Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

as they had only 100 days grace with which to turn the franchise round and restore what was described as a ‘normal’ service. The Minister for Transport had asked the men who will lead the OLR, Richard George and Robin Gisby, to set out a one-hundred day plan to examine how trains are rostered, operations and customer experiences. They had already met with the former managers to discuss these issues. Grant Chapps had also requested they liaise with Network Rail in order to find a way round some of the issues related to congestion on the lines. The deal with ASLEF to improve the Sunday services was signed before the OLR took over. However, it has been unanimously recognised that there will be no quick fix or easy solutions, no matter who was placed in charge. Although the franchise had now been taken off the hands of Arriva, there were still units going through the process of being reliveried into the Rail North colours. The latest to be recorded were 156:496 ex-FirstGroup and 158:907 ex-Northern, which would have been started before the fate of the incumbent was sealed. It could be of course that the OLR will retain the branding and continue with the programme of refurbishment, despite the negative connotations that go with this identity. Saturday the 15 th , was the first day of the closure of the East Lancs Line between Blackburn and Accrington, for the replacement of a bridge over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, on the section between Rishton and Church & Oswaldtwistle and for work to be carried out on strengthening a similar bridge at Rose Grove. This would add to the disruption which the storm on the previous weekend had caused in the Calder Valley in Yorkshire, and would begin when a second storm was hitting the area. Murphy, the contractor employed to carry out the bridge renewal over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, had sealed off the towpath from each of the accesses on either side of the bridge, so it was not possible to get close to the work whilst it was being carried out. Two cranes were being employed to lift the bridge out once the ballast and tracks had been removed. Both the machines to extract the permanent way were rail mounted, with one also able to operate off the rails. The whole immediate area was being illuminated so it was possible that the engineers would be working through the night if necessary. If everything went to plan, and the weather did not intervene to any greater extent, the work would be completed by Sunday the 23 rd , and train services would recommence on Monday the 24 th . On Tuesday the 18 th , double-deck buses were on the Hebden Bridge ↔ Preston section with Transdev again operating the Colne  Blackburn run. However, trains were still operating on the service through Manchester Victoria to Wigan Wallgate, but only as far as Accrington, where they were terminating and changing tracks to return whence they came. For this they were using Class 158 units with 901 in Northern livery. The work on replacing the bridge over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was completed on time, and as intended train services recommenced on Monday the 24 th . However, observations on Thursday, the 27 th , showed that there were still Class 142s in service, with one providing the lead two carriages of the Preston to Colne service coupled to a 150. This only days before the OLR was due to take over the franchise. Saturday the 29 th , of February was the final day of the Arriva Rail North franchise. Observations showed that more of the new CAF 195:xxx units were in service than usual. No 142s were noted on this occasion, and remarkably during a short stay everything was operating to time. If this had been the case then I’m sure an Operator Of Last Resort would not have been appointed, but it had come too late for a reprieve. The list of trains passing through during the period around 10:00 was as follows, - 150:144 on the 09:34 to Colne. 150:109 on the 09:41 to Preston, (in as obtained livery). 150:225 + 150:127 on the 10:01 to Blackburn, (ex-Wigan Wallgate). 195:117 on the 10:12 to Blackpool North, (a 3-car unit). 195:121 on the 10:11 to York, (a 3-car unit). Not long after the Colne train had departed there was a West Coast Railways ‘special’ passing from east to west, topped and tailed by two Class 47s, 787 leading and one named CHRIS FUDGE 29.7.70 - 22.6.10 on the rear. This had commenced its journey in Peterborough picking up at Grantham, Newark, Retford and Doncaster and run via Wakefield over Copy Pit to Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn and

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