Hoping to develop an export trade in coke and other minerals, the L&CR applied on its own account to build the branch to Morecambe, receiving permission in 1859.

At this point the line was leased by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and it was the latter that built the branch as a double track opening in 1864.

It was next to a level crossing over a minor road linking the A589 with houses, a water treatment works and a caravan park further along the foreshore.

Its latter role, purely as a manually controlled gate box to supervise the adjacent level crossing and that at nearby Bolton-le-Sands, was brought to an end in the Spring of 2013.

NR had published proposals to close the box here initially at the end of 2012, which was briefly postponed until February 2013 before the work was finally carried out in May.