Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

July Blackburn Fire Brigade was called to a blaze which had broken out at the four storey signal box to the east of Rishton Railway Station, during the mid-afternoon of the 16 th . It was thought to have come from a spark thrown out from a passing engine which had caused the grass on the embankment next to the box to ignite, and this in turn had caught hold of the wooden cladding at the base of the box. The brigade was able to connect their hose to the one that the staff at Rishton Station had already run out from the hydrant there. By 4:30pm the fire had been extinguished. Throughout the signalmen had continued to work so there had been little disruption to traffic and damage had been restricted to the lower exterior of the box. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in the field to the east of Rishton’s goods yard, the farmer had placed a scarecrow adjacent to the running lines. This figure had a tall hat, and it is said that passing footplate crews often attempted to knock off this appendage with lumps of coal taken from their tenders, and thrown from the footplate. Periodically the farmer’s wife would go down to the scarecrow and collect up all these missiles to burn on the farmhouse fire. August On the 16 th , the 10pm fast goods from Earby to Salford, where it was due at 3am, was being banked up Baxenden incline when it began to run out of control after passing the summit of the line. The rails were wet and greasy and the locomotive L & Y number 444 with 57 loaded wagons and a trailing weight of over 600 tons started to run away. It careered on through Haslingden at 2am before being spotted by a signalman at Helmshore, who arranged for it to be directed into a loop at Stubbins Junction, whereupon it struck wagons in Ramsbottom Goods Yard. The Aspinall 0-6-0 tender locomotive new in August 1895, finally came to rest in a warehouse after its telescoping wagons had demolished the wooden permanent way office. The driver, W. Aughton of Newton Heath shed, was concussed and suffered abrasions to his head, whilst fireman, Herbert Bannister, also received gashes to his face. Both were taken to hospital and were detained. It was thought the accident was due to ‘Little Egbert’ 0-8-2 banking engine #1501 not detaching early enough from the rear of the train at the summit, and thus not allowing for the brakes on the wagons to be pinned down before the slope began. ( This goods engine could not have been badly damaged as it lasted in service up until 1953 and had been renumbered twice in that time, 12304 by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and then 52304 by British Railways when it was allocated to Newton Heath sheds.) 1924 May At a meeting of the Electrical & Tramways Committee a communication was received from the Traders Co-ordinating Committee of the Federation of British Industries, urging the Corporation to subscribe to a ‘central fund’ to help fund the trader’s case on a forthcoming enquiry into the basis of the standard charges of the railway companies including the LMS, under the Railways Act of 1921. August At a meeting of the Town Council the Town Clerk read out a letter from the Accrington Trades & Labour Party, calling their attention to the lack of ‘travelling’ facilities provided by the LMS for the public of Accrington, particularly during the holiday period. It requested that on their behalf, the Council register a protest to the Railway Company on this subject. It was resolved the Town Clerk should write to the LMS giving details of several complaints whilst requesting that more adequate facilities be put in place in the future. Probably the most powerful tank locomotives ever to pass through Accrington during the early years of the LMS were the 4-cylinder ‘Baltic’ 4-6-4 locomotives. They were ordered by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, but delivered to the London, Midland & Scottish. They were built at Horwich Works in 1924 to a design by the Lancashire & Yorkshire’s Chief Mechanical Engineer, George Hughes. They had 16½´´ diameter cylinders and a piston stroke 26´´ in length, producing a high tractive effort for a tank locomotive of 29,470lbs. Originally twenty were ordered but only the first batch of ten completed. It was initially envisaged that thirty of these engines would be built, divided between Horwich (20) and Crewe Works (10). Although an additional ten frames had been laid down before construction was halted, production was transferred to Horwich and these were then adapted to become 4-6–0 tender locomotives. Numbered 11110 to 11119 they were divided between Newton Heath (11110/1/2/3/4) and Colne Shed (11115/6/7/8/9). Of the ones to be allocated to Colne, which came under Accrington, all were in bland unlined grey, but in 1933 number 11116 was given a black livery lined out in red and white, the only one to be so treated. They were specifically intended for use on the heavy fast trains over steep gradients, and were unusual for non-tender locomotives in that they incorporated scoops to replenish their

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