Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

At the Electricity & Tramways Committee meeting Councillor Slack asked what the position of the Council was with regard to the Railways Bill. The Town Clerk explained that it was not just a protest but active opposition. “Which is why we should be supporting it”, said Alderman Higham. He explained that if made law it would give railway companies powers to operate all kinds of vehicles both passenger and goods all across the country where they had lines, whereas the current powers only enabled them to carry commodities that were to be handled on the railway and then over specified distances from the rails. A discussion was held on the applications by the North Western Railway with the Midland Railway for powers to carry goods on motor vehicles. It was the opposition’s case that the railways with their vast resources would soon be a position to price the smaller operators off the road. The railway companies views were, that this legislation if passed would enable them to keep up with the times, as the basic rules had been drafted some ninety years earlier, and they now felt were outdated. ( The facts were that prior to the Great War there were less than 17,000 goods motor vehicles on the roads. By 1921 the number of licences issued was 120,000 carrying an estimated 6,000,000 tons of freight off the railways. A lorry operating 30,000 ton-miles per year cost £30 to licence, which equated to less than a farthing (¼d) per ton-mile, but costs were well in excess of this in terms of repairs to damage caused to the highways. The railways had paid £9,608,483 to the Exchequer almost double the figure for 1913 some of which was used to repair roadways. It was alleged that the railways were attempting to create a monopoly, whilst they maintained that it would be to the benefit of all to be allowed to convey traffic to the stations and goods yards to be transferred onto the railway. To add to this railway companies were standardised by legislation and therefore could not increase tariffs without Parliamentary consent. The probable effect would be that competition would increase and therefore create a market where prices were lower .) March The Town Council met to discuss the London & North Western Railway Company’s (Road Transport) Bill 1922. In so far as the Promoters of this Bill were concerned, in its original form the Company had sought powers to operate motor vehicles to carry passengers, but the Promoters had since indicated that it was their intention only to seek powers to carry merchandise. It was therefore resolved to inform the Parliamentary Representatives that opposition to the amendments could now be withdrawn. At a meeting of the General Works Committee the Borough Surveyor submitted a plan for the footpath on the easterly side of the railway arch over Whalley Road. The total cost including the purchase of the land at £300 would be £645, and the Council were recommended to make an application to the Ministry of Transport for permission to borrow this amount. April On the 27 th , at another meeting of the General Works Committee they heard an application from the firm of E. J. Riley, that they were negotiating with the London & North Western Railway for the purchase of land on the westerly side of their building for an extension. This was part of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railways (Various Powers) Act of 1902, in which they had been required to hand this land over to the Corporation in exchange for taking the land for railway purposes, which had been the Town’s Yard. The subtraction of this other land would ‘severely reduce’ the area of the Town’s Yard in the future. If the Corporation were to agree to this request, it should only be on condition that the Railway Company or E. J. Riley would provide land of an equal area further to the west of this site, and it was agreed to be laid out by them for the Town’s new yard. It was resolved that subject to the Railway Company or E. J. Riley providing an area of land equal to the one in question and subject to E. J. Riley coming to an agreement with the Railway Company, they would give their consent to this arrangement. June The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway had previously instigated a method for regulating excursion traffic, so as to avoid overcrowding on trains to and from Blackpool and Southport at busy times. This involved booking advanced tickets giving the holder authority to travel on timetabled trains. These arrangements continued after the merger with the London & North Western Railway. Over the Whitsuntide Week in 1922, this system was put into operation on Friday June the 2 nd , Saturday the 3 rd , Wednesday the 7 th , Thursday the 8 th and Friday the 9 th on trains travelling to these resorts. These tickets were issued in advance of the day of travel at no extra cost. Returning trains from Blackpool were also subject to these restrictions on Tuesday the 6 th , Friday the 9 th , Saturday the 10 th , Sunday the 11 th and Monday the 12 th . On production of valid return tickets these permits could be obtained at huts installed at Blackpool Central Station, also at the stations at Talbot Road, St Annes, Fairhaven and Lytham. People not in possession of the relevant paperwork would not be

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