Current Vacancies

Traction and Rolling Stock Director (Volunteer Board Role)

Be at the heart of keeping history on track! ELR is seeking a Traction and Rolling Stock Director to join its Board and provide strategic leadership for our fleet of steam and diesel locomotives, carriages, wagons, and engineering plant. You’ll work closely with the Traction and Rolling Stock Manager, Chief Mechanical Engineer, and fellow Board members to plan for the future, develop skills across the workforce, and ensure our iconic trains run reliably while maintaining the heritage that makes ELR so special.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with engineering, management, or strategic experience to make a lasting impact on a volunteer-led heritage railway that welcomes 140,000 visitors each year. You’ll help shape long-term plans, foster innovation, and contribute to exciting projects that keep the railway thriving. This is an unpaid volunteer role, with free travel for you and a partner and reimbursement for reasonable expenses when representing the railway externally.

For a complete application pack, please email nicola.rooney@eastlancsrailway.co.uk.
Closing date: 12 noon on 20 February 2026.

Shop Assistant (Volunteer)

The East Lancashire Railway is looking for a friendly, helpful individual to help us to run our busy Gift Shop in Bury Bolton Street Station. Duties will include working the till and handling customer enquiries, keeping the display area stocked up with products, keeping the area neat and tidy and cashing up and closing at the end of the working day.

The position is voluntary. The volunteer will ideally need to be available to work midweek during the summer months and Sunday, either all day or just for the morning/afternoon time slots. Full training and support will be given.

If you are a people person who enjoys working off your own initiative and are interested in registering your interest in this role, please contact lorna.kelly@eastlancsrailway.co.uk

Bury Station Buffet Assistant (Volunteer)

We currently have an opening for a buffet assistant to join our busy and professional team. This is a fantastic opportunity for a customer focused individual to join a unique and popular part of the business at the East Lancashire Railway.

This is a volunteer role, applicants must be aged 18 or over to apply. The successful applicant will be required to work weekends as well as some midweek days during our busy period.

If you feel you can work under pressure whilst maintaining an extremely high level of customer service and while continuously augmenting our establishment’s reputation, then this could be the role for you.

Download the full Job Description here.

Please send a copy of your CV and a covering letter to our Buffet Manager at – maggie.sayce@eastlancsrailway.co.uk

Event Support Team Member (Volunteer)

The East Lancashire Railway is looking for a reliable and helpful individual to help support our many events. One of the main perks of this role is that no 2 days are the same. One day you could be travelling on a train, the next you could be staffing radio systems in the control room.

Duties might include:

• First Aid
• Security
• Crowd Control
• Event Set Up
• Safety
• Ticket Checking
• Concert Duties
• General Station Duties

The ideal candidate will be able to:

• Ensure the safety and security of customers visiting the railway
• Provide medical response services when required
• Oversee general security operations to maintain a safe environment
• Work in the control room, monitoring and managing events to ensure smooth operations
• Collaborate effectively with other members of the team

If you are interested in taking on this varies and exciting role, please contact firstaid.eventssupport@eastlancsrailway.co.uk