For years carriages at Oxenhope Station -- 665ft above sea level -- have been subjected to the harsh Pennine weather.

But the opening of a new carriage shed at the station means they finally have some protection.

MP Ann Cryer, who is president of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Trust, officially opened the new building last Thursday. Lord Mayor Cllr Ghazanfer Khaliq was also present at the event.

Mrs Cryer unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion.

She said: "I would like to thank all who were involved in this scheme, especially members of the society who gave up their own time without getting paid."

She added: "We received a great chunk of money from the lottery. It was actually the third biggest amount awarded by the Heritage Fund in the Bradford district -- the largest went to the National Museum of Film and Photography and the other was spent on improvements to Lister Park.This makes it a landmark in the history of the district."

Guests at the event were treated to a steam engine ride from Keighley to Oxenhope.

They were also entertained with a play written especially for the opening ceremony by Platform 4 Theatre, of the National Railway Museum, in York.

Chris Kay and Chris Ford -- who make up the theatre team -- researched the play using the Keighley News archives.

John Ives, of Briggs Potts Parry and Ives, was the architect in charge of the project. He thanked a number of people for their help, including Nigel Ward, who managed the lottery bid and was project manager.

The work -- which also involved renovating and repairing existing storage sheds -- cost £850,000 in total. Almost £600,000 of this came from the Heritage grant. The rest of the money was left to the trust by a long-standing member of the society.

Work on the shed began in September last year, and was carried out in three stages. Stage one was the refurbishment of the existing Midland Railway goods shed, currently used by the carriage and wagon department for storage.

The carriage and wagon repair shed was also re-clad in stone, extended and equipped with jacking facilities.

Stage two was the erection of a new, open-sided, two-road carriage shed to accommodate 12 vehicles. The shed is 113 metres long and is equipped with a central carriage platform for maintenance purpose.

The final stage involved the complete re-cladding of an existing shed, which houses exhibits that are open to the public. Disabled access and fire escapes have also been improved.

Gabion walls have also been constructed alongside the shed to provide additional siding for five coaches. The gabions are wire baskets filled with stone.

Landscaping work will be completed during autumn and electrical work will be carried out on the carriage and storage sheds over the next 12 months to make them fully operational.