East Lancashire Railway Footplate Experience Days

Diesel Freight Footplate Experience - £225 per round trip (approx. 2 hours 20 mins.) Steam Footplate Experience Day - £295 per person for a full day Diesel Footplate Experience Day - £260 per person for a full day

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Bubble Car Day

We will be running a Bubble car day on October 9th.

There will be three round trips, Bury-Heywood-Rawtenstall-Bury at 10:35, 13:05 and 15:35 with spaces for two persons per trip.

Price: £150:00 per person

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East Lancashire Railway Footplate Experience Days make an ideal present for Christmas, a Birthday, Retirement, Anniversary, or even as a treat for yourself, to be in the driving seat of a steam or diesel locomotive.

Steam and Diesel Footplate Experience Days are held on specific Mondays or Fridays throughout the year and usually use ex-British Railways steam or diesel locomotives hauling a set of restored carriages on 8 miles of our main line between Heywood and Ramsbottom, passing through Bolton Street Station, Bury.

The day's Experience is based in the Waiting Room on Platform 3/4 at Bolton Street Station, Bury, (starting at 8-30am and finishing at approximately 4-30pm). On arrival tea, coffee and biscuits are served while you register. After registration you will be shown a short video on footplate instruction and receive a safety briefing, before being fitted out with overalls, hi-visibility vest and gloves. The eight participants for the day are then divided into two groups of four.

In the morning, one group of four will go with the locomotive and carriages and the other group will go on the guided tour, and after lunch the groups change over. The locomotive & carriages make two full round trips from Bury to Heywood and Ramsbottom during each session.

The four participants each drive the locomotive for eight miles, fire the locomotive for a further eight miles and act as guard for the remainder of the journey. Each participant has the opportunity to run the loco round the stock and re attach it to the train, at Heywood or Ramsbottom, as well as observing and obeying signals and making station stops.

The guided tour visits the Steam Locomotive Works, (on Diesel Footplate Experience Days, a visit to the Diesel Depot is included), the Carriage & Wagon Works and Bury South Signal Box - one of the largest working mechanical signal boxes on a UK heritage railway, as well as providing an opportunity to take line side photographs, with a visit to the steeply graded bridge over the Metrolink at the start of the line to Heywood. The day concludes at about 4.30pm when you will be presented with a certificate to commemorate your day's Experience.

Participants must be aged 18 years or over. There is no upper age limit, but participants must be physically fit, able to climb up and down from the footplate of the locomotive, walk over rough ground and ballast on the trackside and trackbed of the railway and capable of receiving and acting on verbal instructions from ELR staff.. Please advise us if you have any health problems or medical conditions, which you feel may be relevant to your participation in, or your enjoyment of the day. Footplate Experience Days are an adult activity and it is not recommended that you bring children along on the day, as unfortunately they are not able to travel on the trains driven by Footplate Experience participants, or to accompany participants on the guided tour.

You are welcome to bring one or two guests with you on your Footplate Experience Day. Your guests are welcome to take photographs and videos, enjoy the atmospheric surroundings of the railway and travel with the Guard whilst you are on the train. Your guests may also accompany you on the tour of the site providing they are wearing sensible walking shoes. Lunch and a Guided tour are included for all participants and additional lunches and tours may be ordered for guests for a small additional charge.

Membership of our supporting organisation - the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society - is included in the price of your Footplate Experience Day, up to December 31st following the date of your Footplate Experience. Experience Days taken after August 31st include membership until December 31st of the following year.

Presentation vouchers are available if you wish to give someone special a gift they will never forget. You may purchase either a dated or an open Footplate Experience Voucher. Open vouchers are valid for twelve months from the date of purchase, allowing the date of the course to be decided later.

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Click the icon below for an application form

Driving Experience Course Application

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Send your completed form to

Footplate Experience Manager East Lancashire Railway Bolton Street Station Bury BL9 0EY

Telephone/Fax: 07814 302813
e-mail: admin@east-lancs-rly.co.uk