Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

On Saturday the 19 th of November the third of the St James’ Day Trippers went via the scenic route to Gateshead Metro and on to Newcastle. The loco selected as motive power was another named Class 47, on this occasion #575 ‘ City of Hereford’ . 1989 January So popular had been the Day Tripper to Gateshead and Newcastle the previous November, that St James decided to repeat it on Saturday the 14 th . This time 47:401 was the engine on the outward leg, with 47:534 in charge of the return. February On Saturday the 3 rd , the Rambler excursion was to Stratford-upon-Avon, with fares at £9:00 for adults and £4:50p for children. A fortnight later the destinations were York via Harrogate and Knaresborough for £7:00 and £3:50p. Once again MP Ken Hargreaves had persuaded BR to change the timetable of the trains on the East Lancs Line, in order to give better connections in Preston onto the Inter-City network, for if a connection was missed then passengers were waiting up to 57 minutes for the next available train going north or south. March There were two more Ramblers during the month. On Saturday, the 3 rd , to Bath and Bradford upon-Avon at £12:50p, and two weeks later to Hereford for walks on the Malvern Hills, with a fare of £10:00. Children as usual were half price on both these trips. April Having been successful in February, Ken Hargreaves was on the campaign trail again, this time on the subject of the fare between Accrington and Blackpool. He had discovered that the fare from Halifax to Blackpool was £5:60p for the 63-mile journey, whilst passengers from Accrington were coughing up £6:30p for a 35-mile return trip. Meeting in London with BR’s General Manager, along with Alex Green the Area Manager, he was told they would review this anomaly, but could do nothing to alter the fares immediately as it was designed to encourage more people from West Yorkshire to patronise the Trans Pennine services. On Saturday the 29 th 47:439 was the locomotive on the St James’ Day Tripper to Edinburgh and Perth. May A youth believed to be from Nelson was struck and killed by a train as he sat on the lines inside the tunnel in Rishton. The driver of the train from Blackpool to Leeds sounded his horn on several occasions having seen him on the permanent way, but received no response and even though he applied the emergency brake could not stop the train until it was too late. When interviewed back at Leeds Station by the Transport Police, he was described as being in a “very distressed state”. Police Officer Dave Thomas stated that the driver, “Was in no way responsible for this tragedy, as a train travelling at 50mph would take between a quarter and a half of a mile to come to a halt, even after an emergency brake application had been made”. (The body was later identified as a 14-year-old, and at the Inquest held in August a verdict of ‘Misadventure’ was recorded, as the Coroner’s report showed he had taken substances which would have rendered him confused, drowsy and disorientated.) June At a meeting of the Transport Sub-Committee the Director of Technical Development Services, submitted a report for the information of the Members which had been prepared by Lancashire County Council, entitled “A Review of Potential New Railway Stations in Lancashire”. It was resolved - 1. To inform the County Council that Hyndburn Council welcomed this report. 2. In particular it supported the County Council’s suggestion that they might consider that British Railways was able to take the initiative in opening stations which might prove to be commercially viable and then, subject to the availability of resources, to make contributions to other stations in order to reduce costs to BR in order to make them cost effective. 3. To support the proposal to approach BR in order to establish its position on the funding of Railway Stations. July As had been the case with the two previous excursions run by St James, this was a repeat of the one operated in April to the same Scottish destinations. The only difference on this occasion was the motive power was 47:583 named ‘ County of Herefordshire ’. November On Wednesday, the 1 st , the driver of a Preston to Colne train spotted the headless body of a forty-eight-year-old Accrington electrician on the lines, and radioed to Preston Signal Box to alert the authorities. The body was then recovered about half a mile from Accrington Station. British Transport

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