On Thursday 8th June I was given a private tour of the underground of Preston Railway Station by Steve Mourby.
Steve has worked at the station for 12 years and used to be in the military. He became interested in the station when he attended the station buffet, honouring the men who went to war and 400 female volunteers that worked at the buffet from 1914 to 1918 serving soldiers and sailors during WWI.
Starting the tour I was informed a lot about the history of the station and how the slope used to be made of wood and that there use to be around 12 platforms before the budget cuts in the 1960s.
Read more: Bike hub is officially opened at Preston Station
I was taken to see the ‘bakehouse’ which is now mainly used as storage. Standing underground in the ‘bunker’ I was informed that it was used as stables but now with it no longer being in use it used for ghost tours and to perform séances as it is said the station is haunted.
The team leader, Andrew Clare came into contact with a ghost, he said: “it was an old member of railway staff, walked into one of the offices and I said hello to him and he just disappeared. And you could feel pins and needles and the cold around you.”
The underground has a lot of tunnels underneath the tracks that can go as far as Fishergate, going through one of the tunnels I saw that many components of the underground is now used for storage but when you are down there you feel like there is a presence around you.
Read more: Could St Joseph’s Orphanage see a new owner soon?
Standing underneath the tracks, Steve Mourby goes into more detail about the underground:
Every year, the Harris Museum have a heritage open weekend of the city and everything is open celebrating history, such as the station, the museum, the churches and more. Tours can last long as 40 minutes to an hour depending on how many people there are in a group.
What do you think of what’s under the station? Have you ever been down there? Let us know in the comments below