Volunteers at Keighley & Worth Valley Railway are celebrating their busiest Easter in ten years.

Over the four days, 4,635 people travelled on the five-mile line between Keighley and Oxenhope.

And the rise coincided with Sunday's TV screening of the re-make of The Railway Children, starring Jenny Agutter. The original film, in which she featured as a teenager, was shot on the line 30 years ago.

Figures out today reveal 787 people visited the KWVR on Good Friday, 924 on Saturday, 1,411 on Easter Sunday and 1,513 on Monday. They represented an 11 per cent increase on last year's total of 4,187.

Railway press officer Matt Stroh attributed the increase to the later Easter this year, which he believes encouraged more people to holiday in Britain.

And he said there was also a possible spin-off from the new film and the publicity the railway had received about a £600,000 lottery grant awarded to construct a new carriage shed in Oxenhope.

He said: "An increase of 448 visitors is not huge, but the per centage increase is extremely welcome.

"When even massively funded attractions such as the Greenwich Dome had disappointing numbers over Easter, I'm delighted the railway is still seen as an extremely attractive place to visit.

"It's particularly pleasing to see a rise in sales of our high-value day-rover tickets, which now offer not only unlimited all-day rail travel, but also free admission to the Museum of Rail at Ingrow."

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