THE PRESTON & LONGRIDGE RAILWAY including the Whittingham Hospital Railway

The first railway into Preston was the North Union Railway from the south in 1838, followed in 1840 by the Lancaster & Preston Junction Railway, the two eventually forming part of today’s West Coast Main Line from London to Scotland. However, a few weeks earlier Preston’s second railway had been opened on 4th May 1840, a horsedrawn line of 6½ miles to convey stone from quarries at Longridge to build many prominent buildings in Preston, docks at Liverpool and Fleetwood, and sea defence works on the Fylde coast. Longridge stone was also included in the North Union Railway’s bridge over the Ribble at Preston.

The Preston & Longridge Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament of 14th July 1836, including a final ¾-mile inclined plane up to quarries at Tootle Height (sometimes spelt Tootal) reached through a 55yd-long tunnel. Wagons were hauled up the line by horses, but descended by gravity with the horses riding