Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

This opened on November 15 th , 1877, with two through platforms. It was claimed by engineman James Redford that he was at the controls of the first passenger train to run through from Blackburn to Rose Grove, although he had a penchant for making boasts of this kind, claiming other records and feats on the footplate. However, he was one of the ‘resident’ drivers on the North Lancs Loop up until the 8 th , of August 1881, when he was forced to jump clear of his locomotive when it was involved in a heavy collision at Blackburn Railway Station. He sustained a compound fracture of a leg when he was struck by a flying buffer. July 20 th , 1878, the 20:12 from Burnley to Blackburn struck a cow on the section of line through Great Harwood. The train was held for six minutes whilst the carriages were recoupled to the engine, having broken loose due to the impact. The facilities at Great Harwood Railway Station in 1898, included a carriage shed on the south side, which had four through roads. Within the yard there were two sidings adjacent to the goods shed on the north side plus one short spur. The station buildings included, on the down platform offices for the Stationmaster and parcels as well as the booking hall. There was also a large ‘general’ waiting room, a 1st Class waiting room for gentlemen and 1st and 2nd Class waiting rooms for ladies. There were four WCs arranged in pairs and a urinal further along at the Burnley end near to the lamp room. The ‘up’ Blackburn platform had very few facilities by comparison. Great Harwood Station had two water columns number 177 was at the up platform end, whilst 178 was in the carriage sidings. These were the only water columns on the entire North Lancs Loop. In the early part of the 20th Century a footbridge was constructed to join the two platforms, which was extended to reach the carriage sidings. A signal box stood at the end of the Burnley platform which had a short bay platform adjacent to it, which might have been used for handling livestock. Situated within the goods shed was a crane capable of lifting 8 tons. The main merchandise handled was textiles for export, and coke for the nearby gasworks. Several coal merchants utilised the yard along with the Great Harwood Industrial Co-operative Society, which had its own private-user 7 plank wagons. Private-user wagons were also used by R. Hargreaves, Robert Spencer & Sons, who were agents for the Wigan Coal & Iron Company Ltd. In 1973 the redevelopment of the former goods yard began. By 1896, a line had been laid across Heys Lane to serve the gasworks and in 1912 two more sidings were laid in the yard to serve the now, Accrington & District Gas & Water Board. From one of these, a loop went out and across Heys Lane to go into the Board’s yard to two lines circling the site, where they met with a travelling crane that was also rail-mounted. A battery operated 0-4-0 shunting locomotive was used to shunt wagons, and was possibly built by the American engineering company of Jeffrey in Ohio in 1920. Turning to Martholme Viaduct, where the fifth and sixth of the arches span the River Calder at its’ widest point on a gentle curve 65 feet high. It was granted Grade II listed status in 1984 but was closed to walkers in 2001. It remained fenced off until November, 2017, when it was reopened from the Great Harwood side to its eastern end. It is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering, retaining the stone blocks on which the wooden formers of the arches were supported during its construction before they were keyed ( It is near to what is believed to be the oldest dated building in the Borough, Martholme, which has a date of 1577 in its stonework and was the home of the Hesketh family, who also had property in Rufford. Martholme sidings were installed circa 1894 some 1¼ miles east of the station. During 1895 a 20 lever signal box was put in to protect these sidings close to where the single track spur went off to serve the Great Harwood Colliery, otherwise known as Harwood Pit. Coal mining ceased in 1921, but this box remained in operation up until 1937. Horses were used to transfer the wagons from the mine to these exchange sidings. To the west of Great Harwood in the Cunliffe area there was a tramway over the running lines, which connected via a loop the quarry close to Side Beet Lane and the Queen Brickworks, (founded in 1899 as the Queen Red Facing Brick Company of Blackburn). This factory was situated between the running lines and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and had two of its own private sidings protected by a 20 lever signal box, built in 1904. By 1910 this works had shut down and the sidings decommissioned. There was a 50mph speed restriction across Martholme Viaduct all the way to Great Harwood Station. The line to the west of the station to beyond the cemetery, was prone to subsidence, and during

17