LAST week's page told the story of the Brierfield father and son who took the train to beat a travel record, back in 1966.

Today, we can say that mill overlooker John Duerden and his 17-year-old son, also John, completed their attempt, on track.

For Looking Back heard from John junior, now a newsagent in Lowerhouse, to say the two had clocked up 8,614 miles and 22 chains, as recorded by British Rail, on their week-long inter city journeys. Said John: "We did beat the previous record of 5,000-odd miles by quite some distance, but it was the first time it was attempted on an electrified line, so we could travel further, faster.

"Today, it's been beaten again, with the record for a week's travel standing at more than 10,000 miles."

During their seven-day, 168-hour stint, father and son travelled up and down the country, journeying between London and Holyhead, London and Manchester and London and Liverpool.

Said John, whose always been a train buff and spent his younger years trainspotting at Rosegrove: " We planned our trip so we were always on the move. We would get off one train and straight on another, eating and sleeping as we went."