A FAMOUS railway is going full steam ahead with efforts to recruit active volunteers.

Newcomers and existing passive members are being sought to help out on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

A Volunteer Day is being held tomorrow to show potential recruits the kind of duties performed on the five-mile line.

K&WVR volunteer liaison officer Brian Lee will greet would-be workers at Platform Four of Keighley railway station (10.30am) before they travel by train to Haworth, where they will hear about the work of the civil maintenance and locomotive committees.

It will then be on to Oxenhope where the party will sample the duties of the catering, sales and carriage and wagon committees.

Mr Lee believes many people may want to join the railway but don't know how to go about it, or feel the work could be too heavy for them.

He says: "The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is the largest volunteer-operated railway in the world and we want to show potential recruits that there are literally scores of jobs available to them, from shop work to track work, from gardening to welding.

"There really is something for everyone and you don't have to be a weightlifter to join in!"

Although the K&WVR Preserv-ation Society has a paid-up membership of 5,000, only around 300 actively serve on the railway on a regular basis.

Publicity spokesman Dr Matt Stroh says: "The railway is operational every weekend and bank holidays throughout the year, and daily in summer.

"Even on a so-called quiet winter Saturday we require a minimum of 27 staff to keep all the stations, shops and buffets open and the trains running. We constantly need to encourage our existing passive members to join in operationally, and we need a constant supply of new members to the railway society."

Attendance tomorrow is free. Newcomers can simply turn up, but they are encouraged first to contact Mr Lee on 0113 255 8000 for further details. Anyone who decides to become a working volunteer will be required, for insurance purposes, to join the K&WVR Preservation Society.

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