The Railway Children: Oakworth classic which won the hearts of a generation and boosted the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

The children and their mother move to a cottage in the Yorkshire countryside - one close enough to a railway line that becomes the focus of their lives.

In comes the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) in West Yorkshire, which was at the heart of the action. At Oakworth station – the main location along with spots like Mytholmes Tunnel near Haworth – the siblings are enchanted by the sight of steam trains zooming past and wonder whether they are heading in the direction of their much-missed father. It’s later the setting for their emotional reunion.

“It’s those scenes like the ‘Daddy, my daddy’ scene in Oakworth Station, it still brings a tear to the eye even now,” says Noel Hartley, business and operations manager at KWVR, which operates as a heritage line running steam and diesel trains.

“The picture hasn't really aged very much and the content is classic. I think it’s going to go on forever, that film.”

Mr Hartley says it has been very important for the KWVR and notes that, unlike other media, The Railway Children used the actual Oakworth name instead of a fictional title, which put it “on the map”.

He adds that the film “forced us to expand in the 70s and become what we are today, really, so it was kind of fundamental in the development of the heritage railway”.

Modern viewers might know her as Sister Julienne in Call The Midwife, but for a generation of children in the 1970s, Jenny Agutter is simply Bobbie, the eldest of the three siblings in the film. Reflecting on the 50th anniversary in 2020, she said: “Back then, I never imagined the film would remain a favourite for so many people for so many years. I realise now that Lionel Jeffries made a timeless masterpiece. He tells Edith Nesbit’s story with great simplicity, focusing very much on the children’s point of view. I think it caught the desire in an audience to be taken back to a less complicated time.”

Many will fondly remember Bernard Cribbins, who died last year, but in the film charmed audiences as station porter Albert Perks.

Last year, more than half a century on from the original, audiences were rewarded with The Railway Children Return, a sequel set in 1944 and again filmed on the KWVR. Agutter reprised her role in the film which also featured stars such as Sheridan Smith, who played Bobbie’s daughter Annie as they greet a set of evacuees from Salford.

In July, the sequel’s world premiere took place at Keighley’s Picture House Cinema – after the cast enjoyed a ride on the KWVR from Oakworth, where it all began.