The Joint Clitheroe Line & East Lancashire Community Rail Partnerships (CL & ELCRP) held their quarterly management group meeting last week and part of the agenda was an update on the Action Plan. This covered abroad range of topics and some of these can be seen below:
Padiham Green CofE Primary School visit to Gawthorpe Hall
Restoring Your Railway
The Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the restoration of passenger service between Clitheroe and Hellifield has been submitted to the DfT and a decision on whether this will proceed to the next stage of the RYR process is awaited. Below is a link to the CRL news item detailing what has taken place and providing a link to the executive summary of the SOBC:
https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/news/restoring-your-railway-clitheroe-to-hellifield/
The application to Round 3 of the RYR Ideas Fund for a passing loop between Gannow Jct and Colne along with a more frequent service to Colne, by Pendle Borough Council, was not successful.
Accreditation
The re-accreditation meeting took place on the 13th October, 2021 and we are delighted to report that Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) and the 4 Lancashire CRPs have been successfully re-accredited for a further year. For more details go to:
https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/news/reaccreditation-success-for-2021-22/
Calder Valley Community Rail Partnership
It is great to see the formation of a new CRP for the Calder Valley line. Following interviews a Community Rail Partnership Officer has been appointed and will be taking up post early this year.
Education
A separate report setting CRL’s recent educational engagement activity can be seen on this link: Education Report January 2022 update
Locally CRL is working with Newfield School, Crosshill School, Broadfield School, Padiham Green CofE Primary School and Nelson & Colne College.
Manchester Recovery Task Force
CRL and the 4 Lancashire CRPs submitted a response to the Manchester Recovery Task Force consultation on the proposed timetables for December 2022. Copies of this can be forwarded on request.
Platforms 3C & 4C at Preston station
Northern has confirmed that the services to/from Colne and Ormskirk will continue to use platforms 3C & 4C at least until HS2 remodelling of platforms 3 & 4 take out the 2 bays. To improve the environment at this ‘lonely’ part of the station CRL & Lancashire CC have worked on an application to the Avanti Community Rail fund for the provision of seats, planters and information panels. At the time of writing this report the application to Avanti had been submitted and a decision awaited.
Connecting East Lancashire
Connecting East Lancashire (CEL), in partnership with Community Rail Lancashire (CRL), have set up a one-off funding stream in order to support local community projects along the East Lancashire and Clitheroe lines. This funding has been provided by Connecting East Lancashire through the Access Fund, a sustainable travel initiative. Full details and an application form can be found here: Lets Connect the Community
At Brierfield Connecting East Lancashire, in partnership with Community Rail Lancashire, celebrated the improvements made to Brierfield Station. With support from the local community, Pendle Borough Council and Northern, Brierfield Station now showcases an array of local images featuring some of the Hidden Gems to be found in and around Brierfield. There are also images promoting the Pennine Cycleway which were also unveiled at the special event. Brierfield Children’s Allotment, Leeds and Liverpool Canal and Lomeshaye Nature Reserve are just some of the other images brightening up the cycle store and the station.
The unveiling of the artwork in Brierfield cycle shelter
Explore Lancashire by Rail
This is the name being given to a series of mini films describing easy walks that can be reached using our local lines. There are currently four films available to watch, see Collectors Corner for links, they show:
- a walk from Rose Grove along the Padiham Greenway,
- a walk from Burscough Junction to Rufford along the Leeds & Liverpool and Rufford Branch canals,
- a linear walk from Lytham to St Anne’s, and
- the launch of Community Rail Week at Burscough Junction.
Other films in the pipeline include a walk around Turton & Wayoh Reservoirs from Entwistle station and a walk from Darwen station to Darwen Tower
Guided Walks
The Lancashire Rail Ramblers have started a programme of walks from stations along the East Lancashire and Clitheroe Lines running from the 18th January to 7th June 2022. The programme can be downloaded here: CRL Guided Walks.
Plans for the 2022 DalesRail season are being developed and the Lancashire Rail Ramblers are planning three walks each Sunday with at least three Sundays with a dedicated coach link. Keep an eye on www.dalesrail.com for the latest information.
Friends of Stations
A number of stations on both the Clitheroe and the East Lancashire routes have Friends of Station groups including; all the stations from Clitheroe to Entwistle, Colne, Nelson, Brierfield, Huncoat, Church & Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Bamber Bridge and Lostock Hall. All the groups continue to do excellent work looking after their local station.
You can download the full quarterly report on this link: CL&EL Quarterly Report January 2022 and also the quarterly education report on this link Education Report January 2022 update
