Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

No doubt due to a noticeable deterioration of the timber in 1889 the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway obtained an Act of Parliament enabling them to fill in the valley beneath the Aspen Viaduct to create an embankment, with the work commencing in March 20 th , 1891, and continuing through to as late as 1929. The material that was used being mainly fly-ash collected from the locomotive sheds on the L & Y system, although the actual date when this filling in was completed is not exactly known. This work included the construction of a culvert to allow the flow of a small stream the work being done by the firm of George Baker at a cost of £3,030. The contract for this work was signed on June 12 th , 1891. According to one source in 1909 only three trestles at the Rishton end were still visible. The walkway was removed when filling in began in earnest in 1905, the workmen filling five wagons with the redundant timber. It has been suggested by some sources that initially the viaduct carried a single line, but it certainly had enough width to accommodate a double track section. Other anecdotal notes suggested that such was the rough riding of trains over the viaduct that passengers de-trained at Church Railway Station and preferred to walk to Rishton to catch a later train, whilst those travelling east de-trained at Rishton to re-board at Church. What has not been disputed however is that the original structure was not dismantled in any way, and is still within the embankment, buttresses, trestles and all. ( Although I have seen no written evidence of the practice I was informed by an acquaintance, that his grandfather distinctly remembered taking tightly bound bales of cotton waste from the mills of the area on a cart to the Aspen Valley to be utilised as material for filling in the foundations of the Viaduct .) Officers of the railway were not immune from the dangers of the environment at Accrington’s railway station. Mr Robert Marriott, who was the Permanent Way Inspector of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s line between Blackburn and Colne, was killed when he attempted to cross the running lines to return to his office. The noon train to Manchester, which on this occasion was double headed, was pulling out of a platform when steam from the locomotives was sufficient to obscure the tracks. Crossing through this haze he failed to notice that a wagon was being loose shunted down the line, and the wagon struck Mr Marriott who was thrown by an impact which proved instantaneously fatal. Baxenden Bank struck again when a train from Manchester was held on Scaitcliffe Bridge at the foot of the incline for the inspection and collection of tickets and fares. The time was 10 o’clock on a Saturday morning, and simultaneously a train was being shunted at the top of the incline at Baxenden Station’s coal sidings. The brake van from this became detached from its wagons and ran free down the steep bank. An attempt was made to halt the runaway, which had a ‘Yorkshire Brake’, which wound to the left in the opposite way to the normal one that the boy on the guards van was accustomed. He jumped clear before this runaway hit the carriages of the passenger train with great velocity, throwing two of them off the rails. An unsuccessful attempt to warn Accrington South Signal Box by telegraph could not avert the disaster. Fortunately the Burnley portion of this train had been detached beforehand to go forward onto a platform, whilst the remaining three carriages, first and third class coaches and a second class/guards composite had been held. Two doctors were immediately called to attend the scene, and they administered first aid to the ten worst of the casualties. The first class carriage had its buffers destroyed, whilst the guard’s van was smashed to pieces. One of Accrington’s most famous old boys was Oliver Bullied. Born in Llanfyllin, he was first sent to the Spa College in Bridge of Allen to be educated, but after the passing of his father he was dispatched to live with his mother’s sister Janet and his uncle Will Sanderson, who resided at ‘The Chestnuts’ in Church. His education then continued at the Technical School on Blackburn Road, which had already established a good reputation. He worked hard and during 1899 passed in the First Division of the London Matriculation Examinations, before going to an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway at their Doncaster Works. He returned to Accrington on many occasions and included a visit to the Howard & Bullough’s heavy engineering factory. Oliver Bullied went on to become the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway and using some ground breaking technology, designed some of the most iconic locomotives ever to run on Britain’s railways. These included the Merchant Navy, West Country/Battle of Britain Pacific locomotives and the ‘Q1’ Class 0-6-0 ‘Austerities’. The 40 Q1s were introduced during 1942 and were thought to be the ugliest engines ever to run on Britain’s railways, however, they were also the most powerful 0-6-0 locomotives. Most of his locomotives were very successful, but this could not be said of his ‘Leader’ steam engine, only one of which ever ran before the project was abandoned and it was scrapped. He ended his career in Ireland where he designed and

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