Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Helmshore, where he had discovered a horde of items which the occupants could not account for. Webster had previously worked on the railway as a goods guard and had a previous conviction for a felony of this nature, whilst Quinton had also worked on the railway as a platelayer so both were acquainted with how trains operated on this section. It had been established that over a period of weeks in 1875 trains had been boarded and whatever goods they found had been thrown out for retrieval later. Both men were found guilty. Webster was sentenced to seven years penal servitude followed by an additional seven years under police supervision, whilst Quinton received eighteen months imprisonment with hard labour. Only about £30’s worth of stolen property was ever recovered. May An accident occurred on the 3 rd , on the viaduct outside Accrington Station, which might have had disastrous consequences. The last train from Manchester had arrived in Accrington at 10:25pm, and had run onto the viaduct for tickets to be collected. As was normal practice it then began to reverse onto the platform for the passengers to alight, before going out onto the viaduct again in order to reverse into a siding. As it was setting back for the second time, the rear van was seen to jump the rails when passing over the crossing and it swung around hitting the stone buttress of the parapet with enough force to dislodge the coping stones, sending masonry crashing down onto Blackburn Road. A whole section of the battlements went cascading down some 40 feet and unfortunately for John Henry, a local fish merchant, he was struck on the head receiving serious facial wounds. He was picked up and taken to Mrs Holden’s house adjoining the viaduct where he was seen by Messrs Booth, Harley and Ruttle, local surgeons. The van was left protruding over the parapet. The Superintendent of the East Lancs Section was quickly on the scene with a gang of men, and two engines were able to pull the van back up onto the rails. Repairs were also required to the pavement and the roadway under the arch. The following day Mr Henry was taken to Blackburn Infirmary, where it was expected he would make a full recovery, whilst an investigation was opened into the causes of the accident, which would have had far more serious repercussions had it occurred at any other time of the day. It was announced by the Midland Railway Company, that with the opening of the line from Settle to Carlisle the journey time from Accrington to Edinburgh and Glasgow had been drastically reduced. The first train to depart from Accrington via Skipton at 10:22am would now reach Glasgow at 5pm and Edinburgh at 5:10pm, whereas the second train from Accrington at 3:20pm would give an arrival in Edinburgh at 9:15pm. There were three return trains from Glasgow at 10:15am giving an arrival back in Accrington at 4:19pm, the 2:30pm back at 8:40pm and the 4:35pm at 11:30pm. This last train would then split with one portion going on to Manchester at 11:35pm stopping only in Bury, whilst the rear portion would continue on to Liverpool. There were some new trains in the timetable for Accringtonians in June as follows - • An Accrington to Burnley train at 05:20. • An Accrington to Burnley and Stansfield Hall train at 09:15. • An Accrington to Manchester train at 10:25am. • The 08:50 train to Manchester was retimed to depart at 08:47. • A new ‘fast’ train from Accrington calling at Church and Rishton and arriving in Blackpool at 1:15pm. • There was also a 5:50pm from Burnley calling at Accrington and Blackburn for Preston. July On the 1 st , Mr Enoch Bowker published a small railway (and omnibus) guide for Accrington. It was reported, “This guide is got up with sufficient good writing paper included, in order to make notes, and therefore cannot fail but to please the purchaser”. If it was found to be a success then it would be published on a monthly basis. Also on the 1 st , the annual sports day of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway took place at Aintree Racecourse. On the 29 th , Colonel Hutchinson of the Board of Trade published his report on the accident which had occurred on May 3 rd . He concluded that the circumstances were it was the signalman who had thrown the points as the van was passing over them, but of this he could not be absolutely certain. He did say that all points should be fitted with locking bars at both ends of this crossover. The extent of the damage was a section of the parapet 1´- 3´´ thick, 2´- 9´´ high and 9 yards long had been dislodged into the road below. The van had sustained a broken headstock, buffers and damaged brake guard, whilst the carriage coupled to it had its brake gear bent, but they had remained upright. He once again reiterated the fact that due to the layout at Accrington Station, trains were constantly being required to reverse onto the one platform.

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