Family fun at railway gala

The two day event will be held from 11.30am until 4.30pm on Saturday and Sunday at the railways in Station Road, Hesketh Bank.

There will be five locomotives in steam on both days and trains will run at frequent intervals from 11.30pm until 4.30pm on both days, hauled by two visiting locomotives and three resident locomotives, Montalban, Utrillas, and Joffre.

The visiting locomotives are coming from the Statfold Barn Railway. They are a Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0 saddle tank dating from 1914, which once worked at the Lautoka sugar mill in Fiji, and a Hunslet 0-4-0 saddle tank, Sybil Mary, dating from 1906, which used to work in the Penrhyn quarry, North Wales.

There will be several other attractions on site, including visiting steam rollers and traction engines, a fairground organ, model railways, Meccano models, and other exhibits. A small children’s merry-go-round and home made cake stall will also be on site.

Photographers are welcome, and lineside photography passes will be available. Photographers will be required to wear a hi-vis jacket.

Admission to the site is free.

Tickets to ride on the train are valid all day, for unlimited rides on that day costing £4 for an adult, £3 for a child of £10.50 for a family ticket, with under threes going free.

The West Lancashire Light Railway features a number of interesting locomotives and other railway equipment brought together from industrial lines in the immediate locality, from elsewhere in Great Britain and from overseas. The Railway is a non-profit making organisation.