Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Carlisle line). Having taken three years to construct this viaduct, the line as far as Clitheroe was inspected and passed by Captain Wynne on June the 14 th , 1850 and the first passenger trains operated between Blackburn and Clitheroe on the 22 nd . However, the relationship with the East Lancs Railway was hardly harmonious to begin with, for that company insisted on collecting tolls for traffic operating over its lines from Daisyfield Junction to its own station beyond Darwen Street Bridge in Blackburn. There was even a blockade of the line similar to the one which occurred at Clifton Junction. However, takeovers of both companies by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway eventually calmed the situation. In 1941 it was discovered the foundations of one of the pillars next to the Calder had been eroded away, leaving it only supported from above and displaying a large crack in the brickwork. This and two other pillars, it was found, required underpinning on piles driven down into the rock. More recently another pillar had slipped, and this was rectified by spraying concrete into the foundations. There is now a 45 mph speed limit over this structure to help retain its integrity. The viaduct with its huge buttresses, some of which were designed to blend in more with the buildings of the nearby Whalley Abbey, stands today as testament to the skills of those who were involved in its construction. (In 1851, George Clarke opened his own brickworks next to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Norden in Rishton, using material excavated from Harper Clough and Close Brow quarries. This company remained in business under the management of George’s grandson, Mark, until it went into liquidation during the early 1960s.) Whilst in Whalley, during the Great War the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway operated seven special ambulance trains. These were specially adapted London & North Western coaching stock, with wards for stretcher cases, bed-ridden and wheelchair patients, with accommodation for doctors, nurses and catering staff. Some of these were directed to the Queen Mary’s Military Hospital in Whalley, (Calderstones). Tight security surrounded the movement of these trains conveying the sick and injured service personnel, hundreds of which were brought to Whalley to convalesce. These trains left the main line at a junction a mile or so north of the town in Barrow Village, on a specially engineered track enlarged in 1915 to allow access to larger locomotives. Notified of their arrival the patients were unloaded at a temporary platform constructed by the staff within the hospital grounds. By the time of the Second World War this line had fallen into disuse, and the injured were off-loaded at Whalley Station and taken by road to the nearby Calderstones. However, traces of the Calderstones Branch can still be found in the shallow cuttings of the old alignment.

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CHAPTER 2 THE LANCASHIRE & YORKSHIRE RAILWAY ERA

After take-over by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, all the lines in East Lancashire were designated the East Lancashire Division. Included in this was the line between Gannow Junction in Burnley and Todmorden. The headquarters of this Division was transferred from the erstwhile ELR head office overlooking Bury Bolton Street Station to less spacious offices in Accrington Station during 1860. They remained in Accrington during the reconstruction and development of Accrington Station in 1882, under the direction of the popular Mr James Smithells, who was Passenger Superintendent of the Division. He departed to become the General Manager of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway during 1864, and was based in Liverpool. He was instrumental in promoting the town and its businesses during his stay and was very popular with the townsfolk. ( All of the former L & Y’s divisional offices had closed

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