Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

In the up direction the Colne carriages were put onto the 10:05am from London Road in Stockport with an arrival in London at 1:20pm. It is likely that only one ‘named’ locomotive was ever allocated to Accrington Motive Power Depot in the 20th Century, and this was only a short period during 1938, commencing on June 18 th , until November 5 th . The locomotive was ‘Jubilee’ Class (4)5711 Courageous . ( This name was also carried by a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, which was sunk by a U-Boat in September, 1942 .) It was built at Crewe and introduced into traffic on June 19 th , 1936. It carried the LMS crimson lake livery until October 16 th , 1947, when it was repainted into LMS black, finally receiving British Railways green on March 28 th , 1953. It was withdrawn from service on December 29 th , 1962, and was cut up by G. H. Campbell of Airdrie.

--------------------- CHAPTER 8 THE WAR YEARS AND THE LMS TO NATIONALISATION

1939 On September 1 st , as a wartime measure, the Government took over control of all of the Nation’s Railway Companies. The net revenue of the LMS went directly to the Treasury, in return for an annual return of £14¾ millions whilst the hostilities continued. It was stated that if the Government had chosen to ‘nationalise’ the railways on this date, at a time when compensation to shareholders would not have been as great as it would turn out to be at some point in the future. It was estimated that this figure would have been in the region of £600 million to £700 million, but certainly no larger than £800 million. At the outbreak of the war the ‘big four’ railway companies were averaging profits of £40 million per annum. January The members of the General Works Committee heard from the Borough Engineer that he had now obtained from the Engineer to the LMS drawings which indicated the maximum height of the girders of the proposed new Scaitcliffe Street Railway Bridge. This meant he was now in a position to fix the level of the roadway so as to obtain the maximum headroom of 16 feet as required by the Ministry of Transport. It was resolved to forward the outline of this scheme to the Ministry for an indication as to whether or not the Minister was prepared to allocate the maximum 75% of grant towards the estimated cost of the work. March The Transport Sub-Committee visited the traffic island recently constructed at the junction of Charter Street, Lonsdale Street and Pickup Street and considered the possibility of providing a bus shelter in its immediate vicinity. It was resolved the Town Clerk should approach the LMS to see if they would grant permission for a shelter on a site at the extreme westerly corner of their land on Charter Street. April The Borough Engineer reported to a meeting of the General Works Committee, that in accord with the amended outline of the scheme for alterations to the Scaitcliffe Street Bridge, it had now been submitted to the Ministry of Transport, who had suggested that now was the time to prepare a full estimate for the whole of these works, these to include details of the necessary alterations to adjoining properties and any other expenses therewith. It was resolved that the Chairman, Vice-Chair with the appropriate officials should look into this matter with the LMS and all those concerned and then report back. The Town Clerk submitted a letter from the LMS to a meeting of the Transport Committee intimating that they would be prepared to grant a tenancy of an area of land on Charter Street for the purpose of building a bus shelter, at a rental of £2 per year plus rates, and subject to six months’ notice. It was resolved to accept this offer, and that the Borough Engineer should prepare a plan and estimate for the building of this shelter. June At a meeting of the General Works Committee, the Borough Engineer reported he was in receipt of a letter from the Divisional Road Engineer of the Ministry of Transport, intimating that the proposed

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