Worth Valley Snow Day

With West Yorkshire experiencing a fair bit of snow in recent weeks, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway once again proved itself the most reliable bit of public transport for the area...  Above, a shot from a Railcar Wednesday, when the local buses had ground to a halt.  We'd planned on riding the trains, but a short-notice cancellation saw me (Ben) in hospital for a check-up so I had to do with a single line side shot.

Rather more interesting was a weekend trip to Bingley where the car was buried in the snow, so we used the railway as public transport for the first leg of the journey.

Services were top-and-tailed due to frozen points, so the class 20 got a rare outing on a passenger service.

A few shots from Keighley- we ended up with about 40 minutes to kill, as the mainline trains through Keighley were struggling, with yet another strike leading to a reduced timetable.

Standard 4MT on the head of the train.  Not a great location to shoot from, but then the end of the platform was roped-off for safety.

In the end, we had to leave the pleasant surroundings of the Worth Valley platforms for the rather more utilitarian mainline part of the station.

That evening saw us back at the station, not to get the train home but instead to see/photograph a passing steam loco.  Britannia-class pacific "Oliver Cromwell", making it's last turn on the mainline before withdrawal, was heading over to Keighley ready for their winter gala (of which more in future posts).

Only myself, father-in-law, and the Eldest Child were mad enough to go out in the snow and freezing temperatures to see it (didn't seem to bother the stoner who ended up stood with us on the platform mind, the joys of photographing on a Saturday evening), and lighting conditions were challenging to say the least... I ended up with a couple of arty shots, not least because my hands were so cold I couldn't stop the camera shaking.

The next day produced a lot of mist as the snow finally began to thaw, and after arrival home via a lift in a 4x4, I tried for one last shot of the railway... the 4MT 75078 on an Oxenhope-bound service, though not great lighting because of the atmospherics.  Still, nice to be able to use the line as public transport, and a bit of a warm up for the gala the week after...