Preston Station’s history is displayed…thanks to local student!
Local photographer Peter Fitton with Billy Burton and the new history poster.
On Saturday, 10th February, the unveiling of a ‘new’ Preston Station history poster in the waiting room between platform 3 and 4 took place to great celebration.
In summer 2023, Billy Burton, 1st Year 6th form student from the Clitheroe Royal Grammar School was on placement with the Lancashire Archives and Local History, Preston. Interested in becoming a journalist and with an interest in the railways too, Billy was delighted to take on this live project to research and create the text for a Preston Station History Poster and track down some archive photographs too.
Richard Watts, Community Rail Lancashire Chair explained “CRL has developed a series of history posters with the help of local historians and station friends groups and it is great to now unveil one for Preston – a major hub station which is central to the lines we support. We we are delighted that Billy was keen to sift through the huge volume of history about our city’s mainline station at Lancashire Archives, decide what to focus on and which can now be shared with all those visiting the station. Our thanks also go to Peter Fitton who has shared some fantastic photographs he has personally taken at Preston station.”
County Councillor Alan Cullens, Chairman of Lancashire County Council who has been following the project closely and unveiled the poster with Billy added: “This is a wonderful poster that really displays the proud history and fascinating past of our city station. This has been an exciting project and we are delighted to have worked with Billy and our partners including Community Rail Lancashire, Avanti West Coast, and Clitheroe Royal Grammar School to bring this invaluable addition to the suite of station history posters at Lancashire stations to fruition.”
Shirley Ross, Avanti West Coast Station Manager at Preston, expressed their delight in this addition to their station: “For over 180 years, the railway has played an important role in Preston and we’re proud to support the community’s efforts to showcase this as it remains a key hub on our route today. By sharing the history of Preston station with the thousands of people that make rail journeys to and from there each day, we hope they’ll learn something new and feel inspired to find out more about the region’s railway heritage.”
Afterwards, it was onto Lancashire Archives, where those who joined the celebration were treated to a display of the archives exhibits and tours of some of the most treasured items in their collection.
Billy prepared an audio of the history poster text he had created which featured at the station’s Remembrance Service in November 2023 and can be listened to using this link: Audio Version of History Text
To see this and other station history posters across the Community Rail Lancashire area click this link: communityraillancashire.co.uk/history-posters/
