{"id":1501,"date":"2023-11-02T21:36:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T21:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2023-11-03T08:48:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T08:48:36","slug":"northern-salvo-315","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/northern-salvo-315","title":{"rendered":"Northern Salvo 315"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Salvo<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Incorporating \u00a0Weekly Notices, Sectional Appendices, and Northern Weekly Salvo <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published at Station House, Kents Bank, Lancashire-North-of-the-Sands, LA11 7BB and at 109 Harpers Lane, Bolton BL1 6HU (Lancashire-South-of-the-Sands)<\/strong><\/p>\n

email: paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 315\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 November 2023\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h5>\n

Salveson\u2019s half-nakedly political digest of railways, tripe and secessionist nonsense from Up North.<\/p>\n

Railways in turmoil<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It has been an interesting few weeks for the railways, despite being overshadowed by the tragic events in the Middle-East. The scrapping of HS2 north of Birmingham has been greeted with predictable outrage. In this Salvo<\/em> we take a more measured view of Sunak\u2019s announcement at Conservative Party Conference, with some very good reader responses. The really good news has been the Government\u2019s U-Turn on ticket office closures. Despite the weasel words from Government suggesting that it was a ‘the train companies\u2019 fault\u2019, this was a plan driven by Government. Don\u2019t forget that the proposals did not extend to Wales, Scotland, Merseyrail or London Overground, where the Department for Transport isn\u2019t responsible for regional railways. \"\"<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, one of the few stations down to lose its ticket office in Scotland was Glasgow Central! That was because it\u2019s operated by Avanti West Coast, a contract managed by the (London-based) DfT. We should be careful about being too complacent following the U-Turn. The Treasury will still be after \u2018savings\u2019 in the rail budget and the Ticket Office victory was down to strong lobbying and political pressure, uniting unions, community groups and transport campaigners. If there had been that sort of united response to the Beeching closures of the 1960s, our railways would look very different today. I won’t labout the HS2 farce in this issue: the comments from readers (‘Top Feedback’) give a good overview of the issues. While I always argued that it was very poor value for money and potentially destructive for the North, siphoning a large chunk of the money saved into roads schemes isn’t the way we should be going.<\/p>\n

Small changes at The Salvo<\/em>,\u00a0 no need to panic<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I\u2019m making some small changes to The Salvo\u2019s<\/em> production. The main change is that the website hosting The Salvo<\/em> will change from www.lancashireloominary.co.uk<\/a> to www.paulsalveson.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

The change should take place with issue no. 316 but I\u2019ll keep you posted. The Lancashire Loominary<\/em> website will be closed down and I\u2019ll concentrate all my own stuff on www.paulsalveson.org.uk, which is currently devoted to photographs (have a look, there\u2019s some nice stuff there, but a lot of it will be removed). The consolidation is partly driven by having another website to manage now, for the Station Library (see below) as well as realising that the photographic website was not getting much use.<\/p>\n

Railways and Music<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Links between railways and music go back a long way and the connections have been well-documented. We all love Strauss\u2019s \u2018Excursion Train Polka\u2019 and Honegger\u2019s \u2018Pacific 231\u2019. But there is also a less recognised tradition, which includes the work of some \u2018classical\u2019 composers as well as folk song.<\/p>\n

This survey of British music \u2018with a railway connection\u2019 does not pretend to be comprehensive and reflects the author\u2019s own tastes. I\u2019ve tried to highlight the contributions of railway men and women to music, mainly as performers, and the contribution of the industry to music. \"\"While the focus is very much on Britain, I should mention Julius Beliczay (1838 -1893), a senior engineer with Hungarian State Railways (M\u00c1V) and an accomplished composer. I\u2019ve a CD of his Symphony in D Minor performed by the M\u00c1V\u00a0 Symphony Orchestra in 1996. The orchestra was formed after the Second World War and was originally composed of working railway employees who mostly performed for railway audiences around major railway centres in Hungary. Today, it is a professional orchestra with an international reputation.<\/p>\n

But back to the UK. \u00a0There is fascinating history of railway company support and sponsorship for bands, orchestras and choirs. As early as the 1860s there was a Great Northern Railway \u2018Glee and Madrigal Society\u2019. \u00a0Other companies supported operatic societies and even orchestras. Why did they do it? Undoubtedly it was partly from a sense of encouraging employees to be involved in \u2018uplifting\u2019 activities which kept them out of the pub. A form of social control. But there was also a sense of encouraging company pride, as well as what we would recognise today as a form of marketing and promotion.<\/p>\n

There are many examples of railway brass bands. The nature of railway work tended to limit the involvement of shift workers, whose hours of work would have made it impossible to co-ordinate a large ensemble. So it\u2019s not surprising that most railway brass bands tended to be based at the larger workshops. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway opened its engineering works at Horwich in the mid-1880s and encouraged recreational activities. The Railway Mechanics\u2019 Institute developed as a cultural as well as a technical centre and the RMI Band became a nationally-respected ensemble, winning the British Championship at Crystal Palace in 1922.<\/p>\n

The North Eastern and Great Northern Railways did much to support employees\u2019 recreational activities and H.V. Ivatt, the chief mechanical engineer of the Great Northern between 1895 and 1911, was a well-known music enthusiast. His daughters often gave piano recitals at railway social events.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Dhol drummers with Julie (hi-vis) and Cllr Linda Thomas, Mayor of Bolton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the London and North Eastern Railway was formed in 1923 it didn\u2019t take long for an LNER Music Society to be formed, which acted as an umbrella body for a choir and full orchestra. The LNER also sponsored its own Silver Band which performed at events such as the Darlington Railwaymen\u2019s Carnival during the 1920s and 1930s.<\/p>\n

Some of the pre-grouping railway music groups merged after 1923 and the formation of \u2018The Big Four\u2019 companies. The South Eastern and Chatham Railway had a Military Band and Orchestra while the London and South Western had a Musical Society. They amalgamated in 1925 to form the Southern Railway Musical Society, under the patronage of the General Manager.<\/p>\n

Chudley Candish was a professional railwayman and composed The Song of the Jolly Roger<\/em>. Sebastian Meyer, Assistant General Manager of the Hull and Barnsley wrote A Holiday Reminiscence <\/em>for the company\u2019s Railway’s Choral Association in 1887. Hubert Bath, a minor English composer, wrote the cantata for men’s voices Men on the Line <\/em>for the\u00a0 Great Eastern Railway.<\/p>\n

Some larger railway centres had their own bands, including Doncaster, York and Bletchley. The Bletchley Station Band often performed at union events and demonstrations. Generally, the railway unions did not have their own musical bodies though in recent years the RMT union sponsored Easington Band, in Co. Durham, and encouraged the band to play at RMT demonstrations. \"\"There was a Doncaster NUR Band in the 1920s but it does not seem to have lasted for very long. The York Railway Institute Band, with a history stretching back to 1883, is a great survivor, along with the institute that supports it. As recently as December last year it gave a performance of Mozart\u2019s Requiem<\/em> with Skipton Choral Society in Selby Abbey.<\/p>\n

Hundreds if not thousands of songs have been written about railways; however, it is not so easy to find many that were written by working railway people. Dave Goulder, a former loco fireman from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, is an exception. He wrote and performed songs about railway life which capture that period around the end of steam. In Requiem for Steam<\/em> he sang a lament for the end of an era, from the point of view of one of the many who were thrown on the scrap heap:<\/p>\n

Well I’ve given me kettle and me old tin can
\nTo a lad for a souvenir
\nAnd I’d trade in me shovel for twenty fags
\nOr the price of a bottle of beer
\nFor the Scotsman has come to the end of his run
\nAnd Mallard is cold as the stone
\nThe story is over, the giants are dead
\nAnd the jackals are picking the bones<\/em><\/p>\n

The English \u2018Folk Song Revival\u2019 of the 1850s and 60s produced The Ballad of John Axon, written by Ewan McColl and performed with Peggy Seeger. The \u2018radio ballad\u2019, one of a new approach to broadcast folk music, was based on the life and sad death of Stockport driver John Axon in February 1957. \"\"While driving a Stanier 8F on a heavy goods train from Buxton to Stockport the train ran out of control after the steam brake failed, enshrouding the cab in scalding steam. Axon stayed in the cab after telling his mate to jump for his life. Axon died in the ensuing collision at Chapel-en-le-Frith. The LP (and subsequent CD) The Ballad of John Axon<\/em> includes some songs that McColl wrote himself but also some he collected as part of his research in the Manchester area. More railway songs appeared on Steam Whistle Ballads<\/em> including one song he learnt from an old railwayman at Newton Heath depot. Moses of the Mail<\/em>\u00a0 is a light-hearted tale of woe about a Lancashire and Yorkshire driver whose journey from Manchester through the Calder Valley to Yorkshire goes sadly wrong. However, McColl was no locomotive expert and he wrote some of the terms down incorrectly. For example one line goes \u2018both front fenders failed to work, and the engine wouldn\u2019t steam\u2019 instead of \u2018both injectors\u2019 (though sometimes it\u2019s given, more possibly, as \u2018sanders\u2019). The error has been perpetuated in countless folk clubs across the North! Here\u2019s how I think it should be sung (first two verses):<\/p>\n

It was a dark and stormy night, the snow was falling fast
\nI stood on Thorpes Bridge Junction where the reckless Moses passed.
\nHis hair was widely waving as through the air he sped;
\nHe’d never had such doings since he started at the shed.<\/em><\/p>\n

The signals on at Newton Heath – the shed was close at hand
\nHe sent his mate for some more oil and a couple of bags of sand
\nAt Moston’s dreary cutting the struggle was extreme
\nBoth injectors failed to work and the engine wouldn’t steam…..<\/em><\/p>\n

Another outstanding song about the Beeching era, written by former booking office clerk \u2018Stanley Accrington\u2019 was The Last Train<\/em>. A retired railwayman dreams about his life on Lancashire\u2019s railways before the axe came down, and then wakes:<\/p>\n

Down the Rossendale Valley on a sultry warm day
\nThe clanking of wheels echoes on
\nBut it’s all in my mind, when I wake up I find
\nThat the last train from Bacup has gone……. <\/em><\/p>\n

Stanley himself describes his first gig, in appropriate surroundings, when \u201che finally plucked up the dutch courage to perform in front of real people in August 1979 at the Buffet Bar at Stalybridge Station, a local live music venue. No one heckled and some applauded, so he knew he was on the right lines, as it were.\u201d He\u2019s still going yet. Stanley performed Last Train<\/em> on a memorable night on the Penistone Line \u2018Folk Train\u2019 some years ago.<\/p>\n

What must count as a unique event in the history of railways and music was the collaboration between Northern and the Royal Northern College of Music, on June 22nd<\/sup> 2008. Part of Newton Heath Train Depot (\u2018The Parlour\u2019 as it has been known for generations) was converted, for an afternoon only, into a concert hall. Northern Brass<\/em> \u2013 a musical celebration of railways in the community<\/em> -brought together two brass bands to perform a selection of railway-themed music, including a specially-written piece called Newton Heath Variations, by young composer Lucy Pankhurst.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A4 Variations at Newton Heath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The finale featured the opening of the shed doors and the appearance of preserved Barclay saddletank May<\/em> steaming slowly but majestically into the \u2018concert hall\u2019, with whistle blowing! It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life and thrilled the audience, drawn from railway families and community rail activists.<\/p>\n

The punk band Blyth Power<\/em>, named after a class 56 diesel loco, perform some great railway songs, including Junction Signal<\/em> and Signalman White<\/em>. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot more out there, with bands playing local gigs and promoting a railway message. Nominations welcome, especially if they include working railway people. Surely there\u2019s an opportunity out there for the train companies, or Great British Railways, to nurture the huge talent that exists within Britain\u2019s railway community? \u00a0One shining example in recent years was TransPennine Express, whose employee choir delighted audiences for several years before its disbandment.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much more the industry could do to encourage the talent within its ranks, as well as supporting young people\u2019s musical development and sponsoring bands, orchestras and individual musicians. They\u2019d be following a long and honourable tradition which helps place railways where they should be – at the heart of society.<\/p>\n

I am grateful to the work of Philip Scowcoft for some of the background to this article. <\/em><\/p>\n

A Railway Library on a Railway Station<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Following the Government U-Turn on ticket office closures, it’s a good time for creative ideas on what to do with our stations that helps them become community hubs.<\/p>\n

Kents Bank, on the Furness Line between Carnforth and Barrow, is an example of what can be done. It’s now home to a library devoted to railways and transport, with an emphasis on the social side of railways. \"\"It\u2019s run by Salvo<\/em> editor and co-owner of the Station House, Prof. Paul Salveson, and is based on his extensive collection of railway books, numbering over 3,000 titles. Over the last few months it has expanded thanks to several donations, including some from railway staff, delivering books from trains!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the process of setting up a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC) to develop the library,\u201d said Paul. \u201cOnce the CIC is established, the collection will be vested in the company, which may become a charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the collection is now shelved and categorised. A longer-term project is to get every item catalogued. The collection includes a full set of The Railway Magazine<\/em> from 1897 to 1980, and some rare bound volumes of railway trade union journals going back to the 1890s. A website went live two days ago: www.stationlibrary.org.uk<\/p>\n

The library is primarily for reference though there is a small lending section. \"\"Visits are by appointment (or pot luck!) but there will also be a monthly open day, on the first Saturday of each month starting in 2024. A preview ‘open day’ was held on Saturday October 21st and attracted over sixty visitors. The only down side was the non-appearance of Bulleid Pacific on a railtour \u2013 it slipped to a stand on Dalton Bank, causing widespread disruption to other services. It finally came storming through Kents Bank over two hours late. You just can\u2019t trust these Bulleids. The next event has been organized to avoid any incursions or excursions by Southern locomotives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are holding a pre-Christmas event on Saturday December 9th<\/sup>, jointly with The Beach Hut Gallery, next door. There will be mince pies, mulled wine and soup,\u201d said Paul. \u201cOur first talk, in the Reading Room, will be about Irish Railways in the 1950s, by Michael Davies. It\u2019s on Tuesday evening December 5th<\/sup>, starting at 7.30. Admission is free but must be pre-booked by phone or email.\u201d\u00a0 (see below).<\/p>\n

Although use of the library is free and open to all, it is planned to develop a subscription offer where members receive a newsletter, notice of events and talks and discounts on book sales.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Salvo with Michael Davies and MP Tim Farron in The Reading Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The individual subscription will be \u00a325 a year, with a higher corporate subscription. Donations of books are very welcome.<\/p>\n

Maybe the next step should be to get a station cat.<\/p>\n

Contact details<\/strong>: Paul Salveson on 07795 008691 or info@stationlibrary.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Postal address: Station House, Kentsford Road, Kents Bank, Grange-over-Sands LA11 7BB<\/p>\n

Website: www.stationlibrary.org.uk.<\/p>\n

After the U-Turn: can we transform the \u2018ticket office\u2019?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The recent announcement that the mass closure of ticket offices, mostly in England, has been abandoned is great news. But let\u2019s not get too complacent: whilst the immediate threat has gone there will be a risk of \u2018closure by stealth\u2019 as train companies are encouraged by Government to take a more incremental approach to booking office closures.<\/p>\n

\"\"
What a station could look like…Irlam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s look at some of the issues, and the opportunities this week\u2019s announcement offers. What was singularly lacking in the announcement was any commitment to looking at ways of making more use of our stations. At least RMT, in its announcement welcoming the U-Turn, recognised this.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that more and more rail passengers are buying tickets on line. This is in the face of persistent advice from me (mainly to my daughters) who think, often wrongly, that they get a better deal \u2018going on line\u2019. That trend will continue. But we still need that staffed presence, but perhaps doing other things than just selling tickets.<\/p>\n

What we offer \u2018customers\u2019 at staffed stations is often a less-than-ideal experience, having to communicate with someone stuck behind a window who can sometimes present, without intention, the image of unfriendly officialdom. It\u2019s a system that even most banks have done away with.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Under-used asset: Farnworth station: booking offices must become community hubs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For so many journeys involving different options in the kind of ticket purchased, being able to talk to a real live person sat alongside you is important. For larger stations, we need to keep a decent number of highly trained and well-motivated staff, with good language and inter-personal skills.<\/p>\n

But what of the small station which might have a footfall of around 200,000 passengers a year and may offer nothing more than a single person doing a 6-2 shift? Many stations around the North fall into that category, and the member of staff may only be dealing with\u00a0 a couple of trains an hour with passengers bunched within a few minutes of the trains\u2019 departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cClose them,\u201d the bean counters will say. But there are other ways. Think about it, how barmy is it that someone is sat there in a \u2018booking office\u2019 selling only one product (i.e. rail tickets)? Can you imagine a petrol station selling nothing other than petrol?<\/p>\n

One experienced professional told me \u201ca station is the railway’s shop window and is now more than ever a loss-leader like milk in a supermarket. Yes it can sell tickets but can also provide useful information about rail travel, plan journeys, de-mystify tickets types, provide details of onward connections, advise about bus links, be a source of local information\u00a0 and be that reassuring\u00a0presence for passengers wary of travelling by train.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merseyrail piloted a pioneering scheme some years ago called \u2018M to Go\u2019, with their partner Merseytravel and with union agreement. It was based on experience on Netherlands Railways (NS) \u2013 the \u2018wizzl shop. This involved some \u2018booking offices\u2019 being transformed into convenience stores. Merseyrail staff would sell rail tickets but also a range of other products. From what I\u2019ve heard, the scheme has generally worked well, though it is very location specific –\u00a0 like any other retail business. Some locations have worked well, others less so.<\/p>\n

City-region transport authorities such as Transport for Greater Manchester or West Midlands Rail Executive could take over the running of smaller stations and develop them along the \u2018M to Go\u2019 lines, where the location is right. I suspect the train company would be glad to co-operate. Having a substantial public body like TfGM or WMRE taking over responsibility for smaller stations would ensure economies of scale in procuring goods as well as ensuring high customer care standards and staff conditions. Depending on location, there may be scope for extended opening hours and more<\/em> staff, including use of part-timers.<\/p>\n

There is potential for the rail industry working in partnership with convenience store \u2018chains\u2019 such as the Co-op, Post Office or others. This has been tried in the past, in the south-east. Again, it\u2019s location, location, location.<\/p>\n

There is a \u2018community rail\u2019 angle to this. A few stations (e.g. Gobowen and Millom) have staffed booking offices run by a social enterprise. I\u2019m talking about paid staff rather than volunteers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Stationmaster, Lostock Junction: Mr Atcha would have been an ideal community station manager<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That could work in several locations, including stations outside the larger combinations without the benefit of a regional transport body like TfGM but possibly with an active community rail partnership (CRP). There is scope for using new products at stations. Payzone now have a fully functional rail ticketing module which is cheap to operate and also offers all the other Payzone modules such as mobile phone top-up and payment of utility bills.<\/p>\n

There are quite a few stations that could develop this way, with the support of an active CRP or \u2018station partnership\u2019. I would stress that it is heavily dependent on location and footfall, what else is in the immediate vicinity. It makes neither commercial nor social sense to set up shop in competition with a similar place across the road.<\/p>\n

One station in my area (Lostock: a re-opening of the 1980s) has a busy commuter flow as well as leisure trips. It serves what was an old mill village which has been transformed into an attractive place to live with a lot of nearby housing development. Yet there are no facilities. The old corner shop and post office closed when the mill shut, leaving nothing. The under-used \u2018booking office\u2019 could provide a much wider range of facilities and services.<\/p>\n

In some cases where a station is only partly staffed , as an alternative to de-staffing it and losing an important community asset, \u00a0why not hand it over to the community to develop? This is a model that is growing in popularity, with a number of shops and pubs being handed over to community-owned businesses. There is money to help. The Government \u2013 sponsored Community Ownership Fund\u2019s objectives include help to:<\/p>\n