ELR run emergency service Bury-Ramsbottom

belle1 · Jan 5, 2010

I heard about this earlier on 106.1 Rock Radio.

http://www.east-lancs-rly.co.uk/

Good PR for the railway and well done.

Neil.

ADB968008 · Jan 6, 2010

PRESS RELEASE – IMMEDIATE

East Lancashire Railway assists stranded commuters with special snow train

The heavy snow showers in around Bury yesterday caused travel chaos throughout the area. Although normally closed during the week at this time of year, the East Lancashire Railway decided to operate a free diesel shuttle service between Bury Bolton Street, Summerseat and Ramsbottom stations to assist in getting commuters home who were struggling on the roads and also due to local bus services being suspended due to the extremely poor road conditions.

Once it had been established that we had sufficient staff and volunteers able to operate the service a diesel locomotive was sent up the line to Ramsbottom to clear snow on the tracks and to ensure that there were no problems with the line before starting the passenger service at lunchtime. This snow clearance trip was deemed successful and an hourly service was organised, departing at half past each hour from Bury Bolton Street between 12.30pm and 6.30pm, and on the hour from Ramsbottom between 1.00pm and 7.00pm.

A total of seven return snow shuttles were operated on Tuesday afternoon and thanks to assistance from the local media, word of the snow service was spread quickly, allowing more than 120 passengers to take advantage of the trains, with many positive comments being received by staff on board the train. A number of passengers also made donations towards the costs of running the service, for which we are grateful.

ELR General Manager Andy Coward said: “Thanks to the hard work and dedication of staff and volunteers who came in under very difficult conditions, we were delighted to be able to operate the snow trains between Bury and Ramsbottom as our way of assisting the local community at what has been a trying time for everyone. More than 120 people traveled on the train on Tuesday and the reaction from the general public to the trains was marvelous.”

With bus services back operating a near normal timetable on Wednesday the decision was taken to not operate any further snow services, but we will continue to monitor the weather conditions and should they deteriorate we will endeavour to see if we have the resources available to repeat the services.

ENDS
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very commendable !

23E · Jan 7, 2010

Thank you, E.L.R.!!

......

pcgenius9 · Jan 7, 2010

It is a very good bit of publicity for the heritage movement. Advantage of Diesel (despite starting difficulties) was immediate availability!

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ELR run emergency service Bury-Ramsbottom

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