In the early days of the hospital, all supplies, including coal and provisions, had to be transported by horse and cart from Preston – a distance of – or from Longridge at the terminus of the Preston and Longridge Railway some distant. The cartage was expensive; permanently staffed with a stud of horses and vehicles. In 1884, the significant costs of this operation prompted the authorities to consider building a railway between the hospital and the village of Grimsargh to the southeast.