The magical journey begins, as so many do, in Keighley. Boarding a Railway Children Special for Oxenhope, we steam up the Worth Valley, wowed by the wonderful scenery flying by, our grandmotherly gricer companion, her head stuck out for the whole journey, whooping at spotting the engine at every corner, allows the smoke to fill our carriage, our nostrils, our hearts and all of us with joyous anticipation.
The Railway Children in Oxenhope
Arriving at Oxenhope, we find a throng of excited theatregoers drinking decent pints, eating good pies (with proper gravy, mind) and buying trinkets as mementos of a night yet to be realised and relished.
Directed into the engine shed, now a purpose-built auditorium for this summer of steam theatre, we make our way to our platform and sit waiting for the theatrical train to take us back in time a century or more and all the way to London where we meet the “very ordinary” Waterbury family just as their lives are cast asunder by their father’s arrest.
It’s easy to be drawn into their lives as the actors gallivant up and down the platform, an arm’s length away, taking us with them as they leap onto platforms deftly manoeuvred along the tracks and set off for a more frugal life in Yorkshire. The platforms cleverly move the story along as Bobbie, Peter and Phyl meet Perks and become The Railway Children.
Perks, the patriarch of the platform, parades up and down in the finest tradition of Cribbins’ comedy, a silly walk here, brandishing a brush like a blunderbuss there, and breaking this flimsiest of fourth walls with a quip which makes the whole house smile.
Smoke in our eyes?
Sat in Oxenhope, the moving platforms, enchanting acting and thrilling soundscape draw you in, transporting you to Oakworth one moment, to London the next, into the middle of a pitch black tunnel then to the pomp of a ceremony celebrating bravery, then the sickbeds of a political dissident and an injured runner at speeds that would shame even the mighty Mallard.
To rapturous applause and whistles, suddenly the surprise star enters: no, not the old gentleman, but a huge, beautiful, wonderful steam train saunters on stage like a leading lady, stealing the show and stopping with pinpoint accuracy, a deftness defying its tonnage.
All too soon, those magical three words come, “Daddy! My daddy!” bringing us to tears and our feet as the cast takes a well-deserved standing ovation.
A steam train is the perfect way to end the night as we are taken back to Keighley and the 21st Century to mull over the journey we’ve all just been taken on.
The experience, far more than just a trip to see a play, is a feast for all the family: mums will mumble about Bernard Cribbins, kids will laugh and love, and you, yes you, daddy my daddy, might even find Bobbie has blown a little smoke in your eye, but your soft-hearted secret’s safe with The Railway Children.
The Railway Children, presented by Bradford 2025 and York Theatre Royal, with the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway runs until 7 September. Tickets available at the Bradford 2025 website.
