The light railway in Blackpool which had a heavy job to do

A steam train ran alongside the resort’s famous tramway system.

It was called the Sands Express and steamed along the promenade at speeds of up to 40mph compared with the trams’ sedate 12 mph.

James Shanks Brodie, the borough engineer, had completed the widening of the promenade in 1905 and in 1910 began to expand the promenade from North Pier round the Metrolpole Hotel to Cocker Square.

After building a concrete wall 18ft high and 400 yards long along the beach, the gap between it and the former sea wall required a quarter million tons of sand for infill.

Fortunately, the tidal flow had left huge deposits of sand two miles down the coast by the South Pier. There was so much sand that the beach was level with the top of the sea wall with neither the high spring or autumn tides being able to breach the 50 yards wide bank of sand.

Although it was an excellent natural sea defence, there was a minor sandstorm every time gale force winds blew from the west!

It was decided to transport the sand to the project by a Standard Gauge Light Industrial railway.

The railway sleepers were laid directly on to the promenade and two tank engines and 40 wagons were hired from Thomas Wrigley of Manchester.

Soon the Horbury train was steaming along the promenade with its load of sand. A gang of more than 80 men with shovels shifted the sand to where it needed to be.

The train operated for just a few months.