A VINTAGE bus will transport steam train passengers to railway museums at Ingrow station during the Bank Holiday weekend.

The Bahamas Locomotive Society is running the bus because the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is currently unable to stop at Ingrow.

Since the railway reopened last week with Covid-friendly safety measures, trains have stopped only at Keighley and Oxenhope stations.

This misses two of the most popular stops, Ingrow West which has the Museum of Rail Travel and Ingrow Loco, and historic Haworth.

Bahamas, which runs the Ingrow Loco museum and workshop, is supporting vintage bus running on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, August 29-31, as well as weekends in September.

The bus ties in with the Bahamas Society's reopening of its museum and education service, with support including a £61,500 lottery grant, £2,000 from Keighley Town Council and £1,000 from Yorkshire Museums Development.

Bahamas chairman Keith Whitmore said: "We are really grateful for this generous support and for the confidence shown in what we.

"I am delighted that our museum is now open again with limited numbers allowed into the building at one time, and our staff are now back at Ingrow having been on furlough since the middle of March.

"The museum will be open on days when the railway is in operation, currently on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as Bank Holiday Monday.

"We know that Haworth really wanted to see the usual Summer Vintage Bus service to operate between KWVR and the village and I am delighted that we are able to work with Yester Year Vintage Vehicle Hire to support it.

"Our society has always prioritised working in the local community and with local schools which is why we introduced our Saturday Science Club some two years ago which we hope to be able to reintroduce soon.

"We are also very keen to work with elderly residents on railway reminiscences as well.

"Our flagship locomotive Jubilee class 45596 Bahamas returned to the mainline last year and did its last mainline trip from Oxenhope over the Settle and Carlisle Railway on February 22, which seems a lifetime ago, but we will be on the mainline again next year.

"We are really delighted that since its recent overhaul, Bahamas will be making its first trip to another heritage railway in October and will be visiting the Mid Hants Railway at Alresford which is actually the furthest south the loco has been in preservation.

"Since we moved from the other side of the Pennines in 1990, we have enjoyed support and working with the local community and any ideas which residents might have for working with us is welcomed."

* The vintage bus will set off from Ingrow station at 11am ,12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm. The 45 minute journey will go Haworth station, Changegate in Haworth, Oxenhope station via Penistone Hill and Marsh, then back to Ingrow via Hebden Road.

The plan is to have live commentary once leaving Haworth, pointing out places of interest including Top Witherns, the bomber crash site, narrow gauge railway, Lilly Cove, valley's pack horse route, and mills in Oxenhope.