Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

2) “Specialist tourist services should be set up to link in with some of the areas events, like canal barge tours.” ( I didn’t think there were enough events held here in East Lancashire to make sufficient inroads into the tourist business. The biggest event in recent years had been the Royal Lancashire Show, which was staged several miles from the nearest railway station . ) 3) “A not for profit organisation should be set up to promote the line through better ticket sales, and smaller stations should be staffed.” ( If the staffing of smaller stations were viable, the staff would need to be reimbursed for their efforts, and would by necessity have to carry some cash on their persons as well as a ticket dispensing machine. They would only have the basic shelters provided for use of the ‘customers’ in which to seek refuge in bad weather. Very few people are willing to give up their time as volunteers on a regular basis, especially when no payments are involved. It is a far different matter when a group of people with time on their hands, turn up once a fortnight for a couple of hours on a fine afternoon, to tidy up the platforms .) It was also suggested that - 4) “Non-profit making organisations could charter special trains. ” ( I would remind the people who thought this one up, of the heady days prior to 1991, when the local Rail Ramblers chartered Diesel Multiple Units on a monthly basis from February to December, and almost filled them on every occasion, only to be told they could no longer continue due to a shortage of suitable stock. I would also advise the proposers to get in touch with the organisers of the St James’ Day Tripper charter trains. They would then have an understanding of just how difficult it is to successfully overcome the many obstacles in order to achieve a result, notwithstanding the substantial financial risks involved. ) The only suggestion that might have had a significant impact on the future of the line was the setting up of a better organised pressure group. Although disparate groups have and still might exist, STELLA (the Save The East Lancashire Line Association) for instance. This suggestion also seemed to infer that the ‘official’ rail watchdog was not on its own up to the job! The new organisation might then be used to exert pressure that is not so easily brushed aside or ignored by the powers that be. The whole concept of community participation smacks of an attempt to partially abdicate responsibility for the welfare of the line. It also provided the official guardians with the get out, “Well we told you so, but you didn’t respond in the enthusiastic manner expected”, if cuts and curtailments were made in the future. September It was reported that a business plan had been put forward for the doubling of single track sections of the railway between Blackburn and Bolton at an estimated cost of £5.5 millions. This would allow the frequency of trains on the Clitheroe  Manchester service to increase from hourly in each direction, to half hourly ( four trains per hour ). There could also be the possibility of extending the service at its southern end through to Manchester International Airport. Only days later it was announced that the subsidy required in order to run trains over this route on Sundays had run out last June! The Sunday service had been in operation since 2002, with one train running hourly through Blackburn to Clitheroe, and on the alternate hour running through to Colne giving Accrington a ‘direct’ link to Manchester for the first time for many years. However, due to poor patronage the Colne section was cut in 2004, with all trains working through to Clitheroe. Only a deal thrashed out between Northern Rail and council officers has saved the Sunday service, albeit temporarily. The commitment to continue operating the service would expire in June, 2006. How could it be that even a relatively modest investment is being contemplated on a route which cannot support a seven days a week service, when the East Lancashire Line required funding to improve the passenger facilities at so many of its stations, Accrington being a prime example? October Rishton Station was to receive a much needed facelift made possible by the injection of £30,000 cash from Lancashire County Council. Transport chiefs believed that there was potential growth of an extra 4,000 people who could be persuaded to use a facelifted facility each year. The improvements would come in the shape of new glazed platform shelters, fresh landscaping to open up views around the platforms to discourage vandals and criminals, and improved signage including directions to the nearest buses. It was expected that a group would then adopt the station, as had been the case with several stations on the Blackburn  Clitheroe line in a ‘friends of’ scheme. Statistics had shown that about 35,000 people currently used the trains stopping at Rishton each year. Although it was welcomed, any moves to improve the transport infrastructure in Hyndburn by enlisting local residents in such schemes,

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