Eighteen mile post, presumably from Preston. The open sandy nature of the area is well captured by this view.

This is in interesting, if not ironic, picture. The area of rough ground to the right would later become Pontin's Blackpool holiday camp. This camp has now closed and is all-but demolished as of June 2014, so the scene has reverted pretty much to how it was over half a century ago. Due to a rather quirky boundary between Blackpool and St Annes, the train in the picture is actually still in St Annes. It will shortly cross the boundary into Blackpool as it passes through Squires Gate station.

The main difference between this scene now and back in 1961 is the railway itself. It's now single track and operated mainly by 'Pacer' DMU's, but benefits from CWR and steel sleepers.