Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

London & North Western Railway the father of the boys was fined 50 shillings or fourteen days imprisonment on default, a similar sentence was handed out to the elder of the two sons for theft, whilst John was bound over for six weeks in the sum of £2. On January 1 st , 1923, the London & North Western and the Midland Railway Company became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway in what was known as the ‘Grouping’ which created the ‘Big Four’. This was in effect the Government’s rationalisation of all of Great Britain’s railway lines in which Accrington’s lines, station and sheds played an ongoing role.

---------------------

CHAPTER 7

THE PRE-WAR ERA OF THE LMS 1923 Notes on the Grouping of the Railway Companies

At the outbreak of the Great War, the Government took control of the Nation’s Railways under an edict of 1871 titled ‘The Regulation of the Forces Act’. The Government then pledged to reimburse all the operating companies to an equal amount of the profits they had made in the year 1913. However, it was not expected that the conflict would run up until November 1918. By then it was calculated that in total this sum amounted to £150millions. It was this that initiated the idea to merge all railway operators into four large operating groups, one of which included the London & North Western Railway, which had absorbed the Lancashire & Yorkshire some twelve months earlier. It took two years until 1921 for the Commons Select Committee to report on these proposals. So when the Selwyn Committee reported that they would only reimburse the four new railway operating companies a sum totalling £60millions, it would avoid the Government having to pay £90millions less than their initial pledge, and there would be no improvements on this amount. It was paid in two equal instalments of £30millions each on the 15 th days of January 1922 and again in 1923, and it would be up to the ‘Big Four’ operators to divide this money proportionately between themselves. From January 1 st 1923, here was little change to the railways of East Lancashire by this move to form the London Midland & Scottish Railway Company, (which included three operators north of the border,) although ex-Midland built engines did make appearances here mostly on services originating from the east, (Colne was a L&NWR and MR joint station). However, the second largest of the partners was the Midland Railway, and there would be much vying for power and influence within the LMS. Three prominent posts went to ex-L&Y managers in the Western Division. The General Manger was Arthur Watson, the Secretary was R.C. Irwin, the Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer was George Hughes, whilst Ashton Davis was made General Superintendent of the Northern Division based at Hunts Bank. A struggle for influence continued between the English constituents until Joshua Stamp was appointed as Chairman of the LMS during 1926. In 1932 William Stanier was chosen as the Chief Mechanical Engineer. He designed engines that would operate on the East Lancs Line up until the end of steam in 1968. January One of the rules imposed upon the ‘Big Four’ railway operating companies was that all fares across the entire network would be standardised at one-and-a-half pence [1½d] per mile 3rd Class and two- and-a-half pence [2½d] per mile 1st Class, which would remain in force until 1938. February The London, Midland & Scottish Railway chose Accrington’s Ambulance Drill Hall on Bull Bridge as the venue for their annual First Aid Competition. Teams from all across the region which embraced Rochdale, Bolton, Bury, Todmorden, Colne and Hellifield competed in several categories of tests. The experts were Dr Pym from Nelson along with Dr Knox from Brierfield, who were supported by a panel of judges including in the Chair, Mr P. Turner, the District Passenger Superintendent, Mr H. E.

151