Accrington on Rails - The Tramways: A Complete History - Robert Kenyon

would then turn into Peel Street, and would therefore be facing in the correct direction for another journey up into the Rossendale Valley. In the era of electric cars, where all it was necessary for the motorman to do in order to reverse direction, was to remove his handle and take it to the opposite end of the car, whilst his conductor swung the pick-up arm around, trams did not terminate on Peel Street. Instead they continued along Blackburn Road to a location just beyond the foot of Eagle Street and the top of Edgar Street, to a short section of double track just before the railway arch. This was for the convenience of people wishing to transfer to the railway at Accrington Station, which was just a short distance away up either Eagle Street, where the ‘main’ booking office was situated, or through the arch and up Paxton Street. It was from this point that electric cars then commenced their journey up into the Rossendale Valley, by running along Blackburn Road past the Town Hall and Market Hall, and having picked up on Peel Street following the route as outlined above. It was on Blackburn Road in the shadow of the railway arch that the cars of Rossendale Corporation Transport were regularly seen, as they came in on the ‘joint’ service from Bacup, Rawtenstall, Haslingden and Baxenden. There were however shortened journeys and due to the line being opened in stages, it was always referred to as the ’Baxenden section’. On January 1 st 1917, as a wartime measure, this service ran from Accrington to a terminus on Queens Square in Rawtenstall, and was never reinstated to Bacup. In May 1929 Rawtenstall announced they were ending tramway operation in favour of buses. This hastened the end of this route, which was closed on August 1 st , 1931 . The Church (and Oswaldtwistle Sections) The CHURCH SECTION was made up of - Double track Single track Total length of rails 481 yards 1 mile - 218 yards 1 mile – 699 yards The Oswaldtwistle Section was opened as an electrically operated tramway on August 2 nd , 1907 . ( There were no steam tram services beyond the centre of Church in the direction of Oswaldtwistle, and this section only came into operation following electrification. ) From the double track section on Market Street in Church the single line went round a right hand bend and reverted to double track on the run towards the railway bridge at Church & Oswaldtwistle Railway Station. It was due to the constraints of having to pass under this bridge that only saloon cars could work this route and only then, when the road surface had been lowered sufficiently to allow the overhead to be installed. The bridge was passed on a single stretch of line, which continued to the end of South Shore Street on Union Road. The line continued as a double track section from South Shore Street to a point opposite the junction with Moscow Mill Street. From here there was a long section of single line to the sharp bend around the Town Hall at the end of Lord Street, from where it was doubled around the corner for a few yards. The line was singled again to just beyond the junction of Rhyddings Street where a double track section took the line up the steep brow over Tinker Brook and up to and past the Library, where again opposite the end of James Street it became a single line again. Thus it remained with just a short passing loop alongside the Church wall before the end on terminus at the foot of New Lane. Cars working this section then returned to Peel Street, where they would continue through to work the Burnley Road section. This Section closed on August 26 th , 1931 , along with the Church and Clayton-le-Moors sections. The Burnley Road Section Was opened following electrification on October 26 th , 1907 . This section was linked to the Oswaldtwistle section, in that cars working off that route would continue on through Peel Street to work it. Thus, although it could be worked by double-deck cars, following electrification it was almost exclusively the preserve of saloons. From the top of Peel Street the line followed that of the Clayton section on double track until it reached the foot of Burnley Road, where it turned sharply east and continued for just a few yards before

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