Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

September the 4 th . On Sunday, the 30 th , there was a repeat excursion to Windermere, with rambles from the destination and from Staveley. September Overnight on Friday, the 4 th , the Staffa & Iona excursion departed with the fare now 88/-. The following day the football season’s start was kicked off with a special to Birmingham for Rovers’ away game. It departed Accrington at 08:26 returning from New Street at 18:00, with a fare of 21/3d. On Sunday, the 6 th , excursions visited Llandudno, Barrow and Morecambe, with Morecambe repeated on the following day for the Illuminations. People wishing to see Blackpool’s rather larger version of the lights, were catered for on every day through to Tuesday, the 8 th , for 5/9d return. On Saturday, the 7 th , it was the Railwaymen’s Carnival at Belle Vue, with a departure at 10:55 and a return at 22:56 for 5/9d return. Starting on Sunday, the 6 th , further reductions were announced on day return fares from Accrington and these included - Accrington to Preston at 3/6d (from Church 3/4d), to Blackburn 1/5d (1/2d), to Burnley both for 1/7d, to Nelson both 2/4d, Colne 2/9d (2/11d) and to Skipton 4/9d (4/11d). Beginning on the 7 th , on Mondays to Saturdays going through to December the 22 nd , passengers could go by any train day return to London for 52/-, with a change in Preston in both directions. The very last regular steam hauled timetabled workings had run through Accrington on the 7 th , and these were - • The 08:21 Skipton to Liverpool. • The 09:10 Colne to Manchester Victoria ‘business train’ and the 16:20 return. • The Mondays to Fridays 09:15 Blackpool Central to Colne. • The Saturdays only 11:16 Colne to Southport. There was some measure of relief when, at the start of the month, the details of the new timetable coming into operation from the 7 th , showed that trains to Blackpool via Preston and on the line to Bury had not been cut. It was proposed to operate a ‘shuttle’ service between Accrington and Bury Bolton Street, with connections through to Manchester Victoria and Salford, but there would still be ‘through’ trains at 06:10, 07:20 and the ‘Office Train’ which used to depart at 07:46 would be retimed to depart at 07:53, arriving in Manchester at 08:30, only 4 minutes later than previously was the case. There would be two morning trains running through to Accrington from Manchester at 07:03 and 07:49 arriving via Bury at 07:49 and 08:50 respectively. The Manchester trains going around by Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton would leave Accrington at 07:58, 09:25, 10:45 and 11:46, arriving in Manchester at 08:54, 10:12, 11:42 and 12:38 respectively. There would be roughly an hourly service, with every alternate hour a faster service, which would miss out Church and Rishton and some other smaller stations. In the opposite direction the 17:09 through train via Bury will remain unchanged, whilst the 17:26 electric service to Bury would require a change which meant workers would get back to Accrington at 18:18. If however, the workers caught the 17:40 which went around via Blackburn they would arrive in Accrington at 18:36. All the through trains to Southport and to Liverpool had been axed in the new timetable, but there would still be four through trains to Blackpool North each weekday at 07:25, arriving at 08:52, the 10:08 into Central at 11:29, the 16:58 to North at 18:13 and the 17:54 into North at 19:05. There would be however, a more frequent service to Blackpool that required a change of trains in Blackburn. Further good news was that BR were to make further reductions to off-peak fares on the Preston to Skipton line from the 7 th , saving as much as 35%. One example was the 1/10d return fare from Accrington to Blackburn would cost 1/5d, whilst the fare between Huncoat and Accrington would go down by 2d. However, no longer could a passenger obtain a 5-day return, but could choose between a monthly or 3-monthly contract. However, a regular passenger who previously purchased a 5-day ticket would be now be obliged to buy 5 individual day returns, so would henceforth be forking out an extra 12∙5%. These new fares were it was stressed, “Only an experiment which required twice as many people to travel in order to break even”, but were due to remain available until December 22 nd . September One of the arguments put forward was that delays in the Manchester conurbation often had repercussions out into East Lancashire causing missed connections. It was alleged these were so frequent that it was felt they were deliberate in order to strengthen the case for the closure of the line! • The Saturdays only 16:30 Colne to Blackpool Central.

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