Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Kendal at 19:28 and back for 20:53, with fares at £3:20p and £1:60p. The other option on the day was another run to Blackpool. On Tuesday the 28 th , the excursion was for Arnside and/or Grange-over-Sands, with fares from both Accrington and Rishton were £2:40p and £1:20p. The timings were Accrington 09:19, Rishton 09:25 arriving in Arnside at 10:36, Grange 10:43, before returning at 19:05 and 19:11 respectively and back for 20:16 and 20:20. Morecambe was revisited on Thursday the 30 th , departing Accrington at 09:19, Rishton 09:25, and calling at Lancaster at 10:29 before arriving at 10:47. The adult fares were £2:70 and £2:40p from Rishton with children half fare. The return times were 19:15, 19:27 and back at 20:22 and 20:27 respectively. It was hoped to provide a service of light refreshments on the Mystery excursion which ran on Friday the 31 st , with fares at £6:60p and £3:30p. A 2nd Class period return to London by Inter-City was also available at £11:00, which would allow up to one month’s stay and was also valid from Watford Junction. Children were half fare on this promotion. In one of those ‘one-off’ situations a special DMU would depart Accrington “very early” on the morning of Wednesday the 29 th , to connect onto a train in Preston for London Euston, for the Royal Wedding of HRH the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer. Details would be released to ticket holders who would pay £11:00 and £5:50p for each child. ( This excursion was cancelled due to lack of sufficient bookings. ) A new ‘Cumbria Runabout Ticket’ was advertised giving 7 days unlimited travel on both trains and buses for £16:50p and £8:25p for a child. This would permit travel on trains, Ribble and Cumberland Motor Services buses, sailings on the Sealink boats on Windermere and reduced admission to some attractions. August BR announced they were to introduce a Disabled Person’s Railcard, which would allow the visually impaired and physically handicapped to travel half price for all ordinary single, return and day trip fares. This was an effort to make train travel more accessible to the handicapped, it included improvements at certain selected stations and the provision of wheelchairs at the larger ones. After months of lobbying, BR had agreed to have excursion trains stop at Church & Oswaldtwistle Station. They had also agreed that a local travel agent would be authorised to book tickets for the trains, but stressed that this was an experiment which would be withdrawn if it was not justified by sufficient patronage. Special trains would now stop at the station during October and November. Chair of the Oswaldtwistle Civic Society, Winnie Hogan, thanked Hyndburn Council and MP Arthur Davidson for their support during the campaign, whilst calling on the people to support these excursions in numbers. Advanced notice was given of a ‘Mini-Weekend’ in Folkestone on October 9 th /10 th . The fares of £47:50p with children half-price included travel on scheduled services on the 9 th , 2 nights including dinner, bed & breakfast in the Burlington Hotel, before returning on Sunday the 11 th . Another ‘Mini Weekend’ was also touted for the weekend of December the 4 th to the 6 th , this time in Plymouth. The train would leave late on Friday night and accommodation was either in the ‘Continental’, The Duke of Wellington or the Strathmore hotels. The fares of £35:50 and £19:00 for a child sharing included all train travel, breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday before returning at 15:00. Private bathrooms were available at a supplement of £1 extra per person. Over the weekend of Saturday to Monday, November 21 st to the 23 rd the Aviemore trip would be repeated. Early booking was advised for all these outings. There were two football specials on which Burnley fans could travel to see away games. The first ran on Tuesday the 18 th to Preston, departing at 17:49, arriving at 18:16, returning at 22:00 and back for 22:28. On Saturday the 22 nd , Blackpool was the destination. This time the departure was at 12:44 arriving at South Station at 13:47, returning at 17:40 and back for 18:34. For £8:50p and children £4:25p it was possible to ride on the ‘White Rose’, a steam hauled excursion between Preston and York which would start from Carnforth. This excursion would operate on Sundays the 2 nd , 16 th and 30 th . Travel to and from Preston by suitable trains, was included in the fare and it would depart at 11:15, arriving in York at 14:50. The return left at 17:25 and was back in Preston by 21:00. There was a limit imposed of no more than 2 children per adult, whilst unaccompanied children would have to pay the full fare. Also on the 2 nd , there was another trip to Blackpool. At a meeting of the Land Committee, the Borough Planning Officer drew the attention of the members to the fact that LCC’s Accrington to Baxenden Disused Railway Line Reclamation Scheme

358