Lancashire hotspot
200,000 people visited the East Lancashire Railway last year. Former general manager ANDY COWARD hails its rise.
As preserved set-ups go, the East Lancashire Railway is a relative newcomer. The line didn’t carry its first fare-paying passengers until July 1987, between Bury Bolton Street and Ramsbottom. Nethertheless, the ELR is thriving as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. I know the railway well. I joined as a teenage working member in January 1989, and have held a number of positions within the organisation since, including two and a half years as general manager, between 2008 and 2010. I’m not actively involved with the ELR at the moment, but I was keen to return and find out what had been happening on the railway, to see how the 12-mile line between Rawtenstall and Heywood is developing, and hear about some of the challenges it faces as it approaches its fourth decade in operation. The ELR has just enjoyed its most successful year to date, attracting 201,883 visitors. This is the first time in its history it has exceeded the 200,000 visitor mark, thanks in no small part to two very successful operating periods featuring No. 60103 Flying Scotsman in January and October. David Layland is the ELR’s finance director, and the visit of the Gresley ‘A3’, along with a bumper year for the railway in general, have given him plenty of reasons to smile: “The growth of the railway in recent years has been phenomenal, but 2016 was something else. It was a lot of hard work, but it is fantastic to be able to invest money back into the railway and improve our facilities. There are no shareholders and any profit we make goes straight back into improving the railway.”
Tough to beat
The record-breaking year is going to be tough to beat in 2017, but David said that even if you disregard Flying Scotsman’s visit, the railway still increased its income and passenger numbers during 2016, and there are new events and initiatives planned for this year. “We’re realistic,” he said: “Hosting Flying Scotsman was a massive boost to our staff, volunteers and visitors, while also bringing in additional income, but we would be foolish to rely on the money generated by its visit. Flying Scotsman won’t be visiting the ELR in 2017, but we hope to see it back at Bury in the future. We have sufficient plans and people in place to continue building a stronger railway.” David explained that a lot of money generated by Flying Scotsman has been reinvested into equipping the large locomotive works building at Baron Street (sometimes referred to as Buckley Wells), which is the railway’s main engineering base. The locomotive works, part of which dates back to the 1850s, was formerly the Traction Maintenance Depot for the Manchester to Bury Class 504 electric multiple units, which were withdrawn in August 1991. The building was acquired by Bury Council from British Rail in 1993 and leased to the ELR for the maintenance of the railway’s growing locomotive fleet. Almost from the beginning of the ELR’s tenure, the building was also the engineering base for Ian Riley’s locomotive restoration and engineering company, Riley and Son (E) Ltd. While the relationship between the
two organisations has always been good, in recent years it became apparent that the railway needed more undercover space to carry out maintenance on its locomotives and rolling stock. Ian Riley had also made no secret of his desire to relocate his business to a larger, more modern facility. Following a meeting between the two organisations, it was agreed that Riley & Son (E) Ltd would vacate the building by the end of 2015, giving the ELR full occupation of the works. However, the vast majority of the machine tools and equipment within the building belonged to Ian’s business, and most went with him to his impressive new engineering base in Heywood, just a stone’s throw from the ELR’s station. The ELR is now busily re-equipping the Baron Street building, so that a full range of work can be carried out once again. Ian Riley retains a small presence here, and has stated his intention to make at least one of his three ‘Black Fives’ available for use by the ELR during the winter period, when they are not required for main line duties. This January, the railway has been operating No. 44871 on services, but this was due to be replaced by the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s No. 45212 by the time this issue of Steam Railway appears in print. Riley’s No. 45407 ‘The Lancashire Fusilier’ and John Cameron’s ‘A4’ No. 60009 Union of South Africa remain in Bury, where they are being worked on by Riley & Son staff, with the full co-operation of the ELR. “Our aim is to become completely self-sufficient, in terms of locomotive restoration,” explained David Layland, adding: “We will soon have a fully equipped workshop capable of carrying out the majority of work required for overhauls. At the moment we are concentrating on our own locomotives, but we should be able to carry out contract repair work for other railways in the future.” The locomotive works building is Grade II-listed and requires a new roof. This is a major project, and the ELR is working with Bury Council on how it could be paid for, although it is likely an application will be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The railway also has a large fleet of Mk 1 carriages, which are maintained in a four-road shed at Buckley Wells, on the other side of Baron Street from the locomotive works. The ELR has invested heavily in the maintenance of its coaching stock, and refurbishments and rebuilds are carried out on a rolling basis. Staff and volunteers can carry out the majority of work required, and the standard of coaching stock has improved dramatically in recent years. However, David acknowledges that the railway needs to address the shortage of facilities for storing its coaching stock undercover when not in use. “We really need a large shed to house our coaches, and this is something we are actively investigating. “We have identified land at Bury where a suitable six-road building could be located. Having such a building will bring big benefits in terms of maintenance and rebuilding, as keeping coaches permanently outside means more corrosion and wear and tear on the Mk 1 coaches.”
Eastern promise
Such rolling stock will be used intensively in the future when the ELR opens its next extension. The railway reopened the section of line between Bury and Heywood, on the former Rochdale to Bolton route, in September 2003. While the line was originally restored primarily to allow the ELR to maintain a main line connection with the national rail network, the railway has been working on a project to extend by a further mile and a half eastwards to Castleton, where it is hoped ELR services will be able to link directly with trains running on the Manchester to Leeds ‘Calder Valley’ line. David Layland explained: “A huge amount of work is being done on planning the extension through to Castleton, but there are still a number of issues to overcome before we can put firm plans in place. Ideally, we want a cross-platform interchange facility at Castleton station, but if this is not possible there are other options, and our partners at Rochdale Council are working with the ELR Trust to try and secure the best deal possible for the railway. We are confident that Castleton will happen, but we aren’t yet in a position to set a target date.” The railway’s dining train operation has also expanded massively over the past couple of years. The ELR is very proud of the fact that its ‘Dining with Distinction’ operation rose to the number one spot on TripAdvisor, out of over 4,500 dining establishments in the Greater Manchester area. Marketing Manager Kate Walker says: “The existing dining coaches are being refurbished and additional dining coaches are being brought into use to allow us to expand the product. We look closely at feedback from customers, good and bad, and strive to keep giving people what they want.” “We ran some VIP dining trains when Flying Scotsman visited last year and have had a number of repeat bookings from people who travelled on these trains. We have an excellent dining train manager who ensures the highest standards, and it has proved to be a lucrative market for us.”
Ideally, we want a cross-platform interchange facility at Castleton station.