Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

private railway museum on Preston Docks, now it had been possible for a train of VTG tanker wagons to load tar for bulk distribution, and this train comes at intervals through Accrington on its way west, with later returning east. On the first Monday of the month it was hauled by a DB class 66:061 still in EWS livery, whilst on Friday it was ‘Mainline’ liveried class 60:011 in charge as it roared through Huncoat Station at speed. It was sounding its whistle as it approached from the direction of Accrington to warn Network Rail’s men in their orange hi-vis overalls of its rapid approach. They seemed to be doing some work on Huncoat Station itself, which had been the subject of a plan to tidy it up for some time now. October Notification had just been received from our Member of Parliament, Graham Jones, that the campaign to have the ‘Todmorden Curve’ reinstated had taken a positive step forward. The project would involve relaying 200 yards of single track, and funding of £300,000 for the final assessment stage has been agreed by Network Rail, who had been ‘very proactive’ in supporting plans. It was estimated the journey time between Burnley and Manchester would be cut to 40 minutes and between Accrington and Manchester to 49 minutes. The projected timetable envisaged an hourly service in both directions up until 22:00, with trains turning back at Blackburn. Originally the total funding of between £7 millions and £9 millions, had been sourced from the North West Development Agency, but now that the Coalition Government had abolished Regional Development Agencies, this money would no longer be available. It would be replaced by the new Local Economic Partnership who would adopt the ‘curve’ as a top priority, whilst alternative sources for funding were being explored. The project was due to be completed during 2013 which was the target date at the time of writing. Although it had not yet been ‘officially’ opened, the new eco-friendly railway station in Accrington was doing business. Rather ironically it occupied the site of the station buildings built when the Lancashire & Yorkshire remodelled the station in 1888, and where the low level platforms were situated. It certainly provided a vast improvement on the premises it replaced, not only for car passengers but also for foot passenger access. November In a low key ceremony Accrington’s eco-friendly railway station was ‘officially’ opened by a party including the County Councillor responsible for transport, Tim Ashton, who in his speech said, “Future developments will link the station into other transport networks, including the proposed new bus station interchange”. The facilities had actually been in use for almost two months prior to this. Jointly funded by Lancashire County Council, Network Rail, Hyndburn Council and the Interreg IVB European Fund, the new station contained a whole range of environmentally friendly innovations. These included solar panels to heat the water in the toilets that are flushed with collected rain water. ( Following correspondence passed on to the Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers, by Graham Jones MP, the following response dated November 9 th , was received. ) Your constituent suggests operating the proposed Manchester – Burnley – Blackburn (via Todmorden) service as a circular route returning to Manchester from Blackburn via Bolton. He is correct in suggesting that this would require the provision of a longer section of double track in the vicinity of Darwen to enable a half-hourly service to be provided between Manchester and Blackburn. This is being investigated by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council as a separate scheme to the Burnley - Manchester scheme being promoted by Burnley Borough Council. The linking of these two services has been investigated by Northern Rail and Network Rail. Unfortunately the timetables of the two services would not quite fit together, assuming all other services remain unchanged. It is prudent, therefore to plan the two services as operating independently of one another but with a long term view to linking them together should this prove possible at a later date. I hope this fully explains the position. Regards, Theresa Villiers.

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