{"id":1289,"date":"2022-11-04T11:52:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T11:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2022-11-04T15:26:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T15:26:05","slug":"northern-weekly-salvo-308","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/northern-weekly-salvo-308","title":{"rendered":"Northern Weekly Salvo 308"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Weekly Salvo<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Incorporating \u00a0Slaithwaite Review of Books, Weekly Notices, Sectional Appendices, Tunnel Gazers\u2019 Gazette etc. <\/em>Descendant of Teddy Ashton\u2019s Northern Weekly <\/em>and Th\u2019Bowtun Loominary un Tum Fowt Telegraph<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published at 109 Harpers Lane Bolton BL1 6HU email: paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Publications website: www.lancashireloominary.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 308 November 4th<\/sup> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a02022\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Salveson\u2019s half-nakedly political digest of railways, tripe and secessionist nonsense from Up North. Sometimes weekly, usually not; definitely Northern.<\/p>\n

Just muddling through<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A relatively short interval since the last Salvo<\/em>: there’s quite a lot going on and I\u2019ve a bit of time before getting into a busy November. Politics dominate. Maybe the last Salvo <\/em>was too kind on the Tories; I\u2019d hoped, against my better judgement, that if Sunak became leader he would at least restore some basic decency to Government. Instead we\u2019ve seen the ill-judged re-appointment of Suella Bravermann, intent on pursuing a dangerous anti-immigrant policy, a reluctance to attend COP 27, and God knows what awaits in terms of spending cuts in the November 17th<\/sup> Budget. It looks fairly certain that the poor will bear the brunt. As far as transport goes, we\u2019ve yet another secretary of state, Mark Harper. His constituency is Forest of Dean, which has a station (Lydney) and a very nice heritage railway. Let\u2019s see what he makes of his brief: like sorting out the rail industry\u2019s industrial relations woes, HS2, future structure of the industry and lots more. Lucky chap. He will need to make a strong case for continued investment in infrastructure and hopefully he will have an ally in Michael Gove, a welcome re-appointment as Levelling-up secretary (yes, I did say that…). As I\u2019ve argued previously, HS2 will actually do more to \u2018level down\u2019 the North and is very poor value for money. Apart from some rail enthusiasts and too many politicians with little understanding of railways or regional economics, it has little support in the North; if it goes ahead will suck investment away from far more worthwhile schemes. See below for The Salvo Plan<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s Anti-High Speed Rail?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Well not me, but I am<\/em> anti-HS2. It\u2019s become a bit like Brexit, with views polarised between supporters and opponents and an unwillingness to listen to \u2018the other side\u2019. I\u2019ve thought long and hard about HS2 but I simply can\u2019t accept the arguments for it on so many different levels. I don\u2019t agree that it will do that much to relieve capacity and provide freight paths (see the work of Tony Berkeley on this). In some places it could make things worse, and definitely will during its long and disruptive construction. It will leave many large towns and cities isolated with poorer services and will very directly take investment away from much-needed local and regional schemes. More generally it will contribute towards a further shift in economic power away from the North towards London and the south-east. Why have a regional office in Manchester, Leeds or Preston if you can travel up to meetings in less time than it takes to get to the office on the tube? High-speed rail for Britain must recognise the specific characertasitics of our country which are very different from France, Spain, Germany, China or Japan. It’s very densely populated in parts and high-speed rail should connect all the main cities, from the central belt of Scotland and south Wales to the Midlands London and the Channel Tunnel. A line speed of 140 mph would offer a strong alternative to both roads and air and consume less energy than ‘very high-speed’. The logic of very<\/em> high-speed rail is that you miss out some cities which really need good rail links, creating a small number of ‘super cities’ whilst allowing other towns and cities to wither and die. Cities, large and smaller towns need a rail network which connects them with a\u00a0 hierarchy of intercity, interregional and local trains conencting in to light rail and buses.<\/p>\n

The imminent announcement by Jeremy Hunt could be very bad news indeed for rail. It\u2019s old-fashioned, discredited politics (and economics) to scale back on the right sort<\/em> of investment when times are bad. The North in particular needs investment to provide essential infrastructure for economic development and also to provide jobs in the construction phases. HS2 will do little for the North in either sense. Covid has led to long-term changes in travel patterns and people are travelling to work (short and long distance) less. Any new building work will create jobs, regardless of whether what is being built has any point. Yet even on that basis HS2 doesn\u2019t do a lot for the North as it will be many years before we see boots on the ground north of Crewe. HS2 is a monumental folly whose costs are rising by the second. If it goes ahead it will inevitably mean that other rail projects bite the dust; there isn\u2019t a limitless amount of funding for rail and HS2 will soak up much of it. The same goes for the ill-conceived ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’ which seems largely designed to keep politicians in West Yorkshire, and tunneling contractors,\u00a0 happy. The less glamorous but more useful – and deliverable – Bradford CrossRail is a far better alternative.<\/p>\n

The SALVO PLAN: What railways (and people) in the North need<\/strong><\/h5>\n

OK, seeing as you asked. A development strategy for rail in the North should be clear on what it\u2019s trying to achieve. Addressing the climate emergency and promoting economic regeneration should go hand in hand, and rail investment ticks both (and other) boxes. It\u2019s always tempting (and great fun) to look at rail re-openings as \u2018the answer\u2019 but<\/p>\n

\"\"
A Northern class 158 at Accrington – the ‘Copy Pit’ route needs upgrading for faster speeds and mroe capacity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

in fact re-openings and new railways are often of marginal benefit and take a very long time to complete. There are some exceptions which I\u2019ll mention later. I\u2019ll be necessarily brief, maybe there will be scope for doing a longer piece later (especially if this heavy cold continues).<\/p>\n

The greatest benefits to the North\u2019s rail network would come from improving on what we\u2019ve already got and addressing major bottlenecks and capacity issues. Top priority must be sorting out Manchester, in particular the Castlefield Corridor; it impacts on the whole of the North\u2019s rail network. You can play around with any number of \u2018innovative alternatives\u2019 but the hard reality is that it needs shed loads of money being spent to double capacity. Get that done and it opens up enormous opportunities for extending services. It\u2019s not just Piccadilly to Deansgate, but also sorting out the congested network south of Piccadilly, with grade separation of tracks to Guide Bridge and the Airport.<\/p>\n

The Railway Industry Association in the North of England (RIA North) has just produced an interesting report on electrification, which has been ably dissected by Phil Haigh in RAIL. As Phil says, it\u2019s oddly constructed but has some valuable insights. Personally, I\u2019d say that the North needs a rolling programme of electrification for routes which are pretty obvious: we\u2019ve got the TransPennine Upgrade agreed (I hope!) which will see wiring from Manchester via Huddersfield to Leeds and York. The complementary Calder Valley route from Manchester via Hebden Bridge to Bradford and Leeds is a no-brainer but also (as RIA North argues) do the \u2018old L&Y main line\u2019 from Sowerby Bridge via Mirfield to Wakefield, Castleford and York. Hope Valley (Manchester \u2013 Sheffield) is the other obvious route that urgently needs wiring, and nobody would say it will be easy with three long tunnels. Get Midland Main Line electrification completed to Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster. We need to be careful about trying to do too much: those projects would keep electrification teams busy for a few years and not cost the earth. An easy-to-do extra would be Oxenholme to Windermere.<\/p>\n

RIA North suggest that some more rural routes would be best served by battery or hydrogen, which makes sense. Battery seems a more tried and tested, and affordable, option. Routes like Cumbrian Coast, Whitby, Durham Coast and Scottish and Welsh rural lines would be appropriate; look at more bi-modes for the Merseyrail network \u2013 extending to Preston, Wigan and Wrexham. Some of Northern\u2019s other inter-regional routes should, in an ideal world, be electrified: Newcastle \u2013 Carlisle, the Copy Pit route between Burnley and Todmorden (used by Blackpool \u2013 York services) and the Furness Line beyond Carnforth and Leeds\/Sheffield to Hull and up the coast. If Skipton \u2013 Colne was to re-open (see below) it would make sense to electrify west of Colne and also Blackburn \u2013 Bolton. New bi-mode trains may be the short to medium-term answer, with quality on a par, or better, than a 331 electric train. I\u2019m told that it is relatively easy to retrofit existing trains to be battery powered, so maybe that would make sense for the still-new 331s. That said, bi-mode, let alone tri-mode, pushes up costs. Only do it when there is no sensible alternative (i.e. full electrification).<\/p>\n

Re-openings and new railways?\u00a0 Some make sense but there needs to be a very clear, demonstrable benefit in economic, environmental and social terms. The proposed HS2 north of Birmingham scores badly on all counts. Drop it – and sort out bottlenecks on the West Coast Main Line, at least for now. Some relatively short additions to the network would bring benefits: the Burscough curves would improve connectivity across West Lancashire. the Liverpool – Burscough – Preston corridor has huge potential, including freight from the Liverpool docks heading north. Bradford Cross-Rail, linking the historically separate routes to Forster Square and Bradford Interchange, would transform the rail network not just in West Yorkshire but beyond.<\/p>\n

Forget \u2018Northern Powerhouse Rail\u2019 which is a soundbite politician\u2019s dream and a rail planner\u2019s nightmare. Improve what we\u2019ve got, with better capacity across all existing Trans-Pennine routes and full electrification. Another re-opening that would enhance the regional network and tick all the boxes is Skipton to Colne. Further north, the Leamside Line makes much sense but I\u2019d put other schemes into the \u2018nice to do but not just yet\u2019 box, assuming Ashington, Blyth and Tyne is in the bag and going ahead. Woodhead? I like the suggestion of High Speed UK that this should form the core of an east-west \u2018freight super highway\u2019 from the Mersey to the Humber, including use of the re-opened line from Warrington to Manchester via Lymm, which has been ear-marked for \u2018Northern Powerhouse Rail\u2019. This makes more sense and could include a Trans-Pennine \u2018lorry shuttle\u2019 from the Manchester suburbs to Sheffield taking pressure off the M62 and narrow roads, as High Speed UK advocates.<\/p>\n

These enhancements could be delivered relatively quickly, compared with HS2. They would bring immediate benefits and provide a significant number of jobs, in construction and in operation. Even better if the new trains that would be needed for a growing network could be built in the North (Widnes, Newton Aycliffe?). The suggested enhancements would offer opportunities for freight development and ensure that heavy, long-distance trains don\u2019t have to be diesel-hauled.<\/p>\n

A key issue in promoting a long-term strategy is \u2018who delivers it?\u2019 Transport for the North is the obvious lead body but it needs a massive injection of resources and expertise, bringing together teams in the combined authorities with Network Rail planners. It also needs strong leadership. But that\u2019s a topic for another article.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t waste good food on art<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The latest tactic of some climate change protesters is really a bit silly. I refer to the practice of throwing tins of soup at works of art, and similar disruptive behaviour. The argument goes that peaceful protest has got nowhere so it\u2019s time to shake the pubic out of their complacency by \u2018non-violent direct action\u2019. It\u2019s pointed out that the women\u2019s suffrage campaigners only made progress when they started<\/p>\n

\"\"
One of my favourite politicians – Harry Pollitt, born Droylsden, served his time at Beyer Peacock and went on to become General Secretary of the Communist Party. Harry knew the importance of broad-based campaigning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

blowing up post boxes and damaging buildings, throwing yourself under horses or in the case of Leverhulme\u2019s house, burning it down. Well, I\u2019m not so sure about that. I think what won the vote for women was a combination of mass popular action, with women across the social spectrum organising together, together with the First World War which led to male politicians (perhaps reluctantly) recognising women\u2019s role and conceding a limited extension of the franchise in 1918. It\u2019s arguable whether the violent tactics (and setting off bombs is violent even if nobody was killed) helped or hindered the cause.\u00a0 The tactics of some present-day campaigners may have similarly negative effects. Blocking roads antagonises people and has already led to physical confrontations. If you\u2019re late for work or a hospital appointment, still less you\u2019re rushing a sick child to hospital, I don\u2019t think being held up for an hour will make you re-think your views on the climate. You\u2019ll be extremely pissed off. Similarly, defacing works of art is not only childish but deeply offensive to many, reminiscent of the Nazis attacks on \u2018degenerate art\u2019 in the 30s. I really don\u2019t want to be lectured by some kid (usually from obviously middle or upper class backgrounds) that \u2018works of art\u2019 are unimportant compared with the destruction of the planet. The most dangerous phrase in radical politics is ‘the end justifies the means’; it seldom does.<\/p>\n

Going for dramatic acts of vandalism is bad politics even if it gets you media exposure. It\u2019s elitist and divisive. Instead of bringing people with you, it turns them against you. It\u2019s a substitute for serious politics which involves a hard long-term slog, where you win people over by argument and persuasion. And yes, action on the streets that\u2019s inclusive, not divisive; it can be joyous. The work of \u2018Rock Against Racism\u2019 in the 70s is worth re-visiting, when thousands of young people were won to the anti-racist cause through the power of music.<\/p>\n

Making the countryside open to all<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s a longstanding aim of countryside bodies to make rural Britain \u2018accessible to all\u2019. Who could disagree with that? The traditional image of the countryside walker has been a middle-aged going on elderly white chap, typically middle-class and well-heeled or booted. Now before you get ou your twelve-bore and fire a salvo in my direction, let me say the stereotype has never been true. Walking the Pennines, Dales and Peak District has, for generations, been a very working class pastime, for both men and women. The Kinder Scout \u2018trespassers\u2019 were working class socialists and communists from Manchester. The (much larger) Winter Hill marchers were mill workers from Bolton. That said, in more recent times, you wouldn\u2019t see that many people from BAME communities out for a walk on the moors, though it\u2019s \"\"starting to change. One note of caution: not everyone, whatever their ethnicity, actually likes<\/em> the idea of going for a walk in the country and that\u2019s their prerogative. But it\u2019s clear that people from BAME communities are disproportionately under-represented amongst country walkers and that needs thinking about. Personally I\u2019m not too keen on the concept of \u2018safe spaces\u2019 where people retreat into a cocoon against a real or imagined \u2018threat\u2019. And there\u2019s a risk we manufacture a fear that walking in the outdoors is somehow dangerous and threatening. It isn’t. It’s a lot safer than walking down Bradshagate on a Friday night.<\/p>\n

Should there be segregated groups for different ethnic communities to encourage more country-going? A group has been formed for Black women in the Manchester area to get out into the countryside. Why does it make me feel a bit uneasy? If someone set up a \u2018White Walking Group\u2019 there would be understandable outrage. Should there not be similar concern about any leisure group that is racially segregated?<\/p>\n

BBC\u2019s Countryfile<\/em>,\u00a0 presented by Anita Rani recently ran a feature about the \u2018Black Girls Hike\u2019 group and\u00a0 interviewed Rhiane Fatinikun, founder of the group. It was launched in Manchester in 2019, and has spread to the Midlands and London \u2013 with members encouraged to try a string of new activities, including climbing and paving. Speaking about their walking sessions, Anita asked why there are so few Black and Asian people in the countryside \u2013 sharing a statistic that memebrs were ‘half as likely’ to take part in hiking and mountain walking. \u201cThere\u2019s loads of reasons for it really,\u201d Rhiane replied. \u201cI think it\u2019s where we live. A lot of us tend to live in cities, for example. \u201cNone of my family does any hiking. We did do sports and we\u2019re utilising outdoor spaces but just not the countryside. I just think it\u2019s really important for us to have that safe space where we can explore the outdoors together, but also in a group where we actually share the same experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a predictable backlash to the Countryfile<\/em> story and before we write the objectors off as crusty racists, maybe we need to think it through a bit more? It\u2019s understandable that some black people feel that the subliminal message from many countryside groups is that \u201cthis place isn\u2019t for the likes of you\u201d, which is pretty much what was said, often very directly by force majeure<\/em> by stick-wielding bailiffs to working class walkers back in the late 19th<\/sup> century. They challenged it, and that\u2019s really what Black Girls Hike is doing. Maybe it should spur bodies like the Ramblers to do more to open up their activities to a more diverse bunch? Some would say \u201cour walks are open to everyone and we do our best to make everyone feel welcome,\u201d which is no doubt true. But unless you go out and engage with BAME communities you\u2019ll get the same old people, folk like me. So groups like Black Girls Hike should be welcomed if they introduce more people to the pleasures of the countryside. But how about BGH being invited to participate in joint walks with existing mixed (but yes, mainly White) walking groups? There is a huge amount of knowledge about the countryside and its history amongst members of existing walking groups; I think they’d love to share it.<\/p>\n

Lancastrians: at a book shop near you soon<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Lancastrians: Mills, Mines and Minarets <\/em>is being published next year by the highly-respected publishers Hurst whose catalogue is well worth a look at it. See https:\/\/www.hurstpublishers.com\/catalogues\/spring-summer-2023\/<\/a>. The page on Lancastrians<\/em> says: \u201cThis long-overdue popular history explores the cultural heritage and identity of Lancashire. Paul Salveson traces to the thirteenth century the origins of \"\"a distinct county stretching from the Mersey to the Lake District\u2014\u2018Lancashire North of the Sands\u2019. From a relatively backward place in terms of industry and learning, Lancashire would become the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution: the creation of a self-confident bourgeoisie drove economic growth, and industrialists had a strong commitment to the arts, endowing galleries and museums and producing a diverse culture encompassing science, technology, music and literature. Lancashire developed a distinct business culture, its shrine being the Manchester Cotton Exchange, but this was also the birthplace of the world co-operative movement, and the heart of campaigns for democracy including Chartism and women\u2019s suffrage. Lancashire has generally welcomed incomers, who have long helped to inform its distinctive identity: fourteenth-century Flemish weavers; nineteenth-century Irish immigrants and Jewish refugees; and, more recently, New Lancastrians from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. The book explores what has become of Lancastrian culture, following modern upheavals and Lancashire\u2019s fragmentation compared with its old rival Yorkshire. What is the future for the 6 million people of this rich historic region?\u201d<\/p>\n

The book will be published in June 2023 in hardback, price \u00a325.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go to…Darwen<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The latest destination for my Salvo\u2019s Lancashire Tours was Darwen, or \u2018Darrun\u2019. Like many Lancashire towns, it has its own identity. Darwen folk were traditionally referred to as \u2018Darrun Salmon\u2019, possibly because they had a liking for smoked salmon, or maybe because salmon used to be found in the River Darwen. I\u2019m starting to talk like Cunk (aka Diane Morgan).Whatever, the reason, it\u2019s a pleasant little town, situated<\/p>\n

\"\"
Carnegie Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

beneath the moors, topped by the Jubilee Tower. It was completed in 1899 to mark Queen Victoria\u2019s golden jubilee but also \u2018the freeing of the moors\u2019. I went last week, on a Wednesday when the market hall is open. I got the Clitheroe train from Bolton, passing many old haunts \u2013 the site of Astley Bridge Junction (featured in my new book of short stories), Bromley Cross, Turton Tower and Entwistle. Was that the ghost of Signalman Frank Carroll who waved to me as we entered Sough Tunnel?<\/p>\n

Darwen is a very different place to Bolton. They talk differently to start with, perhaps a more melodious accent, different again to Blackburn, a place that many Darruners are not too keen on. It didn\u2019t go down well when Darwen was lumped in with Blackburn to create a \u2018Blackburn with Darwen Council\u2019 in 1974, which Blackburn would inevitably dominate simply on size.<\/p>\n

Darwen Corporation was formed in 1878 and was one of the most progressive local authorities in the North. It pioneered public libraries, parks (it has three, all of which magnificent) and ran its own public<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Market Hall and rebuilt Market Square. Jubilee Tower in the distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

transport which included trams and later buses. For a Bolton traveller, you can do a very nice round trip going out by train and walking from the (rather dismal) station into the town centre and when you\u2019ve had a good explore, catch the frequent number 1 Talking Bus back to Bolton (see below). You\u2019ll pass the fine Carnegie library and I\u2019d recommend calling in to have a look round and see what current exhibitions are taking place. To your left is what must be Lancashire\u2019s finest Wethespoon\u2019s pub, The Old Chapel. I realise some Salvo<\/em> readers won\u2019t have anything to do with the pro-Brexit business and regard its owner as the devil incarnate. Quite frankly life\u2019s too short to be so purist. Good on \u2018Spoons for saving many historic buildings from demolition and usually having a good eye for local heritage (just wish they’d put steak pudding back on the menu). The pub is located in a 19th<\/sup> century Methodist chapel which dates back to 1866. Unlike some of the more austere places of nonconformist worship, this one was built on a grand scale, designed by Lancashire architect Edward Bates who was also responsible for the nearby India Mill, which we\u2019ll get to shortly. It has been brought back to life for a use that may well have horrified the tee-total Wesleyans but I think they\u2019d accept Tim Martin did a good job.<\/p>\n

A short distance further on is the superb Market Hall set in the newly-refurbished Market Square. I think Darruners should, perhaps grudgingly, recognise that Blackburn with Darwen Council (BwD) has much to be thanked for with this nicely-executed project. The Market Hall itself has some very good stalls and I would particularly commend the cheese stall. You can also get tripe, if you\u2019re so inclined. On the outside of the Market Hall is an excellent Italian cafe and deli. Continue by the bus station and head up the traffic-free Bridge Street. There\u2019s a very good chippy, a health food shop, a friendly charity store and some good pubs. Hopstar Brewery\u2019s Number 39 is a popular live \"\"music venue which, obviously, does real ale. Go back down Bridge Street to The Circus, the epi-centre of Darwen and a place of many exciting performances over the years. Across the road are two very pretty domed buildings which were once connected to Darwen Corporation\u2019s tram system \u2013 welcome correction here but I think one was a waiting room and the other was a ticket office. Just across from there is the site of the former wallpaper and paint works which Darwen became synonymous with. Instead of heading up Bolton Rod, I went up the hill towards Bold Ventre Park, through some very attractive stone terraced streets. The park is one of Darwen\u2019s three gems, the<\/p>\n

\"\"
India Mill chimney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

others being Whitehall (further up Bolton Road) and Sunnyhurst, back towards Blackburn. I\u2019ve always liked Bold Venture for its mix of late Victorian elegance which leaks out into a wilder more untamed woodland before you enter onto open moors. Darwen Tower is a bit further up and worth visiting the recently restored monument to open access (and royalty).<\/p>\n

I did a loop round the park and then headed back down towards Bolton Road, getting some great views of India Mill and its stunning chimney, designed by Mr Bates and one of Lancashire\u2019s many wonders. (I\u2019ve never counted them but maybe I should \u2013 would make a great book). India Mill was built by the firm of \"\"Eccles Shorrock and fully opened in 1871. Mr Shorrock was clearly fond of \u2018big statements\u2019 and supposedly invited some of his workers \u00a0to a gala dinner on the top of the chimney when the job was finished. Definitely an unmissable event if you were lucky enough to be on the invitation list. However, there is some doubt whether the dinner was fact or fiction. Alan Duckworth, who has written an excellent novel which features the mill, said: \u201cWhat about the dinner held on top of the chimney when it was completed? It is further said that a band played up there while they ate. Certainly there was a dinner held at ground level in the Crown Inn on December 12th 1868 for the 52 men responsible for building the chimney, but had they earlier dined at the top of the chimney? It’s a good story and deserves to be true and the men must have eaten their meals up there when they were working on it, but there’s a difference between a bacon buttie gulped down in the teeth of the wind and a sit down meal with table linen and a band accompaniment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside the mill is a \u2018preserved\u2019 mill engine. I\u2019m not entirely sure it works to eb honest, painted in rather gaudy colours when really the brasswork was what made these machines so special. Better kept inside in my view. There are other bits of Darwen history further up the road, including similarly \u2018preserved\u2019 paper machines and also the tram terminus by Whitehall Park. The nearby Tram Cafe is recommended, so too the Whitehall Coffee Emporium which has a better range of coffee than anything I can get in Bolton. If I\u2019d got more time I\u2019d have had a look at Spring Vale Garden Village, which Gandhi visited during his visit to Darwen in 1931.<\/p>\n

I took the no. 1 bus, operated by The Blackburn Bus Company (owned by Transdev) back to Bolton. It\u2019s a frequent service with friendly drivers. And the buses talk<\/em> to you! Not in some plummy southern voice but with proper local accents. The bus says things like \u2018Gerrof \u2018ere for th\u2019Cross Guns pub, Egerton\u2019. I love it. I\u2019m not sure if any of the buses have, in the interests of diversity, some female or local Asian accents. I need to travel more on the No. 1 to find out. Incidentally, Darwen has a very interesting rural network operated by \u2018Travel Assist\u2019, a social enterprise. You need to check your dates and times but it takes you to all sorts of interesting places including Whittlestone Head, and Morrison\u2019s in Harwood.<\/p>\n

I only wish the No. 1 bus would condescend to stop somewhere handy for Earnsdale Reservoir, a popular visitor attraction with a bus whizzing past three times an hour but nowhere to alight (or gerroff). There\u2019s a two mile gap from the Chinese restaurant to the Cross Guns, the only places you can gerroff. Please Transdev and BwD Council, can you at least provide one<\/em> bus stop so it isn\u2019t just motorists who can access the walks around Earnsdale. It would make for a great walk along the water to Entwistle, quick pint in the Strawbury Duck, then train back to Bolton. Unfortunately the conversation from Northern\u2019s class 150 trains is relatively dull and uninteresting compared with the No. 1 bus. \u00a0How about having Kathleen Ferrier singing a short song followed by her saying \u201cThe train is now approaching Entwistle. Gerroff \u2018ere for th’ Strawbury Duck pub which does a great pint an’ good food. There are some gradely walks an’ all, like round bi Entwistle Reservoir, along the path under th\u2019viaduct, an\u2019 then by Wayoh Reservoir to Th\u2019 Black Bull pub at Edgworth, or th\u2019 nearby Barlow Institute.\u201d By which time you\u2019ll have missed your stop (and it is a \u2018request stop\u2019 so you have to make sure you tell the guard…).<\/p>\n

For an excellent read about all things Darwen, I recommend Darren and Darreners, People and Places<\/em>, by Harold Heys.<\/p>\n

Ian Jack<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was saddened to hear of the death of Ian Jack. I knew Ian reasonably well and he was a regular Salvo<\/em> reader, sometimes commenting on my railway goings-on. The Guardian<\/em> obituary said \u201cJack was a gifted writer, a brilliant and imaginative editor and a mentor to younger journalists. His last piece for The Guardian<\/em> marked the centenary of the BBC, \u201cone of the world\u2019s great cultural projects\u201d. He wrote: \u201cIt looks unlikely that Britain will ever again invent anything so admired and influential; we have been lucky to have it.\u201d He was taken ill on the Isle of Bute, where he spent much of his time and died in Paisley. Ian was born in Lancashire \u2013 at Townley\u2019s, Farnworth, and was brought up in Farnworth where he developed his interest in train-spotting. He was a frequent visitor to Crescent Road loco sheds in the 1950s. My friend Peter Kirkham sent him a photo of the shed (which iw as on) and Ian replied:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a splendid array of Black Fives in your picture! You may be interested to know that I was taken round the same loco shed a few times by my elder brother in 1951\/52. I was a six-year-old, he was 16. They must have been a tolerant lot at Bolton shed in those days – we just seemed to wander in and out as we pleased. I can also remember taking the train from Plodder Lane to Manchester and Bolton Great Moor Street – and another loco shed on the edge of Plodder Lane fields.\u00a0 Then our\u00a0parents took us back to Scotland and I didn’t see Bolton again for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

His parents returned to North Queensferry when he was seven. He started work as a trainee journalist at the Glasgow Herald<\/em> in 1965. In 1970, he moved to London to join the Sunday Times<\/em>, then in its heyday under the editorship of Harold Evans. He was a section editor and then a foreign correspondent, specialising in India. He wrote for the Observer<\/em> and Vanity Fair<\/em> before joining the team that created the Independent on Sunday<\/em>, which he edited from 1991 to 1995. From there he moved to edit the literary magazine Granta<\/em>,<\/strong> where he remained until 2007. For the past 15 years, Jack had been a columnist for the Guardian<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0 The writer and former Observer<\/em> foreign correspondent Neal Ascherson said: \u201cWe have lost one of our great journalists, a writer of enchanting imagination and at the same time a reporter rigidly scrupulous in his insistence on fact. \u201cIn Scotland, Bengal and industrial England, he mourned the slow loss of faith in the value of work, skill and community. He honoured the certainty of a Glasgow-forged piston driving the wheel of a steam locomotive across Indian plains and of the family man coming home from the mill in a secure profession with a decent wage packet.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was privileged to have known Ian and met him a couple of times, enjoying a coffee on a sunny afternoon in Islington some years ago. I\u2019ll miss him.<\/p>\n

Last Train from Blackstock Junction has just gone in a puff of smoke<\/strong><\/h5>\n

My new book comprising 12 short stories about railway life in the North is now available. Last Train from Blackstock Junction<\/em> includes a very appropriate tale about the last train from somewhere called \u2018Blackstock Junction\u2019 on November 5th<\/sup> 1966, when a group of kids succeeded in stopping the Glasgow \u2013 Manchester express which they mistakenly thought was the last stopping train from their local station. Oops.What very<\/em> naughty boys. Don\u2019t try this on your local railway.<\/p>\n

The book has a very kind foreword by Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail, who said “As you read these stories, you\u2019ll find some history, some romance, some politics, a little prejudice \u2013 sadly – and some humour; you will in fact be in the world of railway men and women. I hope you find them as absorbing as I did when I read Paul\u2019s manuscript. Please enjoy his work!”<\/p>\n

Writer and environmentalist Colin Speakman said \u201cit is an amazing collection \u2013 powerful, moving, and what I would call \u2018faction\u2019 which tells truths even though the details may be fantasy, \u2018Hillary Mantel school of history\u2019 perhaps. Director of Platform 5 Publishing, Andrew Dyson, said \u201cPaul\u2019s \u00a0stories provide a fascinating insight into what life was really like for thousands of railway workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tales also include a ghost story set in a lonely signalbox in Bolton, in 1900 while other stories are about life on today\u2019s railway, including \u2018From Marxist to Managing Director\u2019 \u2013 the story of a young female political activist who ends up running a train company. Some are set in the \u2018age of steam\u2019 and life on the footplate as well as the rise of the trades unions on the railways and the rise of the Labour movement.<\/p>\n

Salvo<\/em> readers will get the book at a specially discounted price, courtesy of Platform 5 Publishing. Go to https:\/\/www.platform5.com\/Catalogue\/New-Titles<\/a>. Enter LAST22 in the promotional code box at the basket<\/strong> and this will reduce the unit price from \u00a312.95 to \u00a310.95.<\/p>\n

Talks, walks and wanderings<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Following the \u2018official\u2019 end of the Pandemic, I\u2019ve been getting a number of invitations to give talks on various topics. Recent talks have included \u2018The Social History of Lancashire\u2019s Railways\u2019 for Preston Historical Society, \u2018Allen Clarke\u2019s Bolton\u2019 for Friends of Smithills Hall and Bolton U3A, \u2018Railways and Railwaymen of Turton\u2019 for Turton LHS, \u2018Moorlands, Memories and Reflections\u2019 for What\u2019s Your Story, Chorley?\u00a0 and \u2018Railways and Communities: Blackrod and Horwich\u2019, for Blackrod LHS. \u00a0Next Tuesday evening I\u2019m talking to Chorley Archaeological Society on \u2018The Lost Railways of Lancashire\u2019. I\u2019m speaking on \u2018Railways in the North\u2019 for the Stephenson Locomotive Society in Manchester on November 5th. Unfortunately very few trains will be running in the North. The following Saturday I\u2019m at Shap Wells talking to the Cumbrian Railway Association on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Other topics are:<\/p>\n