Blackpool branch lines 2 miles of the M55 also occupy the former trackbed, until the Blackpool North line travels under the motorway at the point where the lines used to merge. The electrification of the Manchester to Blackpool North route was announced in December 2009. The main work of piling etc. to accomplish this commenced in early 2017. Bridgeworks along the route to raise and rebuild those that had insufficient clearance for overhead wires was completed first. Services over both the Blackpool South and Blackpool North branches temporarily ceased on 11 November 2017 to allow the track layout at Blackpool North and Kirkham
History of Blackpool F.C. (1887–1962) join the new club, in turn making the former defunct. It was with these individuals that Blackpool F.C. played their first competitive game, at Dole Lane, the home of Chorley, in which they recorded a 2–1 victory. Hargreaves scored Blackpool's first-ever goal with "a ponderous kick half the length of the field". Corry added a second, before the hosts scored a late consolation. In the club's first season, 1887–88, they won the Fylde Cup and the Lancashire Junior Cup. In the second competition, Blackpool faced Preston St. Joseph's at Preston North End's Deepdale ground, a venue that the seaside club