Community Rail Awards 2025 now open for Entries! Click here to read more.

Lowestoft Signal Box Tours – Wherry Lines CRP and Lowestoft Central Project

The Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and Lowestoft Central Project team wanted to offer unique tours of Lowestoft Signal Box, which had overseen the town’s station and goods yard for over 100 years but was due to close in February 2020. The aim of the project was to engage people in railway heritage and the community rail movement, and […]

Backtrack: Create it, Share it, Save lives – Community Rail Education Network

Concept and aims The Community Rail Education Network were approached by Network Rail to create a competition to address the 25% increase in trespassing during the COVID-19 lockdown. Although a poster competition was initially suggested, the group felt that creating films and songs, alongside scripts and storyboards, would be more appealing to young people, given […]

Community Rail Education Network

The seeds for our winning entry were first sown back in 2017, when colleagues within community rail began discussing the concept of linking community rail partnerships through education work. Community Rail Lancashire, with support and funding from Northern, developed the idea, and the Community Education Network was born. Its objectives were to share best practice […]

Carbon Reduction Challenge – Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership

Overview The idea of the Carbon Reduction Challenge was to run a programme of school engagement devised by Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, centred around a competition promoting awareness of rail as a form of sustainable travel among primary school children. A key aim was to involve the wider community, not just the classes, by getting […]

CreativiTea Trains – Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership

Concept and aims During the spring of 2019 a number of community engagement projects called ‘CreativiTea Trains’ took place on branch lines across Cornwall, coordinated by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The concept gives communities the chance to come together in a creative way via a tea party on the train, complete with cupcakes, bunting, […]

Looe Valley Line heritage project – Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership

Concept and aims The Looe Valley Line in Cornwall has a fascinating history dating back more than 150 years. The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership decided to use this as a new marketing angle to attract even more passengers to visit the line and to enhance the journey for all who make the scenic trip. To achieve […]

Seize the Sunday – Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership

Overview When a long-held aspiration is close to being achieved, it’s important to seal the deal, and that’s what happened on the Avocet Line (Exeter-Exmouth) in 2016. Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership mounted a marketing campaign to make sure that a long-awaited trial of a year-round half-hourly Sunday service was a big success. The trial, which began […]

Kath Warbrick: an outstanding volunteer – Friends of Aspatria Station

Following the retirement of a couple who had tended the station planters for many years, it became somewhat neglected and unloved. Kath and her husband Keith offered renewed hope and optimism. Sadly, health issues meant that Keith was unable to carry out any physical work, leaving Kath with very little support for the tasks ahead. […]