Line, operated by Northern. The Skelmersdale Branch was closed to passengers in 1956 and to all traffic seven years later, however a proposal exists to reopen the line as far as Skelmersdale. Services between Liverpool and Ormskirk are now operated by Merseyrail. Locomotives The ELR used a range of locomotives. One of its earliest orders was for twelve Long Boiler 2-2-2s from Fenton, Craven and Company (at least one of these was used on the inauguration of the railway), but dissatisfied with the locomotives they accepted only four,. Four were diverted to the Leeds, Dewsbury and Manchester Railway, and two to the Eastern Counties Railway. In 1848, the ELR's four 2-2-2s were rebuilt as 2-4-0s by R and W Hawthorn. In about 1858, they were again rebuilt as 0-6-0s by Sylvester Lees. Richard Walker, a director of the ELR between 1838 and 1854, was the supplier of about twenty locomotives to the company, including, in the 1850s, four 2-4-0s and several 0-6-0s. Walker, Richard & Brother supplied four 2-2-2 locomotives, Medusa, Hecate, Diomed and Lynx. All were later rebuilt as a 2-4-0 tank engine. In 1847, two 0-4-2s were supplied by R and W Hawthorn, rebuilt in 1868 as 2-4-0s. In 1845 the MB&RR ordered four 0-6-0s from the Haigh Foundry, and a fifth engine from Fenton, Craven and Company. Another engine was built by Haigh in 1848. The largest ELR class was a series of outside-frame 2-4-0s with cylinders and driving wheels. Some may have originated as 2-2-2s, and some were later rebuilt as 2-4-0 tank engines. One was rebuilt as a 2-4-0 saddle tank engine. These were among the last locomotives to be built in Bury. Other manufacturers to supply the ELR were Sharp, Roberts and Company, Stothert, Slaughter and Company, and Beyer, Peacock and Company. The ELR livery for passenger locomotives was dark green with red brown frames, and polished domes and safety valves. In 1857 (two years prior to the amalgamation with the LYR), the ELR had 32 passenger locomotives and 31 goods. They were numbered 1–63, and all were named. For a few years after the two railways amlgamated in 1859, the LYR maintained a distinct number list for locomotives of what became the East Lancashire section (EL section): new LYR locomotives intended for use on the EL section were given numbers in that section's list, instead of the main LYR list, and those built