Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

more on Friday. On Monday, nearly 2,000 had gone to visit the market in Burnley, whilst over 1,000 had travelled to Blackburn on Wednesday, that town’s market day. Manchester had averaged 200 passengers during the week with Belle Vue the main attraction. Mr Unsworth stated, “We were very well prepared for this exodus and things had gone like clockwork. A separate queue was assembled for passengers travelling to Morecambe to keep them from getting mixed up with the ones for Blackpool, and they were not allowed onto the platform until the Blackpool trains had departed, so as to avoid any unnecessary confusion”. September One ‘special’ train was added to the schedule to take people to Blackpool at the commencement of the September break and trains were crowded for the Lancashire resorts. ( By September 1945, when hostilities officially ceased, the railways were in a very run-down state, including those around East Lancashire . During the period 1939 to 1945 £5millions were spent on new marshalling yards and lines connecting docks, and in total £11·5millions were invested in the railways). 1946 January At a meeting of the Highways & General Works Committee, they considered an offer from the LMS for the sale of a piece of land and property in Antley Old Road. It was resolved to reply that the Corporation would not be interested in taking up this offer. At a meeting of the Watch Committee the Town Clerk reported that the LMS had enquired as to whether the Corporation were likely to raise any objections to their proposals to demolish the old cab-man’s shelter which occupied space on the Railway Station approach. It was resolved that no objections would be raised. A letter from the Town Clerk of Colne was placed before a meeting of the General Purposes Committee in February, in which reference was made to the need to improve railway services in the area, and in particular the one linking Colne with Accrington and Manchester. It was suggested the LMS might now be considering their post-war plans and that the time was right to pressure them about these services. They wanted all the authorities concerned to make a concerted joint approach to the Railway Company on this matter. A member raised a complaint about the 17:40 London Euston to Manchester train, stating that if this runs late the 22:25 train from Manchester Victoria to Accrington has often departed before Accrington passengers can make the connection, and are subsequently left stranded and it was resolved this Authority unanimously supported the Colne initiative and - Representations would be made to the LMS with regard to improvements to the said services, and would attend any conferences held to discuss the situation. That the Railway Company be asked if something could be done to ensure that the connection can be made by passengers arriving in Manchester off the 17:40 from Euston. February Although priority was being given to the movement of troops, ammunition, fuel and foodstuffs, which were bound to have a detrimental effect on the train services, after six months things were beginning to improve. It was still possible to obtain copies of the monthly ABC Guide to railway services at bookstalls on stations, at the pre-war price of 2 shillings. March The General Purposes Committee met and the Town Clerk reported he had received notification from the LMS that officials from the Company were prepared to meet with representatives of the Council for the purpose of discussing the ‘local’ train services. It was resolved - The Mayor along with Alderman Lord and the Town Clerk would represent the Corporation at this meeting and that Accrington Chamber of Trade should also be asked to send delegates. Representatives from the Council’s General Purposes Sub-Committee went to Hunts Bank in Manchester to meet with top officials from the LMS, in order to discuss possible improvements to the rail services for the area. As a result of this the Company announced there were to be additional trains through Accrington from the introduction of the May 6 th timetable. These would remain in place until October when the winter timetable came into force. The Company’s deputation stated it had been their intention to return to the level of services before the war, but restrictions on fuel, a shortage of manpower and rolling stock had made this unachievable. However, there were opportunities to make some improvements, and these included a train which would depart Colne at 9:40am and go through to Crewe where it would make a connection with the 11:15 London train. They explained that with the very heavy traffic between Manchester and the Capitol they were encouraging people to travel to London via Preston. They did say that the through carriages on the 5:38pm from Euston to East Lancashire could not be reinstated. The 5:12pm train from Salford would be reintroduced to run as an express, making its first stop in Accrington. They also pledged that as many trains as possible would be run during the holiday periods, and on the Friday marking the beginning of the Wakes Week, there would be a train to Paignton, and throughout the

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