Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
A steam train ride through the heart of Brontë country
(Photos/words © urban75, March 2008)

After closure by British Railways in 1962, a Preservation Society was formed by local people and railway enthusiasts to reopen the line.

After a long struggle, passenger traffic restarted on 29th June 1968, with stations restored to a 1950s, post-nationalisation appearance.

The five mile branch line has prospered and become a firm favourite with film and TV producers, appearing in productions such as Yanks, Sherlock Holmes, Last of the Summer Wine, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Poirot, A Touch Of Frost and Pink Floyd's The Wall

The Railway is most famous for its role in the 1970 film version of The Railway Children, which featured Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins and Sally Thomsett.


Waiting for the Keighley train on a rain-soaked Haworth station.




Haworth station is entirely lit by gas.


Our train arrives!


The award winning Edwardian Oakworth station, where the 1970s production of the The Railway Children was set.




Preparing to leave Oakworth.




Ingrow West's station building was dismantled, transported and rebuilt stone by stone from the Midland station at Foulridge, Lancashire.


The start of the branch line at Keighley, at the junction with the mainline station.


The loco taking on water.






Grabbing a cuppa in the waiting room at Keighley.


We took a return trip down the line, and the rain was thundering down by the time we reached the terminus at Oxenhope.


Steam train in the rain.






Sheltering from the rain in the Oxenhope booking office.


End of the line.


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