Bradford has had a tough time but its year at the forefront of British cultural life will produce lasting benefits - Andrew Vine

That’s because the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is hosting it, and the show begins by boarding a steam-hauled train and travelling the full length of the line. And just to put the icing on the cake, there’s the journey back along that wonderfully scenic route afterwards.

What a brilliant idea to bring the story to life by putting the railway synonymous with it at its heart. The rave reviews the production has received since opening on July 15 – and which runs until September 7 - are testament to how enchanting and imaginative it is.

Staging it in the engine shed at Oxenhope, the terminus of the KWVR’s five-mile line, feels like a homecoming for this timeless coming-of-age tale, because the 1970 film of The Railway Children – surely the best-loved British family film of all – that starred Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbins, was made at the railway.

For the KWVR, the film remains a gift that keeps on giving. Even now, 55 years on, the railway still has a steady stream of visitors who come to see for themselves where the three children, Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter, had their adventures.

I’d bet that the new co-production between the York Theatre Royal and Bradford 2025 makes memories that last just as long for the children in the audience.

The two going with me aren’t the only visitors I’ll be taking to Bradford 2025 in the weeks ahead. There are friends and family coming from London, Scotland and the north-east to visit this great city, none of whom know it, just as they came with me to explore Hull during its year as UK City of Culture in 2017.

And those people, who I know will be delighted by what they find, stand for tens of thousands of others who are giving Bradford a boost by coming to see everything it has to offer.

They’ll be back, too. After being introduced to Hull eight years ago, they have returned for weekends, some fascinated by the city’s maritime heritage, some to follow the trail devoted to Philip Larkin and others to use the city as a base for exploring farther afield into Holderness and down to Spurn, where the Yorkshire coastline dwindles away into the sea.

The same will happen with Bradford, and that’s the magical thing about putting culture front and centre to attract visitors. It’s a starting point for a whole new appreciation of somewhere, the impact of which continues to be felt long after a fond farewell is made to a year of events.

It isn’t just about seeing the sights. It’s about meeting the people and finding out what makes a city tick, what has shaped its history and the direction it takes into the future.

A city’s culture gives a unique insight into all those things. And using it to tell Bradford’s story brings the breadth and depth of its heritage vividly alive while also underlining the vibrancy and diversity of its everyday life.

Focussing on culture casts a city in a new light, sweeps away pre-conceived ideas and gives even those who know it a fresh perspective.

The few days that my friends and family spend exploring the centre of Bradford and its surrounding areas and attractions including Haworth and Bronte country, Saltaire’s Salt’s Mill, the Five Rise locks at Bingley and Ilkley won’t be enough. As with Hull, visiting will be a taster that whets their appetite for more.

The great thing about winning City of Culture status – and coming out on top in the face of stiff competition was a triumph for both our Yorkshire cities to hold the title – is that it starts people thinking about somewhere that quite possibly hasn’t been on their radar before.

I must be far from alone in Yorkshire in having friends who called after Bradford won to say that they knew next to nothing about it, but fancied coming to have a look.

The city will make them welcome and appreciate their interest. Like Hull before it, Bradford has endured more than its fair share of hard times in the past few decades, and its year at the forefront of British cultural life will produce lasting benefits.

For proof of that, it only has to look eastwards to its predecessor. Hull saw £676m of new investment from the private and public sectors at least in part because of its year as City of Culture, which raised national awareness of how much it has to offer.

Visitor numbers shot up by more than 20 per cent and have stayed higher than before 2017, and millions followed the city’s cultural offering online.

These are tangible benefits that translate into more jobs, additional money coming in to make life better for residents and income for businesses that benefit from visitors’ spending.

But there’s something extra, harder to quantify, but equally important. It is the bounce in a city’s sense of optimism and confidence about the future that is produced by winning the status of the nation’s cultural capital.

I felt the mood of better times being around the corner in Hull eight years ago, and I’ve felt it again in Bradford in the past few months. Like The Railway Children, this is a city ready to go full steam ahead.

Andrew Vine is a journalist. Read his column every Tuesday in The Yorkshire Post.