Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Sirs, an incorrect impression has been spread abroad that the Guard’s Van had escaped from our sidings at the colliery. The Guard had recklessly allowed the van to escape his control from a goods train which was adding some empty wagons. The Guard had called out to one of our workers to try to stop the runaway van. On discovering he could not, because he was not conversant with the workings of the mechanism, he quite correctly jumped clear for his own self-preservation. We understand that the L & Y’s instructions were, that when shunting wagons from Accrington into our siding, the Guard should park his brake van below the crossing on the up line, and not send it over beforehand. It is apparent the Guard on this occasion was not following the correct procedure in order to save himself a bit of work. Yours, George Hargreaves, March 3rd. April Having been appointed out of two hundred candidates, to the post of Station Master at Accrington Railway Station, Mr Pearson was to resign from the post in order to become the manager of Southport’s Winter Gardens and Aquarium. He had worked for the L & Y for eighteen years, the last four of which were in post at Accrington where he was held in very high esteem by both staff and passengers alike. May The L & Y were advertising for tenders to construct a new grain warehouse at Accrington’s Railway Station. This would ease congestion at the goods warehouse which was already stocked to capacity. On Whit Monday a tragic accident occurred at Church Railway Station, which resulted in the death of a porter Dominic Conway. A special relief train had stopped on the up platform and whilst it was there, the ringing of a bell sounded the approach of the express from Liverpool. This train only stopped to set down passengers at Church, but on this occasion there were none so it came straight through on the down platform without slowing. On walking around the back of the last carriage of the stationary relief train Conway was struck by the express and killed instantly. Two days later, an inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death. He had been employed at Church Station for a substantial period of time. June There was a dispute centred on the irregularity of the fares charged by the L & Y. It was the case that a person travelling from Bacup to Baxenden, via Ramsbottom, could do so for 8 pence 3rd Class. But if that person travelled from Bacup to Accrington, the fare was 1 shilling for the extra two miles, although the fare between Baxenden and Accrington was only 2 pence. So if the traveller bought two tickets, one from Bacup to Baxenden and a second ticket from Baxenden to Accrington, they could do the same journey for 10 pence, a saving of 2 pence! Ticket Collectors had recently been demanding an extra 4 pence for the final two miles with mixed success. However, when this was tested in law it was found that they were out of order, and the L & Y could not legally charge 4 pence from Baxenden to Accrington. A presentation was made at the Greyhound Inn to Mr David Davis who had been the Station Master at Church Station. He had worked upon the railway for twelve years, starting as a porter on 16 shillings a week. Many tributes were made to David, who was leaving to take up a post with a branch of Metcalf’s Chemical Works in Sheffield. Following speeches by Messrs Kerr and Duckworth, and other representatives from the communities in Church and Oswaldtwistle, Mr J. W. Clarke, District Agent of the L & Y, presented him with an illuminated address and a purse containing twenty gold sovereigns. Mr Davis would be succeeded by Mr Taylor. In the evening of Sunday the 18 th , a tea meeting of employees and friends of the L & Y was held in Crawshaw’s Public Hall. After refreshments the Chairman, engine driver John Hawkins of Bury called to the attention of the large gathering, that it was to further the interests of the servants of the railways that this meeting had been called. A member from Accrington, H. Dickinson, said they had met amongst other things to discuss the plight of a young employee, who through no fault of his own had the misfortune to be badly hurt following an accident at Rose Grove. He was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Employees, which provided that all disabled ex-employees should receive 5 shillings each week. He stated he had made a study of the L & Y’s interests, which included its safety record with regard to the public and its employees. He felt that every man should take up membership of the Society, so that when every train ran it was his duty to be as responsible as possible for the safety of the public, the property of

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