Blackpool Central: The Busiest Station You've Never Heard Of

Blackpool Central was the world's busiest railway station in 1911.

That fact comes from Chris Moss's recent book, Lancashire: Exploring the Historic County that Made the Modern World. The station also holds a grimmer record: it was the one with the most platforms to close in the UK during the Beeching cuts of 1964.

Moss offers a properly subjective take on the region. His description of the Lancashire-Yorkshire tension is worth quoting:

The Beeching axe has left a long shadow. Blackpool Central handled millions of holidaymakers every summer. Today, the site is a car park. The town's remaining station, Blackpool North, sees a fraction of that traffic.

Moss's book is a reminder that the north of England was built on industry, seaside tourism, and a stubborn sense of place. The railway was the thread that tied it all together. When that thread was cut, the pattern of a century changed.