A centre of education and historic excellence, home to Railstory.
Ingrow is the first stop on your journey from Keighley up to Haworth and Oxenhope and this amazing little station packs plenty into its site alongside the main Keighley to Halifax Road (A629).
Your first intermediate station on the journey to Oxenhope is Ingrow West. Situated one and quarter miles from Keighley, this is a station with its own special history. After the closure of the branch line by British Railways in January 1962, the original Ingrow West Station building fell victim to neglect and vandals. Such was the dreadful state of the building when the preservationists took over in June 1968 that it had to be demolished. But those railway pioneers were determined to have a suitable replacement station building and they found one at Foulridge in Lancashire.
Foulridge was on the rail route between Colne and Skipton and in 1971 the line was scheduled for closure. So, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway bought the station building and moved it brick-by-brick to Ingrow West where they re-erected it. And today it’s a virtual mirror-image of the old building and plays its part in creating the ambience of a Victorian-age railway station.
The Station hosts the ‘RailStory Classroom’, an education facility that provides children with opportunities to learn more about railways and other subjects in a classroom that once was a railway carriage and look out of the windows at the trains going by.
There were once two stations in Ingrow. Apart from the West Station on the branch line to Oxenhope just further up the hill on the eastern side of the station – the slope facing the platform across the track – was Ingrow East on the long-closed and demolished Keighley – Bradford – Halifax route that ran via the triangular station at Queensbury. Very few traces of the West Station and its railway after more than 70 years since its closure.
RAIL STORY results from a collaboration between the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, the Vintage Carriages Trust and the Bahamas Locomotive Society, giving visitors greater opportunities to learn about and understand the preservation and conservation of our railway heritage.
Things you can do AT INGROW
Heritage and Shopping
Ingrow is served by a handful of local independent shops including a convenience store adjacent to the station entrance. Dominated by the presence of the A629 trunk road, Ingrow still hosts a number of old mill buildings, and it is, of course, the home of Timothy Taylor’s Knowle Spring brewery where they produce superstar Madonna’s favourite beer, Landlord Bitter!
Railstory to Visit
Station Building
Not everything is as it seems at Ingrow Station. Its historic appearance is deceiving. When the Keighley and Worth Valley was rescued in the 1960s the original station building was beyond repair, so an almost identical building was transported brick-by-brick from Foulridge on the closed Colne to Skipton route to replace it.
Can you see the joins?
The Carriage Works
At the top of the station yard just a short stroll from the platform, you’ll find the VCT’s Museum. Take time to explore this incredible restored carriage collection, locomotives, and railway equipment. A treasure-house for railway fans and families alike.
The Engine Shed
The Bahamas Locomotive Society’s Museum and Engineering Centre and just a few paces from the station’s front door. The station’s former good shed is now the headquarters of the society that saved the former London Midland and Scottish Railway express passenger steam locomotive from the scrapmen in the 1960s. Here you can watch their members maintaining their famous engines as well as other historic locomotives and rolling stock.
The Learning Coach
A one-time mainline railway carriage that has been converted into a classroom for schoolchildren. Funded as part of the National Heritage Lottery grant to rebuild 1930s-style Jubilee Class Locomotive ‘Bahamas’, the Learning Coach sits next to the platform at Ingrow Station.
Food and Drink
Although Ingrow only has a small commercial centre it boasts a fish and chip shop just across the road from the station while not far away are Chinese-style takeaway food outlets. And you can slake your thirst at either the Great Northern or the Worth Valley pubs, both of which are within easy reach of the station.
QUICK STATION INFORMATION
- Large free car park
- On the main A629 road
- Level but cobbled access
- Toilets
- Rail Story, featuring Museum of Rail Travel (Vintage Carriages Trust) and Ingrow Loco (Bahamas Locomotives Society)