THIS week’s Looking Back picture special focuses on one of Bolton’s enduring attractions – Moss Bank Park.

With its ride-on model railway, play equipment and acres of greenspace, there are few children in Bolton who haven’t paid a visit at some point in the lives.

A look through our photographic vaults turned up several images from over the years. One from 1990 show children riding the train during an open day at Moss Bank Park in 1990. A year earlier, there was anger after vandals destroyed a trailer full of vital equipment belonging to the railway.

The popular attraction was opened in 1987 at a cost of £5,000 as a joint venture between a group of enthusiasts and Bolton Council.

Always popular, it was temporarily less so in 1988, when a group of angry mums formed a new pressure group to oppose an extension its track bed. They wanted the money spent on soft surfaces in the play area, instead.

Elsewhere, we see a picture from 1994, when amateur football chiefs slammed the decision to hold the annual Moss Bank Park Easter Fair on a football pitch. A mixture of torrential rain and thousands of footsteps turned the pitch into a mud bath, leaving it unplayable.

Another picture from 1976 shows the enormous collection of new plants that used to be grown at Moss Bank Nurseries.

This veritable jungle required careful maintenance to ensure that civic flower displays could be planted across the borough.