Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

12:10, returning at 19:30 and back for 20:33, with fares at £1:39p/70p. On Monday the special was to Southport, departing town at 11:39, arriving at 13:03, returning at 20:25 and back for 21:47. The fares were £1:39p and 70p for a child. The month ended on Sunday the 30 th , with another trip to Chester and all stations to Llandudno, and on Monday the 31 st , to Gourock, including a cruise on the Clyde for £5:80p and £4:40p for an accompanied child. There was also a special for York, with a seven hour stay as the alternative, at £2 and 1:25p. ( The trips to Llandudno, Gourock and York were all booked up quickly .) June the Highways & Transportation Committee met when concern was expressed about the method adopted by the former Rishton and Great Harwood UDCs to utilise a former railway cutting for the tipping of domestic refuse. This was causing parts of the area adjacent to Norden School to become waterlogged to a depth of between two and three feet for a length of some two to three hundred yards. This site had been sealed off by April, 1974, but the attention of the relevant Officers had now been brought to bear on this problem and it had been decided to construct a surface water drain in order to take this flood water away, also to fence around the perimeter of the most dangerous area. It was announced that every Thursday, from June 3 rd to September 30 th , there would be a Rail/Road Tour of Derbyshire. This would depart from Accrington at 08:31 and would require changes of trains in Blackburn to arrive at Manchester Victoria at 10:02. Here passengers would transfer to coaches for a tour which would include luncheon in Buxton and admission to Haddon Hall. The return would depart Victoria at 19:55 and passengers would be back in Accrington at 21:06. The fares were £5 for an adult and £3:50p for a child. On Sundays the 6 th , 13 th and 27 th , there were trips to Blackpool for 90p and 45p whilst on Saturday the 26 th , there was an excursion to Loch Lomond. This entailed a train to Balloch and a two hour sail on the ‘Maid of the Loch’ paddle steamer. The fares were £4:30p/£2:40p respectively and again Kellogg’s vouchers were not accepted as payment on this trip. Late in June the Highways & Transportation Committee met again, when the Borough Engineer reported that BR had notified him that they intended to carry out repairs to the tracks at Huncoat Level Crossing. This would take place over the weekends of August 14 th , September 4 th and 11 th , and would involve closing the road over the crossing. Publicity had been posted at the site and BR had agreed to reimburse the Council for any costs they incurred in their publicising these closures. July There was the choice of a half-day or full day trip to Blackpool, on both Sundays the 4 th and 11 th , and daily runs on Mondays to Fridays on the 5 th to the 9 th , and again on the 12 th to the 16 th . There were trips to Southport on Monday the 5 th and Wednesday the 14 th , whilst Morecambe was visited on Wednesday the 7 th and Monday the 12 th . The first of three Mystery excursions ran on Wednesday the 7 th , to be followed by others on Monday the 19 th and Wednesday the 21 st . The fares on all these were £3:20p/£1:90p. It was announced that every Wednesday up to September 22 nd , there would be a ‘Lovely Lakeland’ excursion, which would entail a train to Penrith, a coach to Keswick, a sail from Ambleside to Bowness with a transfer back to a train in Lancaster. The fares were £3:75p and £2:20p respectively. The overnight specials for Torquay/Paignton, Llandudno and the one going through to Newquay were all fully booked before the start of the Wakes Weeks, although there were a few spare tickets available for Bournemouth and for the Scarborough/Filey trains. Two trains were off to Liverpool for the IOM Ferry on Friday night and Saturday morning, and there were additional trains to Blackpool and Morecambe. Holiday specials continued with two destinations on offer for Thursday the 22 nd , York or Scarborough, whilst on Sunday the 25 th , to Chester or to one of the coastal resorts in North Wales. On Tuesday the 27 th , there was a return to Oxford at £3:20p/£1:90p, with the option of a coach to Blenheim Palace at £1:55p extra for an adult and £1:25p for a child. The following day the destinations were either Bristol or Weston-super-Mare, at Mystery excursion fares, and on Thursday the 29 th , to Westbury for Longleat, at £4:40p for an adult and £2:35p for a child including admission to the Safari Park and time at the stately home. The special on Tuesday the 29 th , also had two destinations. Passengers for the Severn Valley Railway would alight at Wolverhampton to join coaches for Bridgenorth, whilst those for the Safari Park

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