‘Make a Beeline for the West Lancashire Line’ is a brand new line guide launched by the West of Lancashire Community Rail Partnership (WoLCRP) and Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) at the start of Community Rail Week Monday 18th October 2021.
The leaflet takes you along the West Lancashire line from Preston to Liverpool via Ormskirk highlighting many things you can do along the line. The full leaflet can be viewed by clicking on the image above or on this link: Make A Bee Line.
There is a hourly train service on the Preston to Ormskirk Line and a copy of CRL’s mini timetable for the line can be downloaded on this link: Preston to Ormskirk mini timetable
A series of films is being made for Community Rail Lancashire by a local creative film company Huckleberry Films which are designed to encourage people to Explore Lancashire by Rail. There are now two films in the series in West Lancashire and these can be seen on the YouTube links below. The latest is a walk from Burscough to Martin Mere and the earlier one is a walk from Burscough to Rufford along the Rufford branch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
Download a copy of the map of the route of the walk from Burscough to Martin Mere by clicking on the image below or on this link: Burscough to Martin Mere
Martin Mere Map
Download a copy of the map of the route of the walk from Burscough to Rufford by clicking on the image below or on this link: Burscough to Rufford Map
Burscough to Rufford Map
To see some of the other highlights shown in the leaflet why not hop onto a train, like the ones in the films above, and take a quick trip along the line.
Community Rail Lancashire has also been working with pupils from Trinity & St. Michael’s CE & Methodist Primary School and local artist Karen Allerton to produce details for a geocache trail around Croston and a leaflet has been produced for the project and can be downloaded by clicking on the image below or on this link: Croston Geocache
Community Rail Lancashire worked with local school children to support the organisation’s newest project; a self-guided walk from Rufford Station to Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve.
Pupils of Rufford Church of England Primary School worked with artist Karen Allerton to create illustrations which feature in the walk leaflet, as well as being displayed in the cycle shelter and on new signs at Rufford Station.
Features include trees, with detailed leaves and trunks created with collage, interesting facts and figures, local wildlife, hints and tips and there is even a mention of the Rufford Station cat – who pops by daily to enjoy treats from the team working onsite!
This route is the latest in a series of walks Community Rail Lancashire has collated, some of which start and end at local railway stations. Each walk has an accompanying route map and video showcasing facts and figures about the towns, villages and hamlets they pass through.
The new self-guided walk leaflet can be downloaded on this link: Rufford to Mere Sands Wood Leaflet
Bee friendly at Burscough Junction station:
Pupils from St. John’s Catholic Primary School worked with community artist, Karen Allerton, on a project called ‘Positive Train of Thought’. This was developed as an art, environmental and wellbeing project to help the pupils back into school following its closure due to the pandemic and also to kick start their involvement once again in looking after the disused platform at Burscough Junction station. The project used the bee-friendly theme and a series of decorated bee/bug hotels have been produced and are now on the platform.
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- Pupils from St. John’s RC Primary School acknowledge the approach of a train
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- St John’s RC Primary School launching the leaflet at BCJ on 18th October 2021
One of the new bug hotels on the disused platform
To find out more about this inspiring project a full report has been produced and can be read by on this link: Positive Train of Thought Report
Make a Bee Line for the station
To find out more about some of the places you can visit the CRP is developing a series of destination pages. The first two cover Croston and Rufford take a look and find out more about these attractive communities.
The West of Lancashire Line Guides mentioned above were developed by the West of Lancs CRP in partnership with Northern Rail, Merseyrail, Merseytravel & with funding from the Designated Community Rail Development Fund, which is managed by the Community Rail Network.
A number of these projects have been part funded by grants from the Community Rail Development Fund (CRDF) that is managed by the Community Rail Network
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