A SERIES of filmed interviews is being published online as part of a campaign to bring a disused railway tunnel back to life.

The Queensbury Tunnel Society is releasing a different two-minute-long video each day next week to promote the cause.

Campaigners are pressing for the historic structure – built as part of the Halifax, Thornton & Keighley Railway – to be restored and the route transformed into a cycleway.

It is feared Highways England’s Historical Railways Estate, which looks after the 1.4-mile-long tunnel on behalf of the Department for Transport, could begin work to infill key parts of the structure this summer if a transfer of ownership to another statutory body isn’t agreed.

The first video – to be published on Monday (Jan 29) – features Councillor Dot Foster, Calderdale's cycling and walking 'champion'.

She will outline the benefits of exercise, and specifically the creation of new shared paths, in the battle against obesity and mental ill-health.

In Tuesday's film, Jeff McQuillan – chairman of the Great Northern Railway Trail Development Group – will speak about the year 2000, when railway historians met the then Lord Mayor of Bradford to press the case for saving three disused railway viaducts.

The tunnel society's engineering co-ordinator, Graeme Bickerdike, will be the 'star' of Wednesday's video.

He will examine the £35.4 million headline repair figure for the structure, put forward by the Historical Railways Estate in 2016.

On Thursday, former locomotive fireman Harry Thompson will provide a recollection of travelling through the tunnel.

And Friday's final footage will feature Bradford West MP Naz Shah, giving her perspective on why the structure should be celebrated and restored.

Norah McWilliam, leader of the tunnel society, hopes the videos will help boost awareness of the campaign and the importance of the cause.

"We're working hard to promote our vision of the tunnel as a feat of Victorian engineering that still has a valuable role to play in the 21st century," she said.

"These videos will help us, through the insight of friends who share the vision.

"It's a complex story with lots of sub-plots, but we have to unravel them before it's too late.

"There's no going back if, in 20 years, we suddenly see the need for a cycle path connecting the Calder and Aire valleys.

"No amount of regret will shift all that concrete or the damage inflicted by time."

The videos will be available to view on Facebook and YouTube, or at queensburytunnel.org.uk.

A short trailer, featuring clips from the five interviews, can be seen at youtu.be/TKdQ0YVhoKk.