There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, Burrs Country Park, Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with the line crossing the border into Rossendale serving Irwell Vale and Rawtenstall.

The heritage line is now just over 12 miles (19 km) long and has a mainline connection with the national railway network at Castleton, just beyond Heywood.

[4] The remainder of the extension includes a long section at 1 in 85, rising towards Heywood, as the preserved railway line climbs out of the Irwell valley.

Download coordinates as: In April 2023, the railway was subject to national press coverage for dismissing a female volunteer following her complaint about misogynistic behaviour and discriminatory treatment.

[6][7] The heritage line is now just over 12 miles (19 km) long and has a mainline connection with the national railway network at Castleton, just beyond Heywood.

[8] As of 2014[update] options for providing an interchange station at Castleton between East Lancashire Railway and National Rail services were being explored.

[12] In October 2014, Ramsbottom Station and the adjacent level crossing on Bridge Street was featured in the 2017 movie A Monster Calls, which was the scene for an emotional peak in the movie, starring Sigourney Weaver in a Volvo estate car waiting for a BR DMU, in Rail Blue livery, to pass through the crossing.

In 2007, during the finale of BBC One's award-winning drama series Life on Mars, set in 1973, a class 47 was used for scenes of an armed robbery at Brooksbottom Tunnel.

The railway also featured in an episode of Coronation Street, transmitted on August Bank Holiday 2010, when Hayley and Roy Cropper travelled to their wedding aboard an ELR train of Mark 1 coaches hauled by LMS "Black 5" No.

The line also starred in the BBC television film Eric and Ernie, aired on New Year's Day 2011, about the early career of the British comedy act Morecambe and Wise.