to the junction at South Shore was ready. On 1 October 1913 halts were opened at Burlington Road and Gillett's Crossing when a railmotor service was introduced between Blackpool Central and Lytham. The halts were closed on 1 October 1915 but reopened on 1 March 1920, finally closing on 11 September 1939. In March 1932 Waterloo Road station was renamed Blackpool South and Talbot Road became Blackpool North. By this time the North station had 15 platforms, although eight were set apart for excursion traffic outside the overall roof. Cleveleys over the tramway The Blackpool tramway system was founded in 1885, and the line to Fleetwood was opened on 14 July 1888, running in a segregated alignment for much of the way. As the coastal strip between Blackpool and Fleetwood became developed, the L&YR and LNWR sought powers to build a branch line to Cleveleys, but instead came to an agreement under which the tramway was connected with the railway at Fleetwood. Goods wagons were worked over the tramway to Cleveleys. The arrangement continued until 1949. Diesel train trial In 1928 a four-car diesel passenger train was installed on the Preston to Blackpool Central via Lytham service, starting on 25 July. The train was a conversion of an electric train that had been used at Bury. In September 1928 it was withdrawn for installation of a stronger bogie under the power unit. The train was put back into service for the illuminations at the end of 1928 but a crankshaft failed on 9 December and it was out of use until 27 March 1929. It was then in use for three weeks until 18 April when it was finally withdrawn and later scrapped. It had only operated for 30% of available days. Quite apart from the reliability issues, it was calculated that the operating cost savings were not sufficient to justify the capital cost of wider introduction. Traffic decline Blackpool was an extraordinary phenomenon of British seaside holidays, and for decades the railways had struggled to handle the volume of passengers, and the number of train movements, although this was highly seasonal. Nevertheless, road motor coaches began to handle the traffic in increasing numbers after 1945, as distances from the Lancashire and West Yorkshire industrial towns were not great. The decline in railway business in an era of scepticism about financial loss-making on the railways meant that it was impossible