Royalty graced two top tourist attractions - the Bronte Parsonage Museum at Haworth and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway - today when the Duke of Kent visited.

It was the first time the railway had operated a royal train and the duke was carried in one of the most famous big screen carriages, The Old Gentleman's Saloon, which starred in the classic 1970 movie The Railway Children.

And he also had a go at riding on the footplate of the steam locomotive.

As is traditional when carrying royalty, the coal used to power the Ivatt Class 2-6-2 engine was painted white.

And to indicate to the signalman that royalty was aboard, the locomotive displayed a special sequence of lights called the Royal Headlamp Code.

The royal train steamed out from Keighley after the duke had met Bradford Lord Mayor Councillor Howard Middleton, Keighley town mayor Councillor Amjad Zaman and stationmaster John Wright.

Also among the guests it carried were the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, and the High Sheriff of the county, Roger Bowers.

The train made its first stop at Ingrow where the duke visited the Vintage Carriages Museum and the Bahamas Locomotive Society and met the youngsters of Ingrow Children's Gardening Group who look after the station gardens.

Next stop was Oakworth, where the duke was invited to take to the footplate for the journey to the terminus at Oxenhope.

There he was greeted by acting stationmaster Robin Richards, children from Oxenhope Primary School and the chairman of Oxenhope Parish Council, Councillor Neal Cameron.

K&WVR chairman Paul Brown said: "The visit recognises the selfless work of volunteers to transform a worn out, abandoned branch line into one of the world's leading railways."

From Oxenhope, the duke was taken to Haworth to visit the Bronte shrine at the Parsonage Museum where he was greeted by children from Haworth Primary School.

He was shown some of the major treasures, including items relating to Emily Bronte who is the subject of a major exhibition this season. They included rare manuscripts of her poetry, on loan from the British Library, and a portrait of the author of Wuthering Heights painted by her brother Branwell and on loan from the National Portrait Gallery.

Acting director of the museum, Andrew McCarthy, said: "It was a rare opportunity for the duke to see this portrait which has come back to the place where it was originally painted."

The duke had been particularly fascinated by the fact that three sisters in one family could have been so tremendously creative, Mr McCarthy added