east lancashire railway

Just about to rebook (for the third time) with the East Lancs Railway and noticed it was possible to leave a review (which I have never done before). I booked the Red Rose Dining experience for my father-in-law's 80th birthday and separately for my mother's birthday. On each occasion, from the initial phone call to make the reservation to departing the train at the end of the night, the service was seemless and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening, each singing praises about the food, drink, carriage, ambience etc. There were no complaints at all. This time, I am booking the mid-week luncheon and fortunately, both myself and my children will get to experience it (we live in Australia and weren't at the other two evenings and children can only go at lunchtime). I look forward to coming home!

Cath, many thanks for your review and for visiting the East Lancashire Railway. Your review helps others and helps us to constantly improve our services and provide that little bit more to our customers. Thanks and please visit us again soon :)

We had a family day out yesterday. I did particularly know it was a diesel special day yesterday and we were a bit disappointed that there were absolutely no steam trains.Nevertheless we bought a family ticket - which a £54 seemed a lot - and to be fair we had a nice day.The carriages are old as you would expect but somehow seemed dirty and uncared for. The services we took we precisely on time although the schedule did not allow that much time in Rawtenstall unless you wanted to be there for many hours.We did have a good time but it could be better - and cheaper!

This is an excellent day out, I took my 14 & 9 year olds for a visit during the Autumn Diesel Gala, we got the opportunity to ride behind a good selction of preserved deisels, the staff were all very friendly and helpfulWe have since been back on a day when there was steam running and had an equally excellent day out, very highly recommended

Sandra, thank you for your review and forchoosing to visit us for a 'Dining With Distinction' experience. I am glad you and your party enjoyed your evening with us and that you were made welcome and comfortable on board. Peter does check on trip advisor all the time and so on behalf of him, "it was a pleasure", as he would say. I look forward to welcoming you back on board again soon :)

Step back in time with this great little railway. From the restored period station at Rawtenstall through the picturesque Lancashire scenery through to the main station at Bury. Hats off to the enthusiasts that run and maintain this beautiful little gem.....get aboard, well worth a visit!

east lancs railway offer a good selection of steam and electric trains that you can ride on they have a lot of things going on throughout the year like thomas the tank engine also a 40s weekend where they all dress up and at christmas they have it all lit up they also have a bar and food and you can sit outside on the platform.

Had a superb day riding up and down the line to Haslingden at the other end of the line. Not TOO expensive and worth a repeat trip any time.

Julia, many thanks for your review of our Dining With Distinction experience you had. I'm glad we met your expectations and proud you chose us to visit from Yorkshire. We are constantly looking for ways to take our service to the next level and your words and reviews of others help us to achieve this. Thank you again and I look forward to welcoming you back in the not too distant future :)

The ELR is just down the road and runs at the bottom of my back garden. It's a great place to visit with lots going on especially on the gala days. The speciality meal trains and Pullman dining is excellent and I well recommend a visit.

I am very sorry to hear that you were disappointed by your Santa Special this year. Our main aim is always to ensure that every visitor to our railway has an enjoyable experience, and this is especially important at Christmas. With regards to your time with Father Christmas I can only apologise that he initially missed your daughter. I do know that Father Christmas has quite limited vision with such a lot of hair and beard and I am sure that he won’t have deliberately missed your daughter although he does rely quite heavily on his Elves to assist him, particularly if children are shy and cuddled up to their parents. He does not have long to spend with each family however we have tried to make our Santa Special a rounded festive experience with other characters and activities on board who visit you in turn and we try to improve this every year. In 2012 we increased the length of the journey are reduced the length of the trains to give that little bit longer with Father Christmas and this year we have added a magician to the mix who has proved very popular. We have also added drinks for the children, fairies, cuddly reindeer on the platforms, new decorations for the station as well as new toilets and a new canopy for the platform at Bury as well as many other smaller tweaks and changes. We will as ever keep working to try and make the time on the train as full and as magical as possible.

Its been a few weeks since we attended a day on the real ale trail organised by the Railway. A group of about 10 of us did a day on this trip. The day consists of travel on the preserved railway and visiting a number of real ale pubs. Apart from travelling on the steam railway our trip included a transfer on a vintage bus. We really enjoyed the event, which started with real ale on the first train journey and then was followed by a sucsession of pubs with either real ale pubs or pubs with micro brewery's. Lunch was provided at one of the puds, a pub buffet lunch simple, tasty and well worth a second helping. We finished up in Bury at a micro brewery near the Station.So why not 5 and only 4. In a word organisation. The expression about drinking in a brewery to excess sprang to mind. On the train transfers we were supposed to have a reserved set of seats, didn't happen. The guide got his timings wrong so at one point rushing and another being held back. It just took the edge off what otherwise was a great day out. We all had a good laugh about the issues I raised so as long as you can be laid back it shouldn't spoil anything, and after all with the volumes of real ale drank who wouldn't be happy!

Sarah, thank you for taking the time to review us on Tripadvisor and for visiting us at the East Lancashire Railway. I am glad your evening on board met your expectations, if not exceeding them! Our Dining With Distinction programme for 2015 is intense, exciting and with more premium events than last year, it is set to give all customers the best we have to offer! I look forward to welcoming you back in the future.

Thank you for your review and for visiting us at the East Lancashire Railway. It was an absolute pleasure to welcome you on board. I'm glad we made your night into that 'special memory' that you will treasure for a long time to come. I really do hope you can get back and visit us again and sample some of our other experiences we offer within our 'Dining With Distinction' programme. Wishing you both all the very best for 2015 and it was great to meet you both!

Dear Treecat54,Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are glad to hear that you have had some enjoyable visits at the railway on both event days and on our dining experiences and will be sure to pass your lovely comments on to our staff and volunteers. We are delighted that your granddaughter still has fond memories of our Santa Specials and those magical fairies!We hope to welcome you back to the railway in the future!Kind regards,Kate