KWVR @ 40

'All aboard' the 2.35 to Oxenhope!

It's Friday, June 27th, 2008, and there's a big crowd on Platform Four at Keighley Station waiting for the 2.35pm train to Oxenhope. But this is no ordinary day and this is no ordinary train. The red white and blue bunting is flying high and a small company of actors are preparing to take to their makeshift stage - a cart! It's 40 years since the first train to run on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway set of down the track and today's 2.35pm service will be a recreation of that memorable journey.

Of course, back in 1968 it wasn't so much the first train but the 'Re-opening Special', made possible only by the members of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society (KWVR) who were determined that the Worth Valley would not lose its train service, following British Rail's decision to close the line. Forty years on, this very special service is running again.

From just over the wall comes the sound of today's diesel trains as they make their way to Bradford and Leeds, a reminder that the KWVR has a vital role to play in getting people around this part of West Yorkshire.

On 'stations' today: Robert

We're directed down to the end of the platform. Here the Platform 4 Theatre Company, on loan from York's National Rail Museum, are about to tell the story of the struggle to save this branch line. It's a very heartening and amusing tale.

The theme is taken up by Keighley MP Ann Cryer who is President of the KWVR and whose membership number (90) shows she has been with the railway since very early days. It's generally accepted that Ann's late husband Bob was the first to have the idea of reopening the line - a commemorative plaque to Bob Cryer MP at Haworth Station states: "If you seek his memorial look around you."

Ann reads out the Early Day Motion, Steam on the Worth Valley, that she's just tabled in Parliament: "This House congratulates the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society on 40 years of operating a safe, reliable and magnificent railway from Keighley to Oxenhope in West Yorkshire, formerly the West Riding, [and] recognises that the Society has organised the running of the railway on democratic principles which has meant that those people who do the work also make the decisions..."

Driver Robin (right) and fireman Phil...

Today she's being presented with model number 40 from a limited edition of miniatures produced to mark the KWVR's latest restoration project, the WD locomotive.

Quite a number of people here today have served on the railway for 40 years or more and a representative few are called up to receive badges acknowledging their long service. On 'Re-opening' day in 1968 David Kay was the "responsible officer" for the railway. Robin, who is driving today's train, comes forward to receive his badge. No one would dream of telling today's fireman Phil Healis not to give up his day job - today he works as a driver with Virgin Trains - and back in 1968 he was a firemen on the 'Re-Opening Special' locomotives.

And it can't be said the KWVR don't settle their debts, although just this once it's not so much sooner as later. Peter, who made the 'Re-Opening' front board for the train back in 1968, in use again today, is finally paid the 6d (old pence) he was promised 40 years ago.

Also being presented with his badge is Bill Black. He's also the man with the red and green flags. He tells us about the jobs he's had over the years, including acting as station master here in Keighley during the 1968 reopening: "It's the only day I was station master on this railway. Since then I've been a railbus driver, DMU [diesel multiple unit] driver, guard, "responsible officer" - that's the manager for the day. I was chairman of the Society for eight years, traffic manager for five years, council member since I started. That's about 42 years ago."

Ann Cryer MP is presented with a model loco...

But not everybody here today has been involved with the railway for such a long time. Robert, aged 14, joined the KWVR in December, 2007. Today he's making sure we all get safely on the train. He tells us he's always liked trains - "I want to be a train driver on the mainline when I'm 21" - so his father suggested he got involved. Asked what his best bits are so far he says: "I like stations. I sell tickets, make announcements and look after the people, that's the main responsibilities of stations."

When we get on the train we realise that almost everyone travelling in today's special carriages, apart from ourselves, is a railway volunteer. But it would be wrong to think this is a very exclusive Society. Bill explains: "There's a slot for everybody. It varies from gardening to walls. There's such a myriad of jobs. We have the third largest gas lamp installation in the country and we have a chap whose hobby is gas lamps. He had to get himself CORGI registered to be able to do that and he's got 72 working gas lamps."

We find ourselves sharing a compartment with Kath, Jason and Ian. Kath and Jason first got together because of their shared interest in trains - Kath's father was teaching Jason how to drive a train. Now Jason is a railcar driver and Kath's done the shunting course. Ian tells us he won't be able to enjoy all the afternoon's celebrations - in an hour's time he will be back at work on the railway as a fireman!

Bill Black: "Excited and proud!"

It's not long before we reach Haworth and the end of the line. Here a brass band is playing and Bradford's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress are waiting to greet Keighley's Town Mayor and Mayoress who are on the train.

At Oxenhope there's an opportunity to take refreshments and look around the special 40th Anniversary exhibition before the whistle blows for the return journey to Keighley.

Standing in the corridor and looking out of the window (you have to push it down using a leather strap) to catch sight of the locomotive going full steam ahead, we can't help wondering what it is that makes steam trains so special. If this was the only form of rail travel today, would it be quite the same?

But perhaps the last word should go to the Re-Opening Special's conductor, Bill Black. He tells us today he's both "excited and proud" to have been part of the KWVR for over 40 years and lets us into a secret: "I can remember in Haworth yard preparing a five minutes past eight railbus out of Oxenhope. At the time I lived at the far side of Leeds at a place called Swillington and used to have to drive here, crawl under the railbus in the snow and there were tree trunks that we cut down in the middle of the track. It was great fun and with water dripping down the back of your neck, you've got to be a total idiot to do this, and I'm one of the 50 idiots that come here far too often."

All too soon we are back in Keighley, and it's time to catch our 21st century train back to Bradford!

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society's 40th Anniversary Gala ran from Friday June 27th to Sunday June 29th, 2008.