The West of Lancashire Community Rail Partnership met on online for its quarterly meeting on the 15th October 2024.
Mersyrail unit 507001 in old BR colours – photo © Class 507 Preservation Society
Richard Watts, Chair of Community Rail Lancashire and Partnership Secretary, went through a presentation, which can be viewed here: AP Update 15 10 2024 updating on the recent activity of the CRP including:
+ The (re) accreditation meeting which had taken place on Monday 14th October.
+ The station adoption work at Burscough Junction, Rufford and in later reports the meeting heard about the work of the Friends of Burscough stations given by Phil Benzie.
+ Promoting the walk to Martin Mere from Burscough Stations and also the link to Mere Sands Wood at Rufford
+ The response of the CRP to the tragic events in Southport.
Railway 200 – 2025 is a special year for the railway as it celebrates 200 years since the opening of the Stockton to Darlington. A year-long series of events is being planned to mark the past, present and future of the railway. A special train will be touring the country and visiting key locations as well as heritage railways. Full details can be found on the Railway 200 website: railway200.co.uk/.
Katie Douglas, CRL’s Accessibility & Inclusion Officer, gave a presentation on the work of the CRL Education Team which can be viewed here: Education Report Quarter 3 (short) and included:
+ An update on the successful Try the Train project and the special TTT project for West Lancashire.
+ An update on the Feel Good Field Trips which CRL is delivering on behalf of Avanti West Coast. with a special mention to the help received from Merseytravel and Merseyrail.
+ The meeting heard about the new Northern Education Network which is meeting 4 times a year at different locations across the Northern network. For more information contact catherine.kingdom@communityraillancashire.co.uk.
Northern gave an overview of developments across the Northern network and an update on service performance of the Preston – Ormskirk and Wigan – Southport lines. The full presentation can be viewed here: Northern Presentation 15 10 2024
The Community Rail Network also provided a report to the meeting which can be viewed here: CRN update 15 10 2024
