Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

The Education Committee met when the Town Clerk was instructed to make representation to the L & Y suggesting a ‘slight’ alteration to the morning train service, in order to allow students travelling from Great Harwood to depart on the 08:13 for their places of further education. July At a meeting of the General Works Committee, a letter was received from the County Bridgemaster with regard to the widening of the roadway at Strawberry Bank. It was his opinion that widening this bridge would present no engineering difficulties. He suggested that the Corporation should arrive at some agreement with the L & Y, and having decided on what type of bridge to build, then to approach the County Council. The Borough Surveyor reported on a meeting he had with the Railway Company’s Engineer, who was at great variance with the County Bridgemaster in the method and cost of carrying out the widening. Further consideration of implementing this scheme was then deferred, in view of the difficulty of this work and the expenditure involved. The Education Committee met to receive a letter from the L & Y in response to their suggestion of an alteration in timing of the 08:13 train. It stated they could not make a ‘slight’ adjustment to the morning service from Great Harwood, as it was impractical and would disrupt the other services. September The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway took possession of the site of the erstwhile Antley Boiler Works on Star Street in the Alleytroyds district, after the Ministry of Munitions had vacated the premises. Nearby Pearl House was then occupied by the Company’s Goods Agent, as his office and dwelling. October At a meeting of the Health Committee, the L & Y made an application to store up to 500 gallons of petrol at their newly acquired garage on Star Street, and this licence was duly granted. It was during 1918 that the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway gradually began to replace horse drawn ‘lurries’ with motor lorries for the distribution of merchandise from their goods depots, which would eventually render the stable block on the Scaitcliffe side of the goods yard redundant. ( At the end of the War the Government set aside the sum of £60 millions with which to compensate the railway companies for their efforts over the four years. But this was on condition that in order to advance a claim, they would have to agree to an amalgamation into four larger groupings under a plan drawn up by the then Minister for Transport, Sir Eric Geddes. This would see the L & Y become a constituent part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway along with the London & North Western Railway. Investors in the L & Y were to be compensated with an equivalent number of shares in the LMS, but only on the value those shares were worth in 1913. The L & Y, like all the others, had been unable to keep up standards of maintenance or reinvest during the War despite increases in traffic, so was in more rundown state than it should have been. It had also suffered a shortage of manpower as many employees had volunteered or been conscripted as non-essential labour, substantial numbers of which had not, or could not, return to their previous employment. Much could be said about the effect the Second World War would have on the nation’s railways, but at the end of the First World War the Government actually paid the railway companies £95 millions in compensation, whereas had they been paid at the peacetime rates, they would have made approximately £100 millions in revenue. ) 1919 March A system of rationing tickets was introduced by the L & Y for the Easter break this year, which would also be repeated over the Whitsuntide and summer holidays. May The General Works Committee met, when it was resolved the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Borough Surveyor would meet with the County Bridgemaster to ascertain what contributions if any the County Council would make towards the rebuilding of the bridge over the L & Y Railway lines at Strawberry Bank on Penny House Lane. The Borough Surveyor reported back to the Committee on this meeting, and it was then resolved he should approach the L & Y for their estimate of the cost. September On the eve of the holiday there was a national strike on the railways. With advanced bookings to Blackpool at record level travel plans had to be abandoned. The L & Y refunded all fares and it proved to be a bonanza for the operators of coaches. 1920 ( By this year the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company was the fifth largest of the railway companies in Britain, with capitalised assets of almost £75·25 millions. It operated 601 route miles of track of which only 24 were level, whilst those with a gradient more severe than 1:100 totalled 134, including the notorious Baxenden Incline.)

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