Lancaster Green Ayre.
In the 1800’s Lancaster had three railway stations. Lancaster Castle station (now the only station), built in 1846, Lancaster and Preston junction railways, situated at the greaves area of Lancaster, built in 1840 and Lancaster Green Ayre station, built in 1848 and opened by the Morecambe Harbour and Railway company.
Lancaster Green Ayre station was the Midlands Railway station, in the city of Lancaster. The original line ran between Lancaster and Morecambe Harbour, in 1849 the line was extended eastward and reaching Skipton by 1850.
On 18th December 1849 a curved bridge connected Green Ayre to Castle station, now the main road bridge out of Lancaster.
Sadly, due to the Beeching cuts, the reduction of rail routes and restructuring of the Railways of Great Britain from reports written by Dr Richard Beeching (The Reshaping of British Railways and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Route), Green Ayre station closed to passengers on 2nd January 1966. Although the line continued to carry freight until 1976.
The station was demolished in 1976 as the freight carriage ceased. No remains of the station exist to date. The site where the station stood is now a public car park and the area once occupied by the engine sheds for the station is now a large supermarket.
A goods lift from Hornby station, with a memorial plaque have been erected to commemorate the original site of the station.
Pictures and more information about Green Ayre station can be found at Carnforth Railway station Heritage Centre.
http://www.carnforthstation.co.uk/
Now onto the cache, it is located near to original site of the station. The area is currently being used by United Utilities improving the sewers in Lancaster. Never the less, this doesn’t affect the location of the cache. The cache can be completed as a drive by or as part of a walk or cycle along the River Lune Millenium Park and Cycle Way, that used to be the Railway line from the station.
The cache is well stocked and hopefully one children would like to find too with room for swaps Timing and stealth will be essential. The area is a bus route to the centre of Lancaster, a popular walking area and to add to the mix a skate park too. Retrieval maybe tricky.
Good luck hunting.
Additional note - I have decided to change the name of this cache in recognition of the SideTracked series and the 6th anniversary of the series on 10th August 2013. As this area was the location of an old station, I thought it would be fitting for the cache to join the REALLY SideTracked series. For those interested in a souvenir, please see the link.
http://sidetrackedseries.info/souvenir/