Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

study on the possible reopening of the Colne to Skipton section of line, will be completed by the end of the year. The Government had also given its backing to this study. On the penultimate day of the month, Northern Rail had introduced a timetable which shows 75% of the trains were scheduled to be operated on the 18 th of May. However, according to reports there were even some cancellations on this latest version of their service. Again there had been calls for the Minister of Transport to intervene, the general consensus being that if this situation was afflicting the south east of the country, actions would have been forthcoming before now. August Both Northern Rail and Trans-Pennine Express have announced compensation packages for those passengers who had purchased season tickets prior to the chaos. TPE will give one week’s complimentary travel to those whose journeys were disrupted between May the 20 th and June the 30 th . However, Northern Fail, as they had been dubbed, was offering up to four weeks’ complimentary travel to passengers who experienced problems between April the 1 st and June 30 th . It might have been better news for the Arriva franchise, in that talks with the RMT had averted the proposed stoppage on July 21 st , as talks had come to what could be the basis for a solution to their long-running dispute. Proposals had been put forward for a second person to be on each train, not acting as a guard, but as a “safety-critical” member of staff. A working party had been set up to investigate the redeployment of staff in this capacity, and this was the reason why, according to General Secretary Mick Cash further industrial action had been suspended. However, on Sunday, the 5 th of the month, the East Lancs Line was badly affected when 18 trains did not run due to drivers not signing up to work at the weekend. The usually raucous roar of the Class 56 locomotives as they began the climb from the viaduct out of Accrington hauling the VTG tanker train was replaced on Monday the 6 th , by a distinctly lower level thrum that attracted my attention. Sure enough the locomotive on this occasion was Colas Rail’s Class 70:811. It was the first time I had seen one of this particular class of locomotives in charge of this working, and it appeared to be handling its train with consummate ease, being a more powerful engine. Having noted a Class 70 on the VTG tanker train, I decided to chance my luck and headed for Accrington Railway Station on Wednesday the 8 th , to see if I could capture it on film. However, when it did appear, after being held in Blackburn for almost an hour, it was back to being double-headed by Class 56s. On this occasion the pairing was 56:090 leading with 56:094 behind. It was ancillary to this that some of the disruption to local services became apparent. The TPE York to Blackpool North was behind schedule and held for a considerable period on the platform before getting a green and being able to go forwards. The complimentary service from Blackpool to York was 37 minutes late, and it was announced, that due to problems over in Yorkshire, it would not be calling at several stations there. The eastbound Northern Rail Colne train was so late that it was only going as far as Burnley Central, and then would be terminating. This meant that passengers for Brierfield, Nelson and Colne would have to find an alternative way to get to their destinations. One of the features of this was that no alternative rail replacement buses would be provided, as indeed they had not been on Sunday the 5 th . It was also noticeable that no timetables were on display on the stations noticeboards. It was also the case that no trains on the Blackburn - Manchester service passed through during a prolonged stay. It had been announced that talks between Northern Rail and the RMT once again had broken down. The Union then announced there would be three more one-day stoppages. These were due to take place on Saturdays the 25 th , and September the 1 st and 8 th . With all the adverse publicity surrounding Northern Rail’s inability to provide the service they had predicted in May, and the subsequent substitution of an ‘emergency’ timetable, I decided to see what was on offer on Saturday the 11 th , with a trip to Blackpool. This used to be the easiest of choices with the option of travelling by one train to either South or North stations, and returning from the other as the tickets were valid to and from both. Not so now however, as I was to discover. The Iron Bridge at the foot of Marlborough Road has been closed off “until further notice”, for improvements that include the installation of higher spiked metal grills to thwart the possibility of anyone climbing over the side rails and onto the tracks. Having been tipped off I was down at Accrington Railway Station at 08:30 on the morning of Thursday the 16 th , to see the West Coast Railways ‘special’ pass through. It was en route from Carnforth to Scarborough, and at the specified time of 08:45 sure enough through it came. Unusually it had only one of West Coast Railway’s Class 47s in the makeup, as usually they top-and-tail these excursions. This was

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