Date: 05/01/2012

DILAPIDATED station platforms are set to have thousands spent on them as the Fylde gears itself up for this summer’s Open Golf. Almost £100,000 is set to be spent on projects to improve Lytham, St Annes and Ansdell stations, but councillors are warning the projects need to continue beyond July’s tournament. Ansdell ward councillor Ben Aitken said: “We have to be pleased with what’s happening now, and I think the local people who use the station will also be pleased. “The problem of course, once the golf has finished, is the maintenance, because I don’t want the stations to fall back into a wilderness. “ All three stations are on the Blackpool South line, and seen as key arrival points for golf fans heading to Royal Lytham and St Annes. Fylde Council is putting £42,500 towards the project, the Local Strategic Partnership is providing £40,000, Lancashire County Council is giving £10,000 and St Annes Town Council has agreed to provide £5,000 to St Annes and the South Fylde Community Rail Partnership £5,000 towards Lytham. [From Mark Bartlett]

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Related images

View from the road bridge at the east end of Lytham station looking towards St Annes on 22 August 2008. The platform shelter is a far cry from the splendour of the former station building, now converted to a restaurant and operating as the Station Tavern. [See image 20528]
Location: Lytham
Company: Blackpool and Lytham Railway
22/08/2008 John McIntyre

Busy once every decade or so. Just beyond Ansdell and Fairhaven station the Royal Lytham St. Annes golf course can be seen. This was used for the UK Open Golf Championship in 2001 and again in 2012, when the station was again thronged with golf fans. View towards Blackpool from the station entrance on the overbridge. [See image 39660] for the same view during the 2012 Open.
Location: Ansdell and Fairhaven
Company: Blackpool and Lytham Railway
07/02/2009 Mark Bartlett

There have been campaigns to install a passing loop at St Annes ever since the Blackpool South branch was singled many years ago, but so far that has not transpired and the line operates at capacity with the hourly service. 142007, on a service for Blackpool South, calls at the small, modern staffed station. The long platforms and the open area on the former Up side show just how big the original station was. The Sainsbury's supermarket and its associated car park occupies the site of the former goods yard.
Location: St Annes-on-the-Sea
Company: Blackpool and Lytham Railway
11/08/2009 Mark Bartlett