The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway as a location for film & TV productions

The KWVR is ideal for filmmakers. The compact 5-mile line offers productions a range of authentic and unusual features and can be used as a location for any period between 1860 and 1960.

The KWVR works closely with Screen Yorkshire, which invests in film and TV production through the innovative £15m Yorkshire Content Fund, the largest fund in the UK. The Yorkshire Content Fund comprises £7,500,000 of investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which will be matched by private investment on a project-by-project basis. Investments using the KWVR as locations include Peaky Blinders, The Great Train Robbery, and Testament of Youth. Added to that, the K&WVR boasts film-friendly staff with extensive first-hand knowledge of the particular requirements of both large and small-scale productions.

Cinema Credits

Filmed extensively on the KWVR using several locations, including Oakworth station and Mytholmes Tunnel.  Starring Sally Thompsett, Dinah Sheridan, William Mervyn, Bernard Cribbins, Gary Warren, Iain Cuthbertson, and Jenny Agutter. 

A secret manuscript by his aide, Watson, outlines cases in which Sherlock Holmes became involved with the women in the plot.  Railway scenes filmed on the KWVR featuring J72 0-6-0T No. 69023 and L&Y 0-6-0 No. 52044. 

Starring Alistair Sim, Peter Barkworth and Prunella Scales, this is a family drama film set in 1909. A coal mine in Yorkshire has used pit ponies to haul coal for many years. When they are to be replaced by machinery, three children learn the ponies are to be slaughtered, so they team up and plot a scheme to steal them and give the horses their freedom. Filming took place at Oakworth station. 

The Littlest Horse Thieves (U.S.A. title)

The film, starring Richard Gere and Vanessa Redgrave, depicts the relationships between American soldiers stationed in semi-rural England during the build-up to Operation Overlord in 1944.  Keighley Station and the former Midland Railway Goods Yard were used to film the scenes where the American troops board their trains to head to the front. The real star of the film though, was USATC 2-8-0 locomotive No.5820 “Big Jim”! 

A pop star has a nervous breakdown whilst looking back on his life, starring Bob Geldof.

This live-action, part-animated, surreal musical is based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The fantasy rock film based around Pink Floyd’s music includes sequences where the rock star is looking back on his father’s life during the Second World War and features a couple of recreated wartime scenes in which troop trains are a feature. These used the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and were filmed at Keighley station and in Mytholmes Tunnel, the latter in a scene very much reminiscent of The Railway Children (qv). Motive power was ex-LMS Class 8F 2-8-0 No.8431.

The story of the Cottingley Fairies starring Paul McGann and Peter O’Toole. Keighley station was used as Cottingley station.

Oakworth Station posed as Brideshead Station, and the train used consisted of vehicles from the VCT collection hauled by Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No.957.

A drama set during the First World War, based on the memoir by Vera Brittain, of the same name as the film title. The railway station scenes, the train interior and the scene in the railway café were all shot at Keighley Station.

Filmed at Keighley Station, which stood in as Portsmouth station, and at Oakworth Station, which stood in as ‘Furness station’, supposedly in the Lake District. 

A spy thriller starring Keira Knightley. Keighley Station was used as Cheltenham Spa Station.

A Netflix 6-part period drama series charting football’s rise in England during the 1880s. Railway station scenes were shot at Keighley Station.

Filmed entirely in Yorkshire and starring Jenny Agutter, Sheriden Smith, Austin Haynes

and Tom Courtney. Set during World War Two, the film tells the story of three children evacuated from Salford and billeted with Jenny Agutter’s character at Oakworth.

Oakworth station was used extensively and studio sets were set up in the Exhibition Shed at Oxenhope station. Jenny Agutter was the only actor to appear in the BBC television series of The Railway Children (1968); The Railway Children film (1970); and The Railway Children Return, giving a golden thread of continuity through all three productions

1916. As war rages on the Western Front, the Choral Society in Ramsden, Yorkshire has lost most of its men to the army.  The Choral’s ambitious committee, determined to press ahead, decides to recruit local young males to swell their ranks.  They must also engage a new chorus master, and despite their suspicions that he has something to hide, their best bet seems to be Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) – driven, uncompromising, and recently returned from a career in Germany. As conscription papers start to arrive, the whole community discovers that the best response to the chaos that is laying waste to their lives is to make music together.  Scenes shot at Keighley station.  

Television Credits

The original dramatisation of E. Nesbit’s book ‘The Railway Children’, a 7-episode series filmed in black and white, using locations on the KWVR with J72 class 0-6-0T “Joem” and ex-Manchester Ship Canal 0-6-0T “Hamburg”, with carriages from the VCT collection.   

Coincidentally, this first production of Nesbit’s classic starred Jenny Agutter and Chris Witty in the respective roles of Bobby and Jim, roles that they also played in the 1970 film of the same story. 

Dramatic story of two Jewish boys from Manchester who are evacuated to Blackpool on the outbreak of war in 1939. Their departure was filmed on the KWVR at Keighley station using old LMS stock and a GWR locomotive.

A fast and furious look (14 minutes) at the many steam-operated privately preserved railways in Britain, including the KWVR. 

In an episode entitled ‘Full Steam Behind’, Foggy (Brian Wilde) took Compo (Bill Owen) and Clegg (Peter Sallis) to a refurbished steam train and filmed at Haworth using 57xx 0-6-0PT No. 5775, at that time still carrying London Transport livery and number L89.

A World War 2 story featuring scenes shot on the KWVR using 8F 2-8-0 No.8431.

An outside broadcast from the Bluebell Railway with film inserts, including from the KWVR, to launch the Going Loco series. Presented by Mike Read with Joe Brown, Samantha Brown, Miles Kington and Pete Waterman.

A television detective drama starring David Jason. In Series 5 Episode 2 (entitled House Calls), (filmed March 1997) scenes were shot at Ingrow Station. Ingrow tunnel became Sutton tunnel for the episode, near where Nancy Grover was found. Frost finds a carpet in the tunnel and brings it onto the platform, after nearly killing himself and his colleague to retrieve it.

A 1950s-set medical drama starring James Bolam and Richard Wilson. The main railway scenes were shot on the KWVR, although other scenes were shot on the East Lancashire Railway.

Starring Ian Hart and John Nettles, Damems station became Grimpen, and Exeter station sequences were filmed at Keighley. The VCT provided carriages, and the train was hauled by Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2T No.85 and Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No.52044.

Two scenes were filmed at Keighley station and on the line between Haworth and Oxenhope.

Inside Out was a BBC television magazine series and this feature referred to the fatal railway accident that occurred at Charfield, Gloucestershire in October 1928. The programme tried to identify two children who perished in the accident. The feature was filmed at Ingrow station using carriages from the VCT collection.

Starring Sarah Lancashire, this television adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s novel was filmed at Oakworth Station, which became Lethley Bridge, using Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No. 957 and carriages from the VCT collection. Four scenes were filmed inside Oakworth station’s Ladies Room, which became the Moon and Stars public house; and another scene was filmed inside the booking hall, which became Nottingham station’s bar, complete with beer pump, barrels and bottles.

Set in the 1960s, this British medical drama was a spin-off from the popular police series, Heartbeat, and followed the staff and patients of St. Aidan’s Royal Free Hospital.

Based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, the series ran for four episodes starring Richard Armitage, Tim Piggott-Smith, Sinéad Cusack, and Pauline Quirk. It follows the story of a young woman, Margaret Hale, who is from southern England but is forced to move to the North. Scenes were shot on the KWVR and at VCT, Ingrow.

Starring Brian Murphy, this comedy was filmed at Oakworth station, and between there and Oxenhope using Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No.957 and carriages from VCT and the KWVR fleet.

Starring Victoria Wood and Stephanie Cole. Set in the late 1930s, the story is based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last, played by Victoria Wood. The story revolves around the Mass-Observation Project, set up in 1937 to “record the voice of ordinary people”.

They recruited volunteer ‘observers’ to report to them, and in 1939, invited them to send them an account of their lives. Nella Last was one of 500 people who took up this offer. Railway scenes were filmed at Ingrow using VCT Southern Railway carriage No. 3554

Various scenes filmed at Oakworth station.

Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No.957 and carriages from VCT were used in the filming of this documentary, filmed between Haworth and Oxenhope.

A drama about the outbreak of a virulent, deadly flu in the months after the First World War, with the point of perspective of Doctor Niven, the Chief Medical Officer for Manchester, on how he carried out the treatment of this sickness. Starring Bill Paterson, Mark Gatiss and Charlotte Riley.

The epic gangster saga set in post-World War One Birmingham included scenes in the first episode, filmed at Keighley Station in November 2012.

A two-part series telling the story of the Great Train robbery in Buckinghamshire on 8th August 1963. Episode one tells the story from the robbers’ perspective, while the second episode tells it from the Police point of view. Coincidentally, the first episode was screened by the BBC on the day that train robber, Ronnie Biggs, died.

Starring Jim Broadbent, James Fox, Tim Piggott-Smith and Robert Glenister, the railway sequences depicting the scene of the crime at Sears crossing were filmed on the KWVR at a number of locations, including Low Mill Lane bridge, Keighley and Ingrow station. In a piece of film-maker’s licence, often criticised by railway enthusiasts, the railway’s Class 37 locomotive 37075, was used to depict the Class 40 locomotive that had been involved in the real incident.

Keighley station subway between platforms 3 & 4 features as King’s Cross Station!

Documentary series looking at varied aspects of Yorkshire. This episode focused upon the KWVR.

A television drama series based on the 2016 novel by Armor Towles, et during the Russian October Revolution. Scenes were filmed in the Exhibition Shed at Oxenhope. One of KWVR volunteers, Josh Harley-Sellers appeared as an extra.

Platform 7 was a four-part psychological thriller based upon the 2019 novel of the same name. While the majority of the series was filmed in and around Leeds; the station concourse and forecourt scenes were filmed at Kidderminster station on the Severn Valley Railway; and platform 7 itself was filmed at Keighley Station.

A BBC television crime drama based on the crime novels by A. A. Dhand, telling the escapades of Detective Harry Virdee, a Sikh police officer, married to a Muslim woman. Scene of Detective Virdee chasing a suspect into Ingrow Tunnel and Class 144 running through the tunnel.

Keighley Station has been used to portray Glasgow railway station, as well as Keighley; while Oakworth Station has been used for scenes requiring a more rural railway location.

One episode was filmed during the railway’s 2025 1940s Weekend. 

First episode of the second series filmed on the KWVR, with Alexander Armstrong and James May travelling on the train and enjoying a beer or two on board the Jubilee Bar.

The KWVR featured as “the pub”!

Commercials

Starring Ronnie Corbett, this advert was filmed at Mytholmes Tunnel.

Black Five 4-6-0 No. 45212 was used in an iconic advert for Solvite All Purpose Wallpaper Paste, which presumably was intended to demonstrate the inherent strength of the product. Certainly, the advert caught people’s attention. Now, here’s where it gets interesting: 45212 played a surprising role in this Solvite advert, when it was covered in wallpaper as part of the advert, presumably to demonstrate the product’s resistance to heat and damp.

T&A Bygone Bradford feature.

Filmed at Keighley station using 4472 Flying Scotsman featuring a couple of young trainspotters and their cracker snack on the footplate.

Advert on History of Advertising Trust Website

An advert for Tetley’s Yorkshire Bitter featuring The Rocket, filmed between Haworth and Oxenhope.

A commercial filmed for the Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey team and Budweiser Brewery, filmed at Keighley station and in Ingrow tunnel, using carriages from VCT and featuring a CGI penguin!

Featuring Standard 4MT 2-6-4T No.80002 and filmed at Keighley. Advert on History of Advertising Trust Website

Filmed at Oakworth Station featuring popular railway enthusiast Francis Bourgeois, and starring British Railways standard class 3MT 2-6-0 No. 78022. Oakworth Station was dressed as a Swedish-style station, and 78022 was seen passing a mountain above Haworth!

Promotional film for the July 2025 stage production of The Railway Children being held at Oxenhope. Filmed using ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No. 52044 and a 4-coach set of Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway carriages from the VCT collection.

The KWVR and Film Production

Producers have found the KWVR offers an extensive range of locations and opportunities in a compact 5-mile line with scenery ranging from inner town industrial to rolling countryside and wild moorland isolation. All this is only 75 mins drive from the television studios at Leeds and Manchester, and less than 3 hours by train from London Kings Cross.

Whatever the size of your production – or budget, we can help. From an afternoon fashion catalogue, stills shoot with no train to several days of filming with hired-in steam locomotives and Victorian carriages.

What the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway have to offer

Original features

The KWVR can offer a wealth of production experience plus “mainline urban” and “branch line rural” and stone-built stations all with authentic working fittings such as coal fires, gaslighting, period posters and signs.

  • Six stations – Keighley, Ingrow, Damems, Oakworth, Haworth, Oxenhope
  • Approximately five miles of track (some of it double track)
  • Four signal boxes
  • Two tunnels
  • Two-level crossings
  • A turntable
  • Several bridges and a viaduct
  • Extensive first-hand knowledge of film production requirements.

Vintage Carriages

Historic steam and diesel locomotives, carriages and wagons complete the authentic scene of any period from the 1860s to the 1960s. These locomotives and carriages, including the Vintage Carriage Trust* collection at Ingrow, are appropriate for the late Victorian and Edwardian periods through to the late 1960s.

Vintage Carriages Trust – Britain’s premier independent collection of historic carriages is based at Rail Story, the Museum of Rail Travel, Ingrow West on the KWVR. See the Vintage Carriages Trust for full details – click here.

Many other classic carriages are based on the railway, including several private owner vehicles and some in the care of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Trust.

Screen Yorkshire

The Railway works very closely with Screen Yorkshire and for more information on the services they can offer and extracts from the latest productions that have taken place on the Railway click here.

Contact us about filming on the KWVR.

Suppose you are looking to re-create a particular period. In that case, the KWVR can advise on the type and availability of locomotives and carriages from all over the UK, not just the KWVR. Whatever advice you require, please get in touch with our Operations Manager, Noel Hartley:

Telephone: 01535 645214
Email: operations@kwvr.co.uk

Alternatively, you may contact our admin office during regular midweek office hours, 09.30 – 16.30, on 01535 645214.