 Between 1923 and 1935, Long Preston was the railhead for the construction of Stocks Reservoir built by the Fylde Water Board (FWB).Steam traction engines hauled material between the FWB depot, to the west of the current station, by road to Tosside where connection was made with a 3-foot gauge industrial railway system that served the dam construction project (Bowtell, 1988).In the 20th century, most people were employed in the village at the garage, wool warehouse, auction mart, farms or in the surrounding area, e.g.