Oakworth Station

‘The Railway Children’, written by E Nesbit, was published in 1905. It tells the story of Bobbie (Roberta) and her siblings, Peter and Phyllis, who move from London with their mother to a small cottage called Three Chimneys, after the father is imprisoned after being falsely accused of spying. The house is near a railway which quickly becomes the centre of the children’s new lives and their father is eventually cleared and returned to his family. The story has been filmed a number of times, but the most famous, best-loved version is undoubtedly the 1970 version, starring Jenny Agutter as Bobbie and Bernard Cribbins as Perks the station master.

One of the central locations for the film was Oakworth Station, one of the stops on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. Beautifully preserved, it is a very popular location with people who love the film as well as those who love the railway!

The station appears throughout the film, with Perks opening the white gates, the children walking along the platform and talking to the old gentleman in the station building. It is impossible to visit without feeling the urge to cry, ‘Daddy, my daddy!’ and run along the platform to recreate the film’s most poignant scene where Bobbie sees her father appear from the clearing steam of the train.

Haworth also features in the film with the Parsonage being used as the Doctor’s house and the town’s graveyard and cobbled streets also appearing.

We were lucky enough to visit when the steam trains were running and rode up and down the whole line, passing through the Mytholmes Tunnel where the paper chase scene and the landslide where the children waved their petticoats to stop the train were filmed. Although the steam trains are very popular, making them very busy, visiting the station and taking the train are a lovely thing to do whether you are a fan of the film (or book!) or not!

Oakworth Station,

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway,

Station Rd, Oakworth,

Keighley

BD22 0DY