Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is a five-mile (eight-km) long heritage railway line in West Yorkshire, England, that runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the main Leeds/Bradford - Skipton line at Keighley.
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[edit] History
The line was built in 1867 by local mill owners, but operated by the Midland Railway, which owned most of the rail network in the area, and was eventually bought by the Midland.
After becoming part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923, ownership passed to British Railways following nationalisation in 1948. As a part of the rail cutbacks in the 1960s, British Railways closed the line at the end of 1962.
However a preservation society was formed who bought the line from BR and reopened it in 1968 as a heritage railway. The line is now a major tourist attraction operated entirely by volunteers and carries more than 110,000 passengers every year. The KWVR is the only preserved railway that operates a complete branch line in its original form.
[edit] Duplication
The line and its bridges and tunnels including a deviation were built as single track but with provision for duplication, should the need arise.
[edit] Stations
[edit] Features
- Keighley
- Ingrow (West)
- Access to the Vintage Carriages Trust's Museum of Rail Travel
- Access to the Bahamas Locomotive Society Museum "Ingrow Loco"
- Car parking
- Damems
- The smallest standard-gauge railway station in Britain, complete with Waiting Room, Booking Office, Signal Box & Level Crossing
- Lit by gas and heated by coal stoves
- Featured as "Ormston" in the BBC's Born and Bred
- Oakworth
- Famous as the location for the filming of the 1970 EMI version of "The Railway Children", featuring Jenny Agutter, Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, Sally Thomsett and Gary Warren
- Restored to Edwardian condition, the station is lit by gas lamps
- Heated by up to four open coal fires in winter (around eight months each year)
- Haworth
- Oxenhope
- New Heritage Lottery Fund-supported Exhibition Shed, contains locomotives and carriages not currently in use and explains their history and that of the line as a whole
- Railway shop and buffet
- Car parking
- Bus connections to Hebden Bridge
- Gas-lit platform, car park and waiting room
[edit] Locomotives
- Steam Locomotives
- BR 4-6-0 Class 4MT no. 75078
- BR 2-6-0 Class 2MT no. 78022
- BR 2-6-4T Class 4MT no. 80002 (Operational)
- BR 2-8-0 Austerity no. 90733
- GWR 0-6-0PT 5700 Class no. 5775
- L&Y 0-4-0ST Class 21 "Pug" no. 68 (later BR Class 0F no. 51218)
- L&Y 0-6-0 Class 25 "Ironclad" no. 957 (later BR Class 2F no. 52044) (Operational)
- LNWR 0-6-2 "Coal Tank" no. 1054
- LMS 2-6-2T Class 2MT no. 41241 (Operational)
- LMS 4-6-0 Class 5MT no. 45212 (Operational)
- LMS 0-6-0 Class 4F no. 43924
- LMS 4-6-0 Class 5XP Jubilee no. 45596 "Bahamas"
- LMS 0-6-0T Class 3F "Jinty" no. 47279 (Operational)
- LMS 2-8-0 Class 8F no. 48431
- LNER 0-6-0ST Class J94 no. 68077
- SR 0-6-0T Class USA no. 30072
- SR 4-6-2 West Country Class no. 34092 "City of Wells"
- Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2T no. 85 (Operational)
- USATC S160 Class 2-8-0 no. 5820 "Big Jim"
- Diesel Locomotives
- BR 0-6-0 Hudswell Clarke (British Rail Class D2/12) shunter no. D2511
- BR 0-6-0 Prototype EE shunter no. D226 "Vulcan"
- BR 0-6-0 Class 08 no. 13336 (ex-08266)
- BR Bo-Bo Class 20 no. D8031 (ex-20031)
- BR Bo-Bo Class 25 no. 25059 (ex-D5209)
- Mersey Docks & Harbour Board Diesel Mechanical 0-6-0 no. 32 "Huskisson"
- Port of Bristol Port Authority Diesel Mechanical 0-6-0 no. 23 "Merlin"
- Ruston & Hornsby Diesel Electric 0-4-0 "James"
- Notes
- 'Black Five' no.45212 is operational but currently based on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, as part of a deal which will see it running there until 5 years into it's 10-year boiler certificate.
- 'Coal Tank' no.1054 is currently undergoing overhaul at Ingrow. Once it's owning group have completed the repairs, attention will be focused on returning "Bahamas" to traffic.
- The Austerity 2-8-0 no.90733 will be the next engine to return to steam on the line. It is currently anticipated that this will be during February 2007, when there is a good chance that the loco will 'run-in' during the Steam Gala.
- Other engines in line for a return to steam before the end of the decade are no.75078, no.34092 "City Of Wells", and no.43924, which was the first engine salvaged from Barry Scrapyard in South Wales to be returned to steam on a heritage line, back in the 1970s.
[edit] Use In Film and Television
The line and its stations has been used numerous period film and television productions including films "The Railway Children" (1970) and "Yanks".
