HOPEFULLY you will know already that we are a volunteer organisation with just a handful of paid staff and well over 500 volunteers operating and managing the railway.

With that team we can operate steam trains every day from now until September, but we have to ask so much of the volunteers to achieve this.

We would very much welcome you joining us on the operational team and, once suitably trained and qualified, running a station, joining the footplate crew, guarding the train (and getting to wave the green flag!), or operating a level crossing just like Mr Perks from The Railway Children.

We also need to continue to raise funds to support the railway, so volunteers to run the shops and catering outlets are especially welcome, as are those who would like to help behind the scenes, maintaining the railway or working on restorations of our fleet of locomotives and increasingly vintage rolling stock..

However, all that is not enough. We know that we need to keep the railway relevant for today's visitors, so we need to develop a number of locations on the line to appeal to a new generation of passengers.

We want a facility to be able to explain the engineering marvel of the steam engine, helping passengers to understand the history of the locomotives that haul their trains and to appreciate the work and skill required to maintain the fleet and the infrastructure.

We would like to be able to tell the story of the branch line, explaining what our early volunteers had to do to reopen and restore the branch line to what it has become today.

We have plans to improve the workshop facilities at Haworth and to provide more undercover accommodation for the operational fleet.

To do all this will take funds, but also – and this is where we need the most help - project managers.

We have a great Finance Director and a recently appointed Strategy and Development Director who work closely with me and the Society's Board of directors, and we already have in place funding sources for several projects (some of which are relatively low cost).

But we desperately need more project management skill and experience to enable us to realise our ambition on a number of schemes. If you are able to help, please do get in touch.

Of course, whilst we have these medium-term ambitions, we continue to operate the trains, now every day until September, and even better children go free (with a fare paying adult).

The terms of the offer, as well as times and adult fares, are available by visiting kwvr.co.uk, as are details of our forthcoming events, such as Vintage Train running days and our 'Beside The Seaside' event at Ingrow on August 2, 16 and 30.

Have you missed any of Matt Stroh’s previous On Track articles in the Keighley News? All you need to do is visit keighleynews.co.uk, click on the What’s On tab, then Out & About and On Track.