Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

even though earlier it had been raining. A carriage examiner, who had accompanied Matthews, said the flames were about four feet high and even though he had attempted to extinguish them with a bucket of water they had flared up again. PC Eaton, who had been called to Crossland Street Sidings, took possession of the bag and on examining the contents saw that some of the letters had been opened. Further investigations showed that at least four pounds in bank notes was missing from two of the envelopes. On being interviewed at his home, Kay could not account for two fragments of burnt paper found in his jacket pocket. He was later committed to trial at Preston Sessions, where he claimed he had entered the mail van in order to apply the vacuum brake, which was normal procedure in the end van after the rake had been shunted into the bay at platform five. He also claimed he could not have transferred the bag to an empty van without being seen by one of the several staff that was working on the platforms that night. It was also revealed that Kay had in his possession a key which would unlock the door of any van, but that these were in universal use by railway staff who was involved in the shunting of vans. The scraps of paper did not correspond to any of the remaining contents of the bag and they were no longer available for further analysis! However, the Magistrates decided there was sufficient evidence to send Kay to the Crown Courts for trial. Two signalmen from Accrington were obliged to retire, having reached the limit of age for their jobs. Mr Ernest Wilkinson from Accrington West Box, and Mr James Larkin from Huncoat Level Crossing Box, had 47 and 39 years’ service respectively. Both men were presented with canteens of cutlery and an umbrella at a celebration presided over by the District Signalmen’s Inspector Mr Addy. Also in attendance was Accrington’s Stationmaster J. H. Unsworth and Mr H. Humphreys the Huncoat Stationmaster, along with family, colleagues and friends. The LMS announced it was to recruit more women to take over jobs on the railway, to make up for the men away serving in the forces, but these would be more on the clerical side rather than on operational tasks. March With the General Purposes Committee present the Town Council met, when attention was called to the nuisance caused, especially in freezing weather, by water seeping down from the embankment at the westerly end of Paxton Street and running down onto Blackburn Road. It was resolved that the Borough Engineer should take up this matter with the LMS Railway Company with a view to them remedying this problem. The General Purposes Committee later met when it was reported that the LMS proposed to close the Paxton Street entrance to the Railway Station as from April 6 th next. It was resolved that the Committee would make the strongest possible protest to the Company against this move. At a meeting of the Town Council, again in committee with the General Purposes Committee, they received a letter from the LMS Railway Company intimating that in view of the Council’s representations against the proposed closure of the Paxton Street entrance to the Railway Station, the matter would be re examined, and a further communication forwarded at an early date. Richard Gough, of Albert Street, Church, was fined 20 shillings plus 7/6d costs for travelling from Blackburn to Accrington having only purchased a 1d platform ticket. He claimed he had given up the blue coloured special workmen’s ticket, but when asked for the 6½d fare stated he could not pay. When ticket collector William Laidlaw had challenged him Gough had become abusive. Prosecuting on behalf of the LMS, Mr D. J. MacBeth said, “Incidents of fare evasion had become all too prevalent in recent times, which was why the railway companies were clamping down on offenders”. April No special trains would operate from Accrington and district stations over the Easter weekend this year. Mr Unsworth said they had stopped booking return tickets on Easter Saturday at 9:45am, as he had been informed that passengers on trains coming back from Blackpool on Monday could not be guaranteed a seat and so were travelling at their own risk of being stranded. ( This did happen to one family who had to fork out £3 – 15s – 0d for a taxi.) He stated that as a result bookings for normally popular destinations were very light, with less than 100 going to Morecambe and to Southport less than 50. Formerly a Railway Inspector, Mr Bridge Hindle, of Bold Street in Accrington, passed away at the age of 76. He had started work with the L & Y as a porter at Bacup Station, later working at Huncoat as a ticket collector, where he later became a passenger train guard. He had been on the railways for a total of 39 years.

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