Wednesday 15th February 2023 saw the official opening of an exhibition of Lancashire’s railway history past and present. The launch was a family fun day with a host of activities.
The exhibition is being held in the Steward’s Gallery at Clitheroe Castle Museum and presents On Track – A Glimpse into Lancashire’s Railways Past and Present and the exhibition will be running from now and until the end of June.
The exhibition includes toys, artefacts and photographs from Lancashire Museums and privately owned railway memorabilia from local railway historian Brian Haworth’s personal collection. Explore the joys of railways past and present in this new exhibition curated in partnership with Community Rail Lancashire (CRL). Discover more about Lancashire’s railways and East Lancashire’s community stations and learn about our county’s lost and lasting lines and how to start researching your railway ancestors.
Along with the above Pendle Forest Model Railway Society provided a model railway for the fun day, and there are films featuring CRL’s eponymous hero Brian the Bull and also some of the Explore Lancashire by Rail films created by Huckleberry Films for CRL.
The fun day included colouring Northern’s mascot Whistle the Dog for a colouring competition. There were lots of games and things to play – a train book that you could also sit in, memory cards with Thomas, Arlo and Bessie jigsaw puzzles and the wooden train set + the colouring train model.
Clitheroe Library came and ran a Lego Station and a lady from the library blew the Northern whistle in the Sidings and got everyone’s attention, beautifully, plus she was dressed up ‘train-like’ and then took children through to the Story Station and read various books including train stories.
All in all it was a great day out and the exhibition is well worth a visit.
County Councillor Peter Buckley, cabinet member for cultural services at Lancashire County Council, said: “Our railways are the foundation of our county. Our communities and economy were built on them, and they connect people to this day. We encourage people to visit this brilliant exhibition to learn something new and we look forward to seeing you soon.”
Caroline Holden, Community Rail Development Officer with CRL, added “This exhibition shows just how much Lancashire features in railway history and the amount of old railway memorabilia on show is impressive. I am really pleased that some of the local station volunteers have got involved in this project and hope that the exhibition proves popular and encourages young and old to get involved.”