Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

February The former leader of the Council had said that the trains which will be provided for the delayed Blackburn  Manchester Victoria service, via Accrington, Burnley Manchester Road and the Todmorden Curve will be no better than “those running in the third world”. He wanted new stock rather than any hand-me-downs! There was no doubt that the rolling stock we were obliged to endure over the past twenty years on the local line was by no means first rate and it did require replacement, but you do not need to ride on the roof, hanging out of the doors or on the couplings as they do in some third world countries. It appeared that the best we could possibly hope for, is the stock released when the Manchester - Liverpool lines are fully electrified. March Good news for railway passengers travelling across the Pennines was that the work on Holme Tunnel had been completed a week before schedule and that services would be returning to normal from Sunday the 23 rd , instead of Saturday the 29 th . So bus replacement services would no longer be required between Burnley Manchester Road Station and Hebden Bridge. However, they would be required between Rose Grove and Colne from Sunday the 31 st and Sunday, April 6 th , when the line was being re laid with new track. This was probably good news for commuters on this single line section as it more or less guaranteed that the service between Colne and Blackpool South would continue to operate for years to come. Accrington Station was also witnessing some rail replacement services on Sunday the 16 th , but for one day only, due to engineering work on the East Lancs line east of Blackburn. April Although the work to reinstate the Todmorden Curve was due to be completed during May, the new service of trains would not commence until the very end of the year due to a lack of rolling stock. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Stephen Hammond, under pressure from Hyndburn’s MP Graham Jones, had said he is working with Northern Rail who would operate the service, to try to find a solution to this problem, and a number of possible solutions were being explored. It seemed at that moment however, until the conversion of the Manchester - Liverpool line to electric traction was completed sufficient diesel units would not be available to operate the service. The journey time between Burnley Manchester Road, via Todmorden and Rochdale was expected to be in the order of 45 minutes, but Graham Jones was pressing for the service to ultimately be extended beyond Victoria Station, to serve Manchester International Airport. It appeared from correspondence between MP Graham Jones and Porterbrook, the train leasing company, that the stock which would be drafted in to operate the service of trains between Blackburn and Manchester via the Todmorden Curve would not come until new stock has been introduced on lines operating into London. These would liberate fourteen of the 319 electric units for the Manchester/Liverpool services, which in turn would cascade diesels onto the East Lancashire services. Porterbrook has stated that currently all their leasing stock was out in operation, but would be able to free up more units over the next twelve months as the new trains went into service in the south. They also said that it would not be economical sense to put new diesel stock into this service as “there would be a surplus within the next few years”, presumably as more electrification took place. It has also stated that the first of these electric units would arrive in the north shortly, with a second coming during August, a third in September and the fourth in October. May On the last day of the month an enthusiast’s ‘special’ passed through Accrington double-headed by two of Direct Rail’s Class 20 Bo-Bo diesels and appropriately called the ‘Chopper Topper’. It was en route from Crewe via the Todmorden Curve to Blackburn. Later it would travel up the Ribble Valley Line to Horrocksford Junction, to visit the freight only branch to the Castle Cement Works. June In the past twenty years since privatisation, the number of railway journeys had more than doubled to 1·27 billion, with an increase of 3·3% in the year from 2012/13. Increases were recorded of 2·9% in Scotland, 4·2% in the East of England, 3·1% in the South-West, 1% in Wales and of course 6·3% in London. As if to emphasise the disparity in the way that the North West was treated railway-wise, the recent figures published by the Office of Rail Regulation, showed that despite increases across the nation as a whole, in our region the journey numbers had fallen by 1·1%. Was this the reason why we were being starved of investment particularly in new rolling stock, or was it the cause? July On Sunday the 6 th , in the mid-afternoon 47:803 was observed heading east with a mixed rake of passenger carriages, which was possibly empty stock returning to base in Carnforth. Because our local railways were apparently dependent on what happens in another place, it is good news to learn that the first of the ex-Thameslink Class 319 EMUs has recently moved north to

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