The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

Book excerpt: Now preserved for almost sixty years, the former Midland Railway branch from Keighley to Oxenhope to the west of Bradford may not be one of the country’s longest – indeed it only stretches for just under five miles – but it is one of the country’s most popular preserved lines. With a history stretching back to the mid-nineteenth century, the Keighley & Worth Valley provided an essential link for the communities that it served for almost a century. The harsh economic realities of the 1950s made its future uncertain and its fate was, theoretically, sealed before the infamous Beeching Report of March 1963. However, there were a number of local enthusiasts who, having previously witnessed the demise of the ex-Great Northern Railway Queensbury Triangle routes in the mid-1950s, were determined that the Oxenhope line would not suffer a similar fate. With the line preserved, services were triumphantly restored in 1968 and the line has been providing pleasures for tourists and enthusiasts ever since.