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

being carried out. Subsequently the Chairman and the Secretary of the Tramway Company along with their Contractor attended this meeting, and made an application for permission to adopt a system for laying the lines at variance to that specified. The proceedings were recorded as follows – Mr Grace - “It would appear we get this price from the Secretary, so shall we call the Contractor in?” Mr Kenyon – “The mistake has come about because you have lacked confidence in the Directors and they have lacked confidence in you. The best way out of this would have been to take them out of it, and to have done it yourselves. We did offer it to you at contract price.” Mr Hindle - “You might have offered only half as much.” Mr Taylor – “I gave you the price you said.” Mr Kenyon - “Do you remember what was understood following our last interview here? I said to one of your Directors, “Now call Mr Taylor into the courtroom and ask Mr Newton to meet him to talk this matter over. After this he sent in another quotation at a considerably higher price, and you understood that this included all of the old concrete being taken up.” Mr Jeffs - “Was that so?” Mr Taylor - “Mr Newton said it would all have to be taken up and added this would require a new six inches bed of concrete.” Mr Jeffs - “ You did pass on these remarks, and I understood you to mean that all the old concrete was to come out.” Mr Newton - I said, “It had to be a continuous bed of concrete.” Mr Kenyon - “The whole of the bed of concrete from the town centre to Church had to be taken up, and a continuous bed of concrete six inches deep had to be laid in and made up to a fresh specification?” Mr Aitken - “This Committee did not say that!” Mr Hindle - “Correct, this Committee did not say that.” Mr Kenyon - “Do you believe that the Committee does understand? Mr Evans did not seem to understand that at the Tuesday May 1 st meeting.” Mr Jeffs - “On your own calculations you wanted us to pay £1,000 down, and you requested this even before you commenced work on the Church Section. You asked for this sum up front and for us to supply all the materials. If you accepted that sum and did not take all the concrete out, I do not understand how you arrived at your calculations.” Mr Newton - “I have not given an estimate for that.” Mr Kenyon - “I do not know anything about any estimate, but I did know we were requested to pay £1,000 down.” Mr Hindle - “The Surveyor informed this Committee that, on account of the narrowness of the setts it would be necessary to use more concrete than was at first suggested to you, and on the way that the concrete should be finished to the other side of the rail in the first instance, and then filled in leaving an inch for the setts. This does not mean clamping. It means the ordinary concrete to the outer side of the rails, then the rails to be pinned up and to continue to fill up to where the rail has been laid and to fill up to the proper height of a 5 inch sett. The workmen are not required to leave their work as the same kind of cement goes in just as before. There is no preparation of the setts required. We are told by Mr Jeffs, the Secretary, that you have been given a quotation for extra costs of 2 shillings and 7 pence per lineal yard of track. Have you not based that on the Scamping Process?” Mr Jeffs - “Yes. Having found out that no Scamping was required you wouldn’t say that 2/7d was a reasonable price. You would think double this would you not?” Mr Taylor - “I was told it would have to be put on with a Floating, one to one.” Mr Hindle - “And who told you this?” Mr Taylor - “One of my foremen.” Mr Hindle - “Is it not the case that it goes onto the concrete and then you add the same mixture and then you level it up?” Mr Taylor - “This would be a difficult job to do to raise it 1 1 / 2 ’’ up to the rail. It is impossible to lay one or two rails in at one time unless these rails were laid in and then concreted with a set of

55