Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

There were two ‘special’ trains to the resorts on the North Wales Coast including Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Deganwy, Llandudno and Bangor departing Accrington at 07:30, ( scheduled 183 ), and the second leaving at 08:15, Church 08:18 and Rishton 08:25, ( scheduled 181 ). A special to Morecambe ( scheduled 160 ), departing Accrington at 09:20, Church 09:24 and Rishton 09:30. Extra trains to Blackpool would run as follows - Accringto n Church Rishto n Scheduled 09:20 09:24 09:30 100 11:05 11:09 - 101 12:30 12:35 - 102 13:25 13:29 13:34 103 Early booking for all these trains was advised as tickets would be regulated. Over the first weekend a total of 18 specials were to be operated. The rail excursions to Blackpool ran on the Sunday the 16 th , departing Accrington at 10:50. On Monday the 17 th to Friday the 21 st , trains departed at 10:45, Church 10:49 and Rishton 10:56. These continued on Sunday the 23 rd , at 10:20, and on Monday the 24 th , to Friday the 28 th , departing Accrington at 10:50, Church 10:23 and Rishton 10:29. Fares were from Accrington 10/- and 9/9d from both Church and Rishton. Rail excursions to Southport ran on the Sunday the 16 th , departing Accrington at 10:20, also on Monday the 17 th , to Wednesday the 19 th , departing Accrington at 10:15, Church 10:19 and Rishton 10:25. On Wednesday of the second week the train departed Accrington at 11:25, Church 11:29 and Rishton 11:33. Fares were from Accrington 9/9d and 9/6d from Church and 9/3d from Rishton. The rail excursions to Morecambe ran on the Monday the 17 th and Tuesday the 18 th , departing Accrington at 10:25, Church 10:29 and Rishton at 10:33, with fares of 12/3d from Accrington, 12/- from Church and from Rishton 11/6d. The 6-day ‘Runabout Ticket’ was priced at 45/6d for 1967. “All the ‘special’ trains for the south coast were well booked, with the IOM showing a resurgence of popularity”, said a spokesman at Accrington Station. August MP Arthur Davidson had been questioning the Minister of Transport about a speedier journey between Accrington and Manchester, now that the route went around via Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton. It was hoped that Barbara Castle would impress upon BR, that a journey time of no more than 55 minutes should be the target. Mrs Castle confirmed that she would be visiting her Blackburn constituency shortly, and would be looking into this question with railway officials there. September A work-to-rule by railway guards as part of an industrial action, threatened to disrupt services over the weekend of the September holidays in Accrington. Mr Chown, the Station Manager said, “This is not expected to affect service trains to Blackpool on Sunday the 17 th , or the ‘special’ due to depart at 11:00 on Monday the 18 th . The main 07:18 and 07:58 weekday trains to Manchester had been operating as normal”. But he admitted that the uncertainty caused the work-to-rule had kept bookings to below normal levels. However, several trains did not operate, including the 05:00 and the 15:42 Accrington to Manchester Parcels. The 05:55 Manchester to Colne passenger train due in Accrington at 07:06, the 06:45 Skipton to Manchester (Accrington at 07:33), and the 08:05 Colne to Stockport (Accrington at 08:37) were all cancelled. During the evening the 20:10 and 21:20 Colne to Manchester, (Accrington at 20:37 and 21:42 respectively) and the 19:20 Manchester to Colne (20:28 in Accrington), were all casualties. The early morning 07:18 and 07:58 trains to Manchester had managed to run. Altham’s Travel, who were British Railways agents, said they had been refunding tickets for long distance destinations as people were anxious that they would be unable to complete their journeys. Coach operators were saying there had been a surge of late bookings on their tours and excursions. October Harold Hartley, from Colne, a booking clerk at Accrington Station, was fined £30 when he pleaded guilty at Accrington Magistrate’s Court, to three charges of embezzling money from BR. The charges related to 16 tickets which were missing, and could not be accounted for in the takings. The sums involved were £17 – 16s – 0d, £8 – 4s – 0d and £4. All these tickets had been issued on July 12 th . He stated he had placed this cash in the account of the British Automatic Company, for whom he was the

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