From a Victorian product of the legendary East Lancashire Railway with an entirely different name, to a place with its own bumpy 'Jazzer' train, the Skelmersdale Railway Station of the past was quite the thing
High hopes in Skelmersdale were crushed by the Government's rejection of a bid for a new train station last week, sparking anger and dismay in the town.
Yet within a year of its grand opening, it became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway due to a huge takeover by the company, and boasted two platforms and a main building on the northbound side. Other features were a wooden signal box to control a level crossing, a passing loop and a goods yard nearby..
“Sometimes while waiting for the local service for Town Green at Ormskirk station, I would run off, to the top end of the station. There the 'Jazzer' could often be seen. Belching black smoke, it looked like and was something, from a bygone age even in those days. What I remember most vividly was the huge chimneys those locomotives had.
Other nicknames also sprang up, possibly alluding to the locals' lack of faith in the trains in the early years, he thinks, adding: "There is evidence that the rail motors had the nickname “Iffit” in their early years on the line., possibly meaning “if it comes” or “if it runs” or “if it gets there” or a similar connotation."
He says: “He told me how quiet and scary it was wandering around during the night. The lads used to spend the nights when off duty in a camping type coach, which was situated in the sidings adjacent to the 'Jazzer' bay.” Quite a picture emerges of crowded, perhaps smoky, rickety, bumpy 'Jazzer' trains, hurtling across the quiet plains of Lancashire, carrying young American and British soldiers and fun-seeking masses from Ormskirk, Maghull and beyond, determined to grab what might have been a last chance of fun in the face of Hitler. Mr Pealing says: “During those difficult and austere times, railway maintenance was at a minimum, the rolling stock in use was also well past its sell by date.
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