003 another drunken man fell onto the disused line at Maudland Bank but escaped serious injury."Man falls 20ft near railway death site" , Lancashire Evening Post 4 October 2003, accessed online 5 July 2007
The future
In 2003, the Preston City Link Canal Trust was formed with a plan to reopen part of the Lancaster Canal to a new marina to be constructed in the vicinity of the former Maudland Bridge station. One option being considered is to reopen the Longridge line as far as Deepdale or Ribbleton, the line passing by viaduct over the new marina.Broom, E. "Answer to Preston’s transport problems?", Lancashire Evening Post 12 February 2007, accessed online 18 June 2007"Preston City Link Canal Trust" accessed 13 June 2007
Railways in the Maudlands area in 1849 1892 2012 Maudlands railway station and first goods station Maudland Bridge railway station Engine shed St Walburge's RC Church Second Maudland Goods Station from 1885 Roeburn Hall Leighton Hall
Notes
References Hunt, D. (2003) The Wharncliffe Companion to Preston — An A to Z of Local History, Wharncliffe Books, Barnsley, . Suggitt, G. (2003, revised 2004) Lost Railways of Lancashire, Countryside Books, Newbury, Till, J.M. (1993) A History of Longridge and its People, Carnegie Publishing, Preston,