OUR look back at Hoghton Station on October 21 prompted a flurry of railway recollections from readers.

Among them was 90-year-old Fred Rose, of Pleasington, who revealed he had written to then Blackburn MP and Minister of Transport, Barbara Castle, in the mid-Sixties when the station fell into disrepair.

He also enclosed a Lancashire dialect poem, which were both forwarded to the chairman of the British Railways Board.

He said: "I made acquaintance with Hoghton station way back in 1925 when, as an 11-year-old schoolboy, I travelled for six years to my school in Preston, for six days a week.

"How well I recall my journeys along that line, passing through Hoghton so often. I can picture now the large groups of women on both platforms, baskets over their arms, waiting for the train to take them to either Blackburn or Preston markets on Wednesday lunchtimes.

"I vividly remember holding my breath as our steam train sped over the great viaduct after hurtling down the Hoghton Hill escarpment and how relieved my school friends and I were when we had safely crossed it."

Mr Rose went on: "What a beautiful little station Hoghton was in its heyday. It was, indeed, the pride and joy of the station staff who kept it truly immaculate, with its colourful flower beds, gleaming brasswork, welcoming waiting rooms and beautifully swept platforms.

"However, when the station closed, it became neglected and was in a dreadful condition. I was so upset I wrote to Barbara Castle urging her to take action to have it tidied up.

"I enclosed a poem I had written specially in dialect, expressing my feeling.

"To her credit, Mrs Castle did eventually reply, promising action. Thankfully, it was not too long before the tidying up began." Mr Rose also recollected the battle to save his own Pleasington station, when it, too, was condemned to closure.

A call to arms urged the villagers to fight for its retention. It was a famous fight which attracted BBC documentary television cameras and ended up being discussed in Parliament. Pleasington won the day!"

And he concluded: "We all know the catastrophic result of closing down so many branch lines and little country stations in the 1960s."