FROM THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE ARCHIVES
100 YEARS AGO
OCTOBER 1922 August traffic at Blackpool
IT is doubtful whether any two stations serving one pleasure resort, either in this country or abroad, are used during the holiday season by numbers of passengers approaching those recorded at the Central and Talbot Road stations, Blackpool.
Statistics kindly furnished by
Ashton Davies, General Superintendent, Northern Division, London & North Western Railway, include all stations in the Blackpool area, but at least 90% will relate to the stations mentioned.
For instance, on September 2, 71929 tickets were collected in the Blackpool area, and at the same time, the large return traffic of Oldham Wakes would represent 50,000 passengers dealt with.
Weekly figures for the week ending August 5, 1922, were 107495; August 12, 124534; August 19, 108970; August 26, 87541; September 2, 105515.
50 YEARS AGO
OCTOBER 1972 Alton-Alresford reopening scheme proposed
MIDHANTS RAILWAY LIMITED, currently negotiating with BR to purchase the 10-mile Alton-Alresford section of the doomed Mid-Hants line, carried out a detailed traffic survey on the line in July.
The results were encouraging, suggesting that a viable railcar service could be operated over the line, at least during peak hours.
The company plans to operate steam trains at weekends over this section, which includes the formidable 1-in-60 banks on both sides of Medstead, which proved so testing for main-line trains when they were diverted this way to Southampton.
Channel Tunnel agreement
MINISTER for Transport John Peyton and French Minister of Transport M. Robert Galley were hoping to have signed a formal agreement by September 30 with the international group responsible for Channel Tunnel studies, agreeing the basis on which those studies would be continued.
Under the agreement, the studies would be completed by the middle of 1973 at a cost of about £5 million. About half of this would be guaranteed by the two governments, and the remainder by the study group from private sources.
20 YEARS AGO
OCTOBER 2002 Virgin CrossCountry ‘47s’ bow out in style
THE well-publicised official end of Class 47s on regular CrossCountry services took place on Monday, August 19 when the 08.46 Penzance-Manchester was double-headed as far as Birmingham New Street by two blue Type 4s to mark the passing of an era. The train was packed with hundreds of enthusiasts and watched along the way by large crowds.
Virgin has been very supportive of the enthusiast movement and has this year repainted several locos in celebrity liveries and provided much assistance to the railway press in following the fleet’s every move.
The events of August 19 did not end at Birmingham. Nos. 47077/847 continued with the stock to Derby, where they were detached and sent light to Toton depot. There, Virgin, in conjunction with Bombardier Transportation and EWS, arranged a final Class 47 event for the railway media – a line-up of the celebrity fleet. This was the first time this had been possible since the repaintings had taken place and was organised by VT’s Lee West and EWS’s Andy Lickfold.