'Lost' version of Railway Children is released

It is also credited with increasing the popularity of the fledgling Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

But two years earlier, just before the railway reopened to the public, it hosted the filming of a TV version of The Railway Children.

Now this black and white series - long believed destroyed - has been released for the first time on video.

Nick Bennett, chairman of the K&WVR, is looking forward to seeing how the railway and its engines looked 34 years ago.

He said: "I thought the series was lost forever. We wrote to the BBC a few years ago and suggested they might screen it again, but they didn't think it was of high-enough quality."

Ralph Povey, a past president of the Railway Preservation Society, says the series was among the first of many TV and cinema productions to be filmed on the line.

The railway did not charge much for its first booking, for a TV advert. "It was our early days. We were very green about it," he said.

Watching the 170-minute video will be more than a nostalgia trip for present-day K&WVR volunteers. For one star of the series - locomotive No 957 - re-entered service on the Worth Valley line this year after several years' restoration.

The engine wore the livery of the Great Northern and Southern Railway for its appearances in both the TV series and the film.

After 15 years out of service, and following extensive repairs, it returned to active service at Easter in its original colours.

No 957 appears with Jenny Agutter and her co-stars on the cover of the new video, which is released by nostalgia specialists DD Video.

Company spokesman Colin Hicks says the BBC was able to locate all the episodes despite rumours they had been lost.

"Even Jenny Agutter only had a tape of one episode and believed the rest had been erased," he said. "The episodes are of quite remarkable quality."

The Railway Children is available on video for £16.99 or DVD for £19.99 from local shops, or direct from DD Video. Phone 01829 741490 for details.