THE ORIGINAL ambition of our founders was to see the railway stay open not least because it was the heart of the transport network in the valley connecting the villages and communicates together.

We still fulfil this role, especially in the winter when we are occasionally the only open route in and out of Oxenhope, but increasingly during the summer as well.

We perform a vital function of keeping the roads flowing during the 1940s weekend, for example, by bringing passengers from locations other than Haworth to ease pressure on parking in the village.

We are working with the organisers of other events to do the same.

We are aware that all railway was built to service the mills rather than the villages in the valley.

This means that the stations are not located in the centre of the villages that we serve, which is very apparent at Haworth, meaning our passengers have to battle with the hill from the station to Main Street and the Brontë Parsonage, which is an almost insurmountable challenge for some visitors.

I'm very pleased to report that we have a solution to this, thanks to our partnership with the Brontë Parsonage Museum. The railway and the parsonage are jointly funding the operation of a vintage bus service that links Haworth Station with the village, operating seven days a week from July 11 until September 4, and it's free to Railway Rover ticket holders.

In addition, a Rover ticket will give a £2 discount on entrance to the parsonage. We are reciprocating with a discount on Rover tickets for parsonage ticket holders.

I don't want to tempt weather fate, but if the weather is fine (or at least not too inclement!) then the service should be operated by an open-topped bus, which gives a very different outlook on the journey.

The bus operates between Haworth station, the village and on to Oxenhope station. The service is timed to connect with the trains and full details can be found on kwvr.co.uk.

With the bus service connecting to the village, we are already offering so much more than just a ride on the train.

At the same time we are developing what there is to see on the railway, and this year with our partners' museums at Ingrow station (the Vintage Carriages Trust and the Bahamas Locomotive Society) we have launched Rail Story.

The collaboration sees us working together to continue to develop the site to help visitors understand the history of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, both before and after the line was saved from closure and reopened in 1968.

With so much to see we do hope that you can join us over the summer.

• Have you missed any of the previous articles in the Keighley News written by Matt Stroh about the work of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway? Don’t get steamed up, simply visit keighleynews.co.uk, click on What’s On then Out & About, and they’re all there to see.