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

1941 February. Having started his career on the steam trams as a conductor in 1907 the retirement was announced of Mr J. J. Haworth, of Steiner View, in Church. Later he was promoted to inspector on the electric cars and on their abandonment on the buses, a position he occupied until his retirement. 1947 February During the very severe winter the Blackburn Corporation tram service between Intack and Church Commercial, was suspended between Wednesday the 26 th , and the following Saturday, with workmen from Oswaldtwistle UDC working to free up the lines. During this time a tramcar was marooned on the exposed section over Redcap. 1948 August The last remaining vestige of Accrington’s electric tramways was removed from Blackburn Road close to the foot of St. James Street on the 5 th of the month. It was a wiring stanchion which had survived due to seeing further use as a lamp standard. 1949 Tram operations in the area of Hyndburn ended on January 16 th , without any ceremony to mark the occasion. The final tram to operate to Church Commercial departed at 22:52 for the return run to Intack with just six people on board, plus motorman Robert Smith of Whitebirk Road and his conductor Clifford Brown. Mr Walter Dabbs, the Chief Inspector of Blackburn Corporation, was also on board and stated, “I shall not be sorry to see them go”. Both of the crew would be employed on the replacement bus service on the following day. 1953 July The Funeral took place of Charles Albert Gent, of Moorhouse Avenue, who was the driver of the final tram to operate on the Baxenden Section in 1930. He had started in the paint-shop of the Steam Tramway Company during 1909, and retired in 1939 having worked on the electric cars and then the buses. He had the proud record of never having been late for work during his entire career. TRAMCAR NOTES During their operational lives with Accrington many modifications were made. In chronological order these were as follows - Car number 3 had its internal bulkheads removed during September, 1909, and the drop opening windows replaced by non-openers, as they were proving troublesome in service. Having proved this modification successful, cars numbered 1 , 2 & 4 were similarly treated in the period 1909 to 1910. An unspecified double-deck car was fitted with a folding screen on one platform end, which consisted of three folding glass panels. Supplied by the Equipment & Engineering Company, it was of the same type used on the cars of the Aberdeen Corporation Tramways. After a trial period of three months it was removed as it was unpopular with the drivers, for whose benefit it had been fitted in the first place. Due to wear in the top bearing surfaces of the Brush radial axel boxes, ( a problem not confined to the Accrington cars ), it was found necessary to make some modifications. These problems came to light during 1912, and were put down to a lowering in the standards of maintenance rather than design faults. As a result car number 12 was fitted with a special radial truck for a short time. Again this did not prove to be satisfactory, and following talks with the manufacturer one truck was returned to Loughborough from car 12 whilst this trial was underway. Following modifications it was refitted to car 12 and ran for one year as such. It was then decided to have all trucks sent back to Brush in pairs for similar conversions to take place. At the outbreak of the Great War, only one car had been modified, and it took until 1921 for the whole fleet to be converted. In 1916 when an agreement was reached with Blackburn Corporation Tramways for through running between the two towns, and Accrington was obliged to contribute two cars to this service. For the purpose of passing beneath the low railway bridge adjacent to Blythe’s Chemical Works in Church, three cars numbered 9 , 10 & 17 had their top covers removed thus rendering them as open-top. The trolley on the top deck was moved to one side during this modification which lowered the seating capacity on the upper deck by a single seat. The roof sections were stored in the depot for future use.

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