Welcome to The Railway Children

This visual story is to help you plan your trip and know what to expect at our production of The Railway Children. For additional details on timings, directions, parking, and more, please refer to our The Railway Children FAQs.

The Journey

The adventure starts at Keighley Station.

Keighley Station. 

There are signs on the floor to help you lead the way to the correct platform for The Railway Children.

Signage of the floor in Keighley Station. 

Before getting onto the platform, your tickets will be checked and your hand stamped with the Bradford 2025 logo.

Walking down to the platform. 
A stamp on somebody's hand. 

The train will be waiting for you. It’ll take you to Oxenhope station.

The steam train, waiting on the platform at Keighley. 

You’ll get off the train at Oxenhope station. The line ends here.

Oxenhope station. 

Volunteers in yellow t-shirts can help you find your way.

A smiling volunteer in a yellow t-shirt. 

Toilets

Toilets further along the platform, including the accessible toilet.

A link to a map showing the nearest Changing Places toilet is here: Changing Places Toilets

Toilets further along the platform. 
Accessible toilet. 

Oxenhope Station

Ear defenders are available if you want them.

To get outside, turn left through the gate at the end of the platform.

Gate at the end of the platform. 

There are food and drink stalls on the right.

One of the food stalls. 

Auditorium

The auditorium entrance is to the left.

The auditorium entrance. 

You will be directed to either Platform A or Platform B, both of which have stairs and a ramp for access.

A sign with arrows, showing Platform A to the left, and Platform B to the right. 

The seats are all the way down the length of the platform. It doubles as a stage!

Going onto the platform to get to your seats. 

If you think you might need to leave the space during the show, try and book tickets at the Station Master’s house end.

The Station Master’s house. 

The company come out at the start of the show to say hello to us!

Two women greet the audience as they walk along the platform. They wear in dark coloured Edwardian costumes, with hats.  

Most of the action takes place on platforms that move up and down the track.

Two small platforms on the track, with characters on them. 

Sometimes smoke is used to represent a train arriving.

Smoke being released into the train track. 

Sometimes the characters might be very close to you!

Characters on the platform, standing close to the audience. 

Just before the interval, a real train arrives! It’s quite noisy – ear defenders are available.

We’re asked to wave to the train during the show – join in if you can, and if you’d like to!

A steam train arriving on the track. 

A thin black curtain is pulled along the whole length of the track to create a tunnel. It gets very dark for a short amount of time.

The darkness doesn’t last for very long. Then there are lights that show us what’s happening inside the tunnel.

Lights revealing the inside of the tunnel. 

The train returns towards the end of the show. There’s also more smoke, and it’s quite dark.

A man stands silhouetted in darkness as the train puffs on the track next to him. 

The company bow at the end of the show.

Actors bowing on both platforms. 

The platforms might feel quite crowded when all the actors are around, waving and the train comes back too.

Actors waving at the audience. 

Exiting

Then it’s time to get back on the train to go back to Keighley.

A crowd of people heading towards the train. 

The train makes quite a loud noise when it arrives, and there’s some steam. It might make you jump!

Steam coming out from under the train.