Some of what we did when not involved with the boat - Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

(Boat Flamingo - posted by Alan)

The HNBC event was broadly over a long weekend, but by the Monday things were slowing down, and people were starting to slip away.

In the morning Cath and I had slogged up "The Buttress" to Heptonstall for an interesting tour of that historic village by an HNBC member that helped with the event organisation.  David and I also wanted to visit the Keighey & Worth Valley Railway, but were not sure we could fit it in, (if only we had known how much time we would subsequently be forced to spend in Hebden Bridge...)

David phoned me in Heptonstall to say if I got back in time there was a "Bronte Bus" that ran to there directly.  By then I wasn't sure it was possible, but abandoned Cath to make my way back to the boat as fast as possible.  Let's just say that descending "The Buttress" in a hurry is more hazardous than going up.  Most of it is very large cobbles, covered in "green stuff" that is slippery when wet.  I nearly went down on my backside three times - thank goodness there is a continuous handrail for much of its length! 

I did manage to get back to the boat just in time to grab necessary things, and head with David for the bus - fortunately it leaves from the railway station, only minutes from where we were moored.

 

It was actually a bit of a significant day for me.  I have only in fairly recent months got around to applying for my "Senior Citizen bus pass, and have not actually made use of it before now - this was my first legitimate "free" ride on a public bus since I had that entitlement on Brighton Corporation buses when I worked briefly for them as a driver in the 1970s.

 

How much easier is bus travel now than it was back in the last century?  Not only do buses generally display the name of the next stop, this one also read it out to us.  My phone was quite low on charge as we boarded, but David produced a lead, and I was able to plug it in to charge - the steam heated carriages on the KWVR would not provide that facility!

 

We arrived at Oxenhope shortly after a train had left - we knew that would be the case, but they are regular, and it allowed us time to grab a meal and drinks.

 

The line is less than 5 miles long, and has about a station every mile - quite unusual.  A round trip only takes about an hour, but our rover tickets, (there was £3 off mine for being a "Senior"!), allowed us to travel much of the line twice, some of it three times, and to sample both locomotives that were in team that day.  It was a "Standards" day, as it turned out with two "Standard" tender locomotives, one of power class 4, and the other smaller at power class 2.  These tend to have similar "build dates" to me and Cath, but appear better maintained than I am, (though not of course as well maintained as Cath!) 

It is perhaps not as full an entertainment package for the enthusiast as some of the other preserved lines, now anywhere between 2 and 4 times longer, but is still a well presented and well run railway.  The only shadow over the day was the miserable platform assistant who berated me for having a window down because they had the steam heating on - I would have shut it willingly when asked, but his attitude was not what you would hope for on something that relies on the goodwill of its customers.

Everything ran on time, including our equally good bus that took us back to Hebden Bridge.  However many of the towns and villages passed have a 20 mph speed limit, and I'm not sure the bus driver was looking very much at his speedometer - it felt quite exhilarating at times!  I'm glad I wasn't driving - and so probably would most of the other passengers have been!