Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Manchester - Liverpool line. The service which cost £8·8 millions to inaugurate had already been delayed by six months due to lack of suitable DMUs. 2014 January ( On Saturday the 11 th , I made my annual pilgrimage to New Pudsey Civic Centre for a Transport Fair, but this year my journey was complicated by the closing of Holme Tunnel. So instead of being able to travel from Accrington on one train, the journey would entail two trains and a journey on a coach between Burnley - Manchester Road Station, which itself was shortly to be rebuilt, and Hebden Bridge, where we would have to board a second train. Ever since the work commenced in early November, the Trans-Pennine services 158 DMUs have been shuttling between Blackpool North and Burnley, so my first ride on the 08:19 service covers just the one stop, with a pause at Rose Grove to pick up a Network Rail pilot. At Manchester Road Station we are detrained and taken across the car park to board a coach from Atlantic Travel, although there are two other coaches awaiting transfers one each from B & N of Burnley and Arrow Coaches, which I assume are there in case numbers increase later on in the day. However, there is more than enough room for the dozen or so which are going through to Yorkshire just now. Having been requested to use our seatbelts and been checked to make sure we are all for Hebden Bridge we moved off. It is a picturesque run through Portsmouth, Cornholme and Todmorden to Hebden Bridge where we disembark in the bus interchange by the station, having been informed by the Co-ordinator that we have twelve minutes to wait for the Manchester to Selby service to arrive to take us on to destinations as far as Leeds, which fortunately includes mine. First are the firm which is in charge of this long-running rail replacement operation, which means that as I have time to chat with the team at Hebden Bridge to discover that in total six coaches are involved on weekdays going down to two on Sundays, all overseen by Maurice Duckworth and his staff at their offices in Simonstone. Bang on time the Selby-bound train arrives and my journey continues via Halifax and Bradford to my destination. The return journey is of course via the same rigmarole but in the reverse direction. I had intended to board the 14:19 service from York, but arrive in time to catch the 14:02 which is also terminating at Hebden Bridge. The only difference is, when I alight at that station I have longer to wait until the coach departs, as it is scheduled to connect with the later service, which would have gone through to Blackpool North had the tunnel not been closed. This gives me the opportunity to photograph the aforementioned Arrow Coach Travel’s on which I eventually travel, and Godsons which is the ‘spare’ at this end. As we arrive back in Burnley I don’t have time to catch up with a departing Mercedes Coach which is also on the service connecting Burnley with Hebden Bridge before it leaves, which is a pity because despite its age it is in immaculate condition. The train with which the Mercedes has connected is standing on the nearside platform, which is the only one in use it appears whilst the replacement work is ongoing, and as soon as we are shepherded on board we set off, first stop Rose Grove where again the pilot leaves, and then on to Accrington. I have to say despite the extra inconvenience to ordinary passengers, I have found the experience quite interesting and very well handled so congratulations to First on that one. Although my source in the booking office at Accrington tells me that whilst this slight inconvenience has been underway numbers using the cross Pennine services had fallen off quite significantly. I noted a large amount of plant in a compound between the road and the railway close to Holme Tunnel on my return leg, which suggests that they are doing a very comprehensive job. It was lined with steel rings many years ago when problems of slippage were first noticed, but this looks like a much more permanent job, which is great as far of the future of this line and its services are concerned .) For some reason a wooden shelter had appeared on Platform 1 of Accrington’s Railway Station to supplement the newish metal one. It is further away from the booking office and was not matched by one on Platform 2 (as yet)! Perhaps this is because those travelling west from the town consistently outnumber those going east and into Yorkshire. News from MP Graham Jones was that once the train service to Manchester Victoria has been firmly established, he had received assurances that the possibility of extending some of the journeys through to Manchester Airport would be seriously considered. The Railhead at the Airport had recently been increased to incorporate an extra platform, which suggests that this was a distinct possibility. Another of the consequences of the closure of the line through Holme Tunnel was the rerouting of the Preston Docks - Immingham bitumen tanker train. This was now using an alternative route through Greater Manchester until the work would be completed in April.

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