RAILWAY chiefs have poured cold water on a suggestion to extend steam services from Bury to Rochdale -- at least for the time being.

Bosses at the East Lancashire Railway say that several obstacles would have to be overcome to establish a link between Rawtenstall and Rochdale via Bury, Heywood and Castleton.

The idea of a link-up was suggested by two Rochdale councillors, after the town's hopes of establishing a connection to the Metrolink line were dashed last month.

However, the East Lancashire Railway is already having difficulty attracting sufficient volunteers to cope with existing services.

In addition, the legal, financial and practical implications of running services between Castleton and Heywood -- on a mainline route -- would be prohibitive at present.

Stock would need to be upgraded to ensure that trains could operate at the faster speeds travelled on regular train routes. Marketing officer Graham Vevers said: "In principle we have no objection but, there are a lot of things to be looked at regarding the practicalities of this operation.

"People have talked about it before but no hard proposals have been put forward that look at the feasibility.

"The difference between the main line and operation service on our own land that we do at present is similar to the difference between and ordinary street and a motorway."