Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

special to York for 22/3d, with the opportunity to visit Church Fenton at 18/-, or Harrogate for 19/9d with a change in Leeds, or Knaresborough for 20/9d with changes in both Leeds and Harrogate. The return would depart from York at 18:30. On the 29 th and 30 th , there were specials to Morecambe for 12/3d departing at 11:33 and returning at 20:50 on the Sunday, and on Monday at 09:13 returning at 18:05. There were extra trains for Blackpool at 10/- return and Southport at 9/9d return every day over the break. June The Highways Committee met, when the Town Clerk submitted correspondence from the British Railways Board, stating that it was their intention to reconstruct Bridge N o 24 at Antley Old Road in Church, near to Star Street on the Blackburn - Colne Railway Line. This would involve closing the public right of way under this bridge from midnight on Saturday and Sunday, on both the 14 th and the 21 st , of August. It was resolved that no objections would be raised to this work, or the closing of the public right of way on these dates, and to ask British Rail to issue the necessary notices of this closure. July The Town Holiday Runabout Ticket was available again this year, but the price had risen to 40/6d although it would also be valid for trips on BR’s steamers operating on Lake Windermere. There was a special excursion to Morecambe, which would operate on Monday, the 18 th , Tuesdays the 19 th & 26 th , Wednesdays the 20 th & 27 th , and finally on Thursday the 21 st , for 9/9d return. There were also ‘any train’ day returns to Blackpool and Fleetwood at 10/-, Morecambe 12/3d, Grange-over-Sands 15/6d, Windermere 19/9d and to London at 65/-, with a change in Preston. Following a resolution to the dispute which had seen the seamen go out on strike, bookings for Ireland and the IOM had increased following the cancellations which had been made on the run up to the Wakes Weeks. By 08:15 on the Saturday which heralded the beginning of the holidays, the special to Llandudno had been fully booked, as were the 10:05, 10:26 and 12:37 trains to Blackpool. On the previous evening the overnight trains had departed for Paignton, Norwich, Newquay, London, Liverpool and Heysham for the IOM. On Saturday the holiday specials had been dispatched to Bournemouth, Scarborough, Skegness, Pen-y-Chain, Llandudno, Morecambe, and repeat trains to Liverpool and London. There would be four more relief trains to Blackpool on this first day. August An Austrian built track machine was active in the Accrington area to check the alignment of the rails and correct them if necessary. Whilst it was in use on the rails in the town’s station the Stationmaster, Mr J. S. Chown, explained it was moving at a rate of four sleepers at a time to ensure the tracks were in proper alignment, and it would indicate with greater precision any deviations by illuminating lights in the cab. Then adjustments would be made to slew the rails back into the correct position far more rapidly than before. He stated that no train services would be affected during the time it was in operation. Also during August there was an incident which might have had more serious consequences, when several fully laden coal wagons broke loose from a train being shunted into the private sidings of the Central Electricity Generating Board’s Whitebirk Power Station, where they were to have been unloaded. They gained momentum as they ran back down the incline for some distance until they collided with a buffer stop. The impact caused the wagons to smash over the guard’s brake van, before seven of them went down the embankment demolishing a large advertising hoarding, near to the main road on Whitebirk Bridge. Two other wagons remained upright but derailed close to the main Accrington to Blackburn running lines. The police were quickly on hand to divert traffic around the crash site, whilst British Railways investigated the cause of the accident. There was a narrow escape for the driver of the 17:55 Colne to Blackpool diesel train on Sunday, the 30 th , when a large stone about a foot across was dropped from Altham Road bridge in Huncoat. Fortunately the object struck the window on the non-driver’s side of his cab, but it scattered glass and debris into the unit’s cab. The driver, Mr J. Taylor, of Blackpool, was able to carry on to Accrington Station where he was relieved suffering from shock, whilst the DMU was replaced by another from the nearby depot. In a statement another driver said, “Acts of this type of vandalism and placing obstructions on the line were sadly on the increase, and that drivers had less protection on Diesel Multiple Units than they had enjoyed whilst driving steam locomotives. This driver was very lucky not to be seriously injured or even killed”, he continued. The train was travelling at 35mph at the time but had it been travelling in the other direction could have been running at up to 65mph, which would have had much more catastrophic consequences. Police were questioning two boys in connection with this incident. “The train

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