Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Coar, who was the Mechanical Foremen at the depot, said he had seen Mr Hoyle earlier walking along Blackburn Road just before Blythe’s Bridge, and it was obvious he was using the running lines to get to his workplace. At the Inquest the Coroner recorder a verdict of ‘death by misadventure’, as there was no evidence to suggest he had intended to take his own life. May On Friday the 9 th , a container on the back of a lorry became wedged under the redundant Scaitcliffe Street railway bridge for some time. However, the structure remained undamaged. Residents of the area, who rented garages on land belonging to the British Railways Board, were up in arms about an increase in the rents they were now being asked to pay. The ground rent on the land in the Bond Street/Grimshaw Street area, had ranged from £5, £8 or £10 per annum depending on the size of the plot, but now BR were to standardise all these rents at £12. This compared to the £3 – 10s – 0d charged by Accrington Corporation for their garage sites. Another person renting a plot stated that under normal circumstances in the terms of the agreement they would have to receive three months’ notice to vacate a plot, but in the case of an ‘emergency’ BR could now ask them to quit within twenty-four hours. MP Arthur Davidson was taking up their case. Over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend the specials to Blackpool, Southport and Morecambe on Sunday, the 25 th , were all full. June On Sunday the 24 th , the Flying Scotsman ‘Pacific’ locomotive passed through Accrington once again, on its return journey from Keighley to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She was routed this way by the organisers of the round trip, to give railway enthusiasts another look at her before she left in August for a tour of the United States of America. Although on this occasion she did not stop, she passed through at a walking pace to give all of the 500 or so spectators a chance to see her. Having been due at 16:43 she was already half an hour down on the schedule. Staff at the station had difficulty keeping people off the lines, as the passing coincided with a diesel multiple unit, which had stopped on the opposite platform. However, many remarked about the poor image that the station gave of the town in its rundown state. July A diesel locomotive along with about a dozen empty wagons came off the rails at a set of catch points between Rishton and Accrington close to Accrington Golf Club at about 11:00 on Sunday the 9 th . Workmen were carrying out repairs to the other of the running lines at the time, so both lines were blocked for about two hours forcing the cancellation of four trains. A crane was summoned to rerail the loco which had run through into the embankment, whilst buses provided a shuttle service between Rishton and Accrington. On having taken up the case of the £12 garage rentals, MP Arthur Davidson received a reply from the Chairman of the BR Board, Sir Henry Johnson, which said “We have examined these rents again, and thought them to be reasonable in the current light of the value of land properties”. Mr Davidson said, he thought this was an unsatisfactory response. The highlight of the month came on Thursday the 17 th , with an excursion to London for just £2 per ticket and unsurprisingly, the full complement of 115 tickets allocated to Accrington was rapidly taken up. For an extra 10 shillings there was an option of a coach tour to Windsor and a sail on the Thames with a meal provided. Such was the popularity of this excursion it was repeated again on a week later. Specials ran to Newquay, Great Yarmouth, Paignton, London, Heysham and Liverpool for the IOM. Trips to Blackpool, Southport and Morecambe were better patronised than they had been a year before. August An announcement was made that the prototype body of a “super-speed” train, capable of travelling at 125mph and above was to be built at the English Electric Works in Clayton-le-Moors. It was revealed in London on Friday the 1 st , that GEC had won the contract to build the single vehicle, and a spokesman for BR said this works had been chosen was because they had considerable experience in aircraft building techniques. It was said that when this vehicle was in service, it would be able to be brought to a stand from 150mph more quickly than a Midland Electric. Passengers would ride smoothly in air conditioned comfort and comparative silence, whilst eating their on-train meals. A former special constable and councillor, William Hyland, of Cumberland Avenue, who had worked for 5 years as a porter at Rishton Station, admitted stealing £9 – 10s – 0d from the BR Board and of falsifying a ticket issue balance sheet. He asked for a further 100 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

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