English: Steam Train Approaching Rawtenstall. Ex-British Railways Standard Tank Steam Locomotive 80080, hauling an East Lancashire Railway excursion from Heywood, pulls into Rawtenstall Station. 80080 was built to the then-standard BR design at Brighton Works in 1954.

Rawtenstall railway station opened in 1846 as part of a line from Clifton Junction built by the East Lancashire Railway (later incorporated into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway). The line reached Bacup in 1852 and, for most of its life, the station served passenger services on a through route between Manchester and Bacup via Bury. Passenger and goods services to Bacup were withdrawn in 1966 and passenger services to Bury ceased in 1972. The station itself was closed in 1980 when a regular coal train was withdrawn by British Rail. The station has since been extensively rebuilt by the East Lancashire Railway, as nothing was left of the original buildings at closure. The East Lancashire Railway (ELR) :: SD8010

The East Lancashire Railway (ELR) is a heritage railway based in Bury. It is currently (as of April 2016) operating between Rawtenstall and Heywood, with intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, Summerseat, Ramsbottom and Irwell Vale, respectively.

The original East Lancashire Railway opened in 1844, beginning as a railway from Clifton via Bury to Rawtenstall. It was later amalgamated with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Parts of the network remain in use today, and the section of the original line between Bury and Rawtenstall is now operated by the heritage railway.

After formal closure by British Rail in 1982, the line between Bury and Ramsbottom, via Summerseat was reopened on 25 July 1987 as a new heritage railway. In 1991 the service was extended northwards from Ramsbottom to reach Rawtenstall, via Irwell Vale and in 2003 an eastbound extension from Bury to Heywood was re-opened. To reach Heywood the extension had to cross over the Metrolink line to Bury, at the site of the former Bury Knowsley Street station. This necessitated the construction of a new intersection bridge, with steeply graded approaches of 1 in 36 and 1 in 41 nicknamed 'The Ski Jump'. The heritage line is now just over 12 miles long, and has a mainline connection with the national railway network at Castleton, just beyond Heywood. The ELR plans to extend the running line further into Castleton in the future, to where a new (and separate) platform named "Castleton Village" will be constructed adjacent to the main station itself (LinkExternal link Manchester Evening News).

The railway is run by volunteer members from the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society (ELRPS). The railway is well known for its collection of diesel locomotives which reside on the railway, along with over 140 carriages, wagons and utility vehicles. It is open every weekend of the year and holds a number of themed events and galas throughout the year which include steam and diesel events amongst others, and also offers driver experience courses.