Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

at one of these stations, you were advised to inform the conductor in advance of your intentions. Local pressure groups feared that on crowded trains there might be problems. June At Accrington’s eco-friendly railway station on Saturday the 23 rd , notices had been posted to the affect that Northern Rail’s Trans-Pennine service had been suspended for an indefinite period due to flooding along the Calder Valley over the county border in Yorkshire. The townships of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd had suffered particularly from the storms of Thursday and Friday on the 21 st and 22 nd . Over this period strong winds combined with heavy and incessant rain had deposited a month’s rainfall in just about twenty-four hours. The local Colne to Blackpool South services were unaffected. By Monday the 25 th , all services had returned to normal. Another titbit of information to come from a reliable source was that the ‘original’ plans for Accrington’s eco-friendly railway station, included a lift and walkway between both platforms and the Tesco store. These were never implemented of course. It seemed as though at one time or another in the past, the possibility of an underpass between the two sides has been mooted but never followed through. July The ‘direct’ rail link to Manchester from Accrington, via Burnley and Todmorden would not now commence until mid-2014 due to problems in Holme Tunnel on the section between Burnley and Todmorden. The reinstatement of the curve was due to be completed by the end of 2013, but defects in the tunnel which had already been reinforced some years ago with a lining of steel rings, would now need to be completed before the service starts. A spokesman for Network Rail had said it made sense to delay the start of the service until all the repairs were completed, rather than commence running trains and then have to suspend the service not long afterwards. The whole project is estimated to be costing £8·8 millions. September The Friends of Huncoat Railway Station had followed in the footsteps of Church & Oswaldtwistle and Rishton stations by sprucing up the platforms and general ambience of the facilities, despite the fact that Northern’s trains now only called when requested to do so! December As has become an annual event, Network Rail had embarked upon some engineering work on the East Lancashire Line. On Sunday the 2 nd , the work was affecting all trains passing through Accrington, with buses/coaches replacing the trains on the Colne - Blackpool South and York - Blackpool North routes. Once again First was the co-ordinating agency. There would be buses replacing trains again on December 9 th , but this time only on the Blackpool South - Colne services, the Blackpool North - York route would be back to train operation. 2013 January Sunday the 13 th , saw just one more train service replaced by buses, when the first services to Colne and back were covered. By the time of the second weekend trains were running all the way through. Services across the Pennines were unaffected. February On Saturday the 9 th , Accrington witnessed a special coming through. Topped and tailed by two class 47s, it apparently had started the day on the East Coast in Skegness. It was en route to Preston where the leading 47, (237) would be replaced by steam locomotive 48151. It would then proceed to Carlisle returning down the Settle and Carlisle line via Hellifield to Blackburn, where the 47 which was on the rear of the train (760) would take it back over the Pennines. This was one of the excursions operated by West Coast Trains based at Carnforth, and it would operate again on Saturday the 16 th . ( I was fortunate to see the returning empty stock of this second excursion returning through Accrington on Sunday the 17 th .) April For several weeks, since February in fact, contractors had been working on repointing and generally titivating up the arches of Accrington’s iconic railway viaduct. It had towered over the middle of the town since 1846 and despite some of the arches spanning the river Hyndburn having to be rebuilt in its early years, it had stood resolutely carrying large amounts of goods and passenger trains, both steam hauled and latterly diesel hauled for 167 years. Although it has been governed by a 10mph speed limit for many years in order not to disturb the fabric too greatly, it was expected it would continue to fulfil its role for at least another 150 years. Although it is a regular working the Preston Docks bitumen tanker train it is more often than not hauled by EWS liveried Class 66 locomotive, on Monday the 15 th , it was in the hands of a DB Schenker liveried 60:054. May By the beginning of the month work had finally been complete on the railway viaduct which had dominated the skyline of the town centre since it became a burgeoning township during the Industrial

447