Just a minute’s walk from the village centre, Oxenhope station has always been busy. Under British Railways, the station became unstaffed in 1955, as did Ingrow, with the station master for the line being based at Haworth.

When the railway closed in 1961, Oxenhope had just one coal siding remaining from what had been quite a large goods yard. There was no longer any track into the stone goods shed that still adjoins today’s platform.  But Oxenhope Station has changed dramatically since those days.

Inside the station, there is a shop where the booking office used to be while the booking office has now moved across the booking hall with an open fireplace into the former waiting room.

The head-shunt (the piece of the line at the far south end of the station beyond the point where the loop lines converge) was extended in 1971, allowing two locomotives to run around their train together while beyond the new buffers was the area was landscaped to make a car park and a large picnic area. In 2019 the picnic area was further enhanced by adding a children’s adventure playground.

In 1970 a new shed adjoining the platform was opened, an extension to the original goods warehouse. Originally intended as a locomotive running shed this is now the base for our carriage restoration programme. In the following years, the three-track ‘Green Shed’ was opened to provide a home for locomotives that are out of service on a long-term basis and some of our more historic coaches when they are not regularly used in service. Our visitors are now able to view those exhibits free of charge in what is referred to as the ‘Exhibition Shed’.

Oxenhope is the base for our operational carriage fleet. When not in use, the carriages are kept in the ‘open-air’ covered structure to the east of the site. Although open-sided, this structure keeps the worst of the Pennine weather at bay while providing shelter for minor maintenance and cleaning of the passenger vehicles.

To provide café facilities and shelter, a buffet car was purchased in 1982 and positioned permanently between the goods shed and the station building with access from the platform, a purpose it provides to this day.