A SELF confessed train enthusiast is planning to pen a book tracking the history of the Blackburn to Hellifield line.

But John Matthews needs help from Bygones readers and asks if anyone can help him with stories of the railway and any old photographs and memorabilia.

John, who loved trains as a small child, became particularly fascinated with this particular stretch of line, which passes throughWhalley and Clitheroe, during his time as a Ribble bus driver.

Driving the Preston to Wilpshire route, he became absorbed with the signal box at the end of his journey and began to investigate the line and its heritage.

The first sod for the line was cut at Clitheroe by Lord Ribblesdale almost 170 years ago, in December 1846 and the first section of railway to open in 1850 ran between Daisyfield in Blackburn and Chatburn.

It was to be another 30 years, however, before the full length of track into Hellifield was finally opened to link with the Midland Railway's Settle to Carlisle route,

It lasted for more than eight decades before passenger trains were stopped in 1962, when it became a goods line only, although some holiday specials occasionally ran it to and from the West Coast main line.

Said John: "This book is close to my heart and something I have wanted to do for some time, so I am asking if readers could help me with any old photographs, going back through the decades, and the stories that go with them, or such memorabilia as old tickets and any other mementoes.

"The splendour of the Settle to Carlisle railway is well known, but there are some beautiful scenes along this line, as well as some significant viaducts, including Whalley and Stockbeck at Gisburn."