A £60,000 fund for Community Rail Partnerships has been set up, Rail Minister Tom Harris announced today (link below.)
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=367550&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

A full list of the Community Rail Partnerships eligible for funding can be found below. All partnerships working on these lines can apply to the Designated Community Rail Development Fund for a grant of up to £5,000 per route.

Abbey Line: St Albans - Watford Junction, Hertfordshire

Atlantic Coast Line: Newquay - Par, Cornwall

Barton Line: Barton-on-Humber - Cleethorpes, North Lincolnshire

Bittern Line: Norwich to Sheringham, Norfolk

Clitheroe Line: Clitheroe - Manchester, Lancashire and Greater Manchester

Derwent Valley Line: Matlock - Derby, Derbyshire

Esk Valley Line: Whitby - Middlesbrough, Teesside and North Yorkshire

Gainsborough Line: Sudbury - Marks Tey, Suffolk and Essex

Island Line: Ryde - Shanklin, Isle of Wight

Lakes Line: Oxenholme - Windermere, Cumbria

East Lancashire Line: Preston - Colne, Lancashire

Looe Valley Line: Looe - Liskeard, Cornwall

Maritime Line: Falmouth - Truro, Cornwall

Marston Vale Line: Bedford - Bletchley East, Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire

Medway Valley Line: Paddock Wood to Strood, Kent

Penistone Line: Barnsley - Huddersfield, South and West Yorkshire

Poacher Line: Skegness - Grantham, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire

Severn Beach Line: Bristol - Avonmouth - Severn Beach

South Fylde Line: Preston - Blackpool South, Lancashire

St Ives Bay Line: St Ives - St Erth, Cornwall

Tamar Valley Line: Gunnislake - Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall

Tarka Line: Exeter - Barnstaple, Devon

Wherry Lines: Norwich - Great Yarmouth and Norwich - Lowestoft, Norfolk and Suffolk

I had the pleasure of using one of these Community rail lines for the first time to attend a wedding near Clitheroe over the weekend. Although a slightly dated Class 150 sprinter is used for the hourly Manchester Victoria<>Clitheroe service, the train service looks healthily patronised. It was re-instated in the mid 90's after being a Beeching casualty.

The outward trip from Salford Crescent to Clitheroe on Friday afternoon was standing room only as far as Bolton after which there were few seats available until Blackburn, and probably around 40 people still on board at the terminus of Clitheroe.

On the way back on the 10:27 Sunday service, around 20 boarded at Clitheroe and the same number at the intervening stations to Blackburn where the train again got steadily busier until being full on arrival at Manchester Victoria.

Despite recovering from a hangover, I also managed to observe one of the two 'DalesRail' services which run on summer Sundays from Blackpool via Blackburn and Clitheroe and on towards Hellifield and the Settle & Carlisle line. These are the only passenger services that continue on the double-tracked section from Clitheroe to Hellifield. About 10 people joined at Clitheroe on a 4-car train that was over half-full of walkers and tourists.

Clitheroe station itself is a great example of integrated transport with the station being linked up with the adjoining bus station in an award-winning Interchange - http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/bus/clitheroe_interchange/clitheroe.asp