Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

of Ormskirk. This was met by raucous laughter, but as recent developments have shown I was not joking. For this is how the current Government appears to see it. Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham must be wringing their hands with glee, at the huge sums of cash now being pledged to them for improvements to their transport infrastructure. Not that I blame these two, for it is their job to do the very best for their areas unlike, it appears, those who represent us in County Hall who appear to sit beneath the Metropolitan’s table with a begging bowl, hoping to catch a few crumbs. It is time somebody pointed out, that “levelling up” means the whole of the North and not just the major centres of population. They could start with obtaining funding for the reinstatement Colne to Skipton rail line. It was a replay of the previous weekend on Saturday the 30 th and Sunday the 31 st , with coaches replacing trains between Accrington and Hebden Bridge. Trains were again terminating and turning at Rose Grove to return to Blackpool North, whilst passengers for the Rochdale/Manchester lines were also going to Hebden Bridge for a change to trains from the Calder Valley Line. The police were on duty on Saturday at Accrington as it was uncertain as to how many Brentford fans would be off-loading onto coaches on their way to Turf Moor for the game. As it turned out these officers were then dispatched to Burnley Central to monitor how many had chosen to use the Colne service to get to Burnley. On Sunday the Preston stopping service was terminating at Burnley Central, so passengers for Brierfield, Nelson and Colne were having also to cut short their train journeys. Passengers coming through from Hebden Bridge were being taken on to Blackburn to board trains for stations to Blackpool North. If this was anything to go by that numbers of people travelling was up a substantial amount on previous weekends, but of course they were at the beginning and end of the local half term holidays. At least on this second weekend supervisors were being provided to assist in the transfers of passengers. Murray Dawson has long been a promoter of our area including Accrington and Hyndburn. At a recent meeting of his brainchild, Amazing Accrington, he again raised the possibility of the establishment of a freight terminal in Huncoat. The location has been revealed as part of a £1 billion project of investments in the scheme, with one investor already pledging a £5 million pound share in this project. November On Saturday the 6 th , the Midland Blue Pullman made a return visit to Accrington on a Barrow to Whitby special. It had commenced its journey at 05:20 from Cumbria and had picked up passengers en route at Preston and Blackburn before coming through the station at exactly 07:45. It would also stop to pick up more people at Burnley Manchester Road and Hebden Bridge. The leading car was 43:055 backed by 43:046 named ( Geoff Drury 1930 – 1999 ). On this occasion yellow panels had been added to the front lower ends of the cabs, a feature supposed to aid sighting. The fares for the ‘full dining experience’ were £333 per person, whilst ‘standard’ came in at £155. Residences in the neighbourhood had received notification from Network Rail, they were to start work shortly on cutting back overgrown foliage in the vicinity of the cricket field and cemetery. This work would take place between 00:15 and 05:10 on five consecutive nights starting on Monday the 22 nd . It would involve the use of bright spotlights, so they wished not only to warn us, but to apologise in advance for any inconvenience this would cause. They went on to explain that this was necessary to protect the overhead! But of course the East Lancs Line has yet to be electrified. On Sunday the 14 th , all the trains were cancelled with coaches replacing services between Blackburn and Rochdale, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Colne. One week later, Sunday the 21 st , there were coaches replacing all the trains through Accrington. Services between Blackburn and all stations to the east including those to Colne, Hebden Bridge, Rochdale and Todmorden were involved. This process would be repeated again on the following Sunday. Freightliner has made the decision to withdraw all of their electric locomotives in favour of diesel traction, due to the escalating price of power. This possibly explains why, on Monday the 22 nd , there was another movement of engines between Crewe, Basford Hall and Leeds, Balm Road. On this occasion 66:560 hauled 90:007 and 90:047 through Accrington en route for attention.

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