Haworth Station and Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

The Keighley and Worth Valley railway opened in 1867 connecting Haworth and the Upper Worth Valley with the mainline station in Keighley and therefore the major cities of Leeds and Bradford. Locomotives brought coal up the valley to power the looms in the textile mills, the remains of which still line the route. The line was closed to passenger traffic in 1961, (the first of British Rail’s privatisations, prior to the Beeching cuts) but almost immediately the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society was formed. The group began to bring in and restore heritage stock and finally purchased the line from British Rail in 1966, reopening to passenger traffic in 1968 and operating continually ever since.

The heritage line is entirely owned, operated and managed by volunteers and runs trains every weekend and daily in the school holidays. Most services are operated by steam trains, but the railway also owns and runs a diesel railcar which serves as a regular service for local residents. The heritage carriages include an award-winning real ale buffet car. The Society organises a varied calendar of popular events such as the Steam and Diesel galas, dining train services, the Beer and Music Festival and the original and best Santa Special.

Haworth station, like the others along the line, has been restored to look and feel like the original branch line station with ticket office, real coal fires, gas lights and antique signs. The authenticity of the Keighley and Worth Valley line has made it popular with location scouts and the stations and trains have appeared in many film and TV productions including Yanks, Brideshead Revisited, Last of the Summer Wine and most famously the 1970 version of the Railway Children starring Jenny Agutter, with which it remains closely associated.