Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

The 08:00 Accrington to Manchester Victoria. The 10:55 Colne to Bolton, (Saturdays only). The 14:55 Preston to Colne, (winter only). The 19:25 Colne to Preston, (winter only). The 20:55 Manchester Victoria to Accrington.

However, in addition to the strong protest about the hardship which it was claimed these cuts would cause and their effect on the poor services which the Trades & Labour Party felt were already operating, they again put forward a possible solution in the form of making train and bus tickets “interchangeable”. Mr Grant, the Party’s Agent, was echoing a suggestion made previously by, amongst others, Councillor Sproul. But Ribble Motor Services were lukewarm to this proposal. A spokesman for the bus company reiterating, that in a few instances interchangeability already existed with the railway by prior arrangement, but did not think they were possible on a ‘casual’ basis. Announcing these cuts an official from BR stated, “They are mainly services which had been running at a loss for some considerable time. If however there is a proven demand by the public certain services will be restored”. Another railcar excursion ran on the 6 th , with the choice of Bridlington or Filey for the fare 14/6d. The train departed Accrington at 09:30 and the return left Filey at 19:15 calling at Bridlington at 19:40. The alternative was an all stations from Lancaster to Workington. A week later the train to Llandudno via the North Wales resorts was repeated, and on the 20 th , Coventry and Barrow were again the choices. With a 10:00 departure, Church at 10:04, a railcar was off to Rhyl for 12/3d, calling at Prestatyn en route fare 11/6d. Potential day trippers were warned that bookings would close when all the seats were sold. The 27 th would see repeat trips to Millom, and railcar excursions to Scarborough and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, this time including a stop in Pelaw. There was a ramblers’ train to Appleby for 11/6d, with walks from Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Kirkby Stephen as well as the destination. Between Monday, the 25 th , and Friday, the 30 th , reduced period return fares to the Fylde Coast resorts were available at 7/-. The lateness of the September holiday was causing concern not only for the railways but for operators of coaches as well. Due to a spell of good weather demand for tickets had been good, but there had been no great rush and the fears were that if the weather had been poor demand might have been below average. Despite this, extra capacity was added to the Scarborough diesel excursion, all of which was snapped up, and there were queues for the half-day excursion to Blackpool. October Stanley were away to York City on Saturday, the 3 rd , the return fare was 10/6d. ( York 3 – Stanley 0. ) On consecutive Sundays the 4 th and 11 th , there were diesel railcar excursions to Morecambe for the Illuminations, fares were 6/3d from Accrington, 6/- from Church, whilst on the 11 th , Coventry and Doncaster were also possibilities. On the 18 th , it was Barrow or nothing, but on the 25 th , there were trips to Chesterfield or Workington and another railcar excursion calling at the North Wales resorts en route to Llandudno. On Sunday, the 12 th , a large scale exercise took place to simulate the conditions which might arise as a result of a major train crash, utilising the services of over fifty boys from the Christ Church Scout Group who would act as the casualties. The scene would be acted in the goods yard at Accrington Station, when the British Railways Ambulance and Rescue Team, the St John Ambulance Brigade, the County Ambulance Service, the Police, Fire Brigade and WVS, would all be mobilised. A command centre will be set up to inform the local hospitals of the number of casualties and how many beds they would need to provide. Col. V. Royle, District Commissioner of the St John Ambulance Brigade, who was an observer said, “There were too many people milling around and not really knowing what to do, which was the case at the Lewisham disaster, and this is what exercises such as these are designed to avoid. Another lesson is that you must have back-up to step in when rescuers become exhausted”. Dr R. C. Webster, another adjudicator, praised the rapid diagnosis of the injuries presented, but warned against giving liquids to the injured as they might require anaesthetics on being admitted to hospital. ( Dr Webster was a winner of the Brain of Britain competition .) November Departing Accrington at 10:20, Church & Oswaldtwistle at 10:23 on Sunday, the 8 th , there was an excursion to Millom priced at 12/6d. This would call at Lancaster (5/9d), Carnforth (7/-),

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