Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

improvement scheme for the Scaitcliffe Street railway bridge would be eligible for a grant of 75%, subject to the approval of the engineering details and estimates when submitted. It was resolved the Borough Engineer could proceed with the preparation of the plans and costings. The Transport Committee met again in June and in accordance with his instructions, the Borough Engineer submitted plans and an estimate for the construction of a bus shelter on this area of Railway Company land at the extreme westerly corner of Charter Street, and it was further resolved - That this amended plan be submitted to the LMS for their approval, and on receipt of their approval that quotations be sought for carrying out this work 1940 January The funeral took place of 62 year old William Thomas Platt, who was killed in an accident on the railway on the 11 th . Out of a total of 40 years’ service he had been a shunter at Accrington for the last 30, and a verdict of accidental death had been recorded at the Inquest. Over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, the 28 th and 29 th , very severe weather caused the cancellation of almost all the train services in East Lancashire. On Saturday there were no trains from Accrington going east after the 3pm departure for Burnley and the service on the Manchester line ended during the evening. A number of passengers were obliged to stay overnight on Saturday in the waiting and refreshment rooms at Accrington Station, and one lady having commenced her journey from Nelson to Rawtenstall could not complete her journey until Monday, whilst an hourly service had begun between Preston and Accrington at 6am on Monday morning. Following what was described as “the worst disruption to trains services in living memory”, two tank locos became embedded in deep drifts at Rising Bridge when double-heading a train tender first. Stanier 2-6-4 number (4)2431 of Carnforth shed was the train engine, whilst the pilot engine was (400)65 a 2-6-2 Fowler locomotive allocated to Newton Heath. Both were relatively new with the Stanier loco having come out of Derby works in March, 1936, whilst the Fowler loco had also been constructed in Derby during October, 1932. It took four days to dig the train out. February The first train to get through to Haslingden was the 6:50pm Colne to Manchester service on Saturday, the 2 nd , almost a week after the line had been blocked by snow. Following 46 years’ service on the railways a ticket collector at Accrington Station, Mr R. A. Walker retired. Born in Cliviger, he had previously worked at the stations in Hapton, Brierfield and Rose Grove before moving to Accrington where he worked as a signalman in all of the town’s boxes before becoming a ticket collector. July Many colleagues attended the funeral of William Riley, of Ormerod Street, who had passed away at the age of 49. He was a railway detective attached to the Blackburn staff of the LMS for the past 27 years. On the first Saturday of the traditional ‘Wakes Weeks’ the LMS would be operating three special trains to Blackpool and one to Morecambe, whilst it was hoped that another excursion would be arranged to visit North Wales, but no additional specials were announced and there would be no cheap fares on any of these trains. However, the numbers of people travelling indicated life in wartime would continue as normally as possible. On that Saturday there were 200 bookings half of which were for London. There were 3,000 period bookings to Blackpool, 700 to Morecambe and 400 each to Southport and Fleetwood whilst the Lake District attracted 60 and 2 booked to Weston-super-Mare. Sunday witnessed 250 more off to Blackpool and 150 to Southport and again on Monday, Blackpool was the most popular with 700 visitors followed by 200 to Morecambe and 100 to Southport. Blackpool would remain the most popular destination throughout the rest of the week, with normal services strengthened to cope with 400 market day trippers to Burnley. The Stationmaster at Accrington Station, Mr Unsworth, said his staff had coped with the rush in an efficient and courteous manner and things generally had gone smoothly. October Mr Frank Hoyle, of Aitken Street, retired following 48 years’ service on the railways, the last four at Accrington as a telegraph clerk. He had also been attached to several other stations on the local lines including Church & Oswaldtwistle after starting work as a messenger boy. During the conflict almost 9,000 employees of the LMS had passed the first aid proficiency tests to date, including engine drivers, firemen, guards, booking clerks, porters, ticket collectors and carriage cleaners from Accrington and district. In what was described as an almost “unique case”, the Stationmaster at Accrington Station, Mr John H. Unsworth, of Shaw Place, Whalley Road, was brought before Accrington Magistrates for a

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