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Visitor Information

For those travelling from further afield or perhaps those of you wishing to make a weekend of it, the following is provided for information along with some suggestions for possible locations to stay in the surrounding areas.

Hotels and Guest Houses shown below have been grouped by the nearest ELR station with approximate walking times indicated where appropriate as well as some ideas of places to stay in the Wider General Area including the Burrs Caravan Park, plus Metrolink details and link.

For more details about the ELR including Station locations and gradient profile, see the About the Line page.

Tourist Information

The ELR spans three Council areas, Bury, Rochdale & Rossendale. Tourist Information links are below, plus the Visit Lancashire site. Most have details of places to stay.

Hotels and Guest Houses

Bury Bolton Street

(5-10 minute walk)

Old White Lion
Bolton Street
Premier Inn
Knowsley Street

Ramsbottom Station

(15-20 minute walk)

The Old Mill
Springwood, Ramsbottom
General locality
(bus, taxi or own transport)
Burrs Caravan Club Site, Bury
Village Hotels
Waterfold, Bury
The Red Lion
Hawkshaw
Red Hall Hotel
Walmersley
Bolholt Hotel
nr Tottington
Travelodge
M66, M60, Bolton, Oldham and Manchester

All links are for information only and are not recommendations. The ELR accept no liability for any losses incurred or other problems should you choose accomodation shown. However, please let us know if you have any very good or very bad experiences so that we can consider altering content accordingly.

The Yell site may also be of use along with the Tourist Information links.
Wider General Area
(public or own transport)

If have your own transport, accomodation in the surrounding area may be suitable. Hotels and Guest Houses close to Bury are often booked up very quickly ahead of major ELR events.

Accrington, Bolton, Blackburn, Oldham, Rossendale, Rochdale and others are all within 30-40 minutes by car. Public Transport services vary.

Manchester and Metrolink

Staying in Manchester and using the Metrolink service to travel to Bury is also possible, however please note that Engineering Works can sometimes disrupt weekend services. Please check before travelling.

The Metrolink network extends to Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton-Under-Lyne and South Manchester but Please Note that in order to travel from any of these you will need to go through Manchester, there is no direct route. Click the below to access the Metrolink website.

Manchester Metrolink

ELR Events

There are a wide range of events at the East Lancashire Railway ranging from Family and Education, Re-enactments, Sci-Fi, Transport and Collector's Fairs.

Selected events are shown below. See the ELR Website for the full event schedule.

Event Date(s)
Halloween Ghost Trains Thursday 24th to Saturday 26th and Thursday 31st October
DMU Weekend
HST Set, Classes 104, 105 and 122 with 144009 plus locos 40012 and 50015.
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th November
Santa Specials Saturday 23rd November to Tuesday 24th December

All events subject to availability
While every effort will be made to ensure events take place as advertised, rostered locos or units are available and running to the advertised timetable, the ELR reserves the right to cancel or terminate without prior notice.

ELR Website
Check out the ELR Website for the full event schedule.