A DECADE OF PROGRESS

After the closure of Thornton station 48 years ago, the area became a general dumping ground. The 80-year-old fences were broken, the vegetation was overgrown and it had become a popular haunt for drug users.

The Wyre Rail/Cycle Partnership, formed in 2006 by Eddie Fisher and John Pickering, had approached Network Rail about working with them and the local authorities to reopen the line as a part of the national network. The idea was to reopen a single-track railway with a cycle path alongside.

NR was then approached by another group that was keen to establish a preserved railway, and it asked the two to work together. As a result, the PWRS was formed.

NR initially gave the PWRS a lease that was replaced by the now nationally used Community Licence, which permits volunteers to work on its property.

The work was a gargantuan task. Items removed ranged from shopping trolleys, broken toilets and hypodermic needles to trees that had grown from seeds dropped by birds.

When the fledgling PWRS realised that heavy lifting equipment would be needed to remove old tree stumps, Wyre Council came to the rescue.

Over the past decade volunteers have removed tons of rubbish and vegetation from the track at Thornton and Burn Naze stations. Fencing has been repaired, but some of the track still needs replacing or repairing, particularly at the northern end of the line.

More local authority backing came when Fleetwood Town Council joined the PWRS to launch its ‘Fleetwood Back on Track’ campaign. The town council has been extremely supportive of the work and has given the PWRS several small grants.