A steady flow of volunteers in overalls arrive for work – but this dedicated crew don’t come to the carriage works at Oxenhope station expecting a wage packet at the end of the month.

For them, working alongside carriages which transported people around the country during the age of steam is a labour of love.

They are the reason the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway – the historic line twisting its way through Bronte country – exists today. Being here is either a pleasurable way to spend time in retirement, or a ‘hobby’ slotted in alongside the day job.

The passion of these volunteers is stoked by the smell of grease, paint and polish permeating the works.

With rows of carriages lining either side of the works, there’s plenty of scope to put their skills into practice.

The faded emblem on the side of a weather-beaten wooden shell is a lasting reminder of one carriage’s history transporting first-class passengers in Victorian times. Carriage 279 has had all evidence of its past as a four-compartment carriage stripped out.

The carriage was one of a number bought by a mine at Hapton, near Burnley, to provide homes for tin miners who had moved north from Cornwall.

Eric Rawcliffe, chairman of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Trust, which is restoring the carriages and putting them back on the rails, says: “To all intents and purpose they were cottages in the country.”

Pointing to a mark on the ceiling, Eric indicates the sealed hole where the chimney once protruded. A kitchen and shower provided basic comforts for its occupants.

For Marjorie Moran, Carriage 279 holds sentimental significance. The 83-year-old was born in the carriage after Ethel and Jim Lord, a kindly couple who lived there, took in her late mother, Winnifred, shortly before she gave birth.

Winnifred stayed with the Lords for a while before moving into another carriage on the site. Another kindly neighbour offered Winnifred her bungalow. “The lady asked mum if she would like the bungalow but mum said she couldn’t afford it, so the lady said, ‘what about half a crown a week?’ Mum lived in it all her life,” recalls Marjorie.

Marjorie was only two when she lived in the carriages with her mum, but she can remember how cosy they were.

“They were very comfortable and had little gingham curtains at the windows,” she recalls.

The carriage had a veranda too. “It was quite posh if you had a veranda,” she says. “But we had no bathroom. Mum always wanted one but we could never afford one.”

Now Marjorie can’t wait to see the carriage restored.

Restoration relies on funding, and while the Trust secured some money through hiring the carriage to the producers of BBC period drama South Riding, Eric estimates it could take more than a decade to get it back on the rails. For him and the team of volunteers, it’s a project worth completing.

The carriages at Oxenhope were still used for habitation until the 1990s when they were rescued after a contact informed the Trust of their existence.

Carriages 279 and 1507 were rescued, and others were cannibalised for parts. “This enabled us to move forward with the restoration,” says Eric.

Seeing the restoration of 1507, which is now in the exhibition shed at Oxenhope, and riding in it on the rails was an emotional experience for Enid Lister, as it had been her family home for 12 years.

“I’ve been on it a few times. It was strange at first but then I got used to it. In 2009 when it first went back on the line we were in every newspaper in the land. They’ve done such a wonderful job,” she says.

Enid moved into the carriage with her parents, Ivy and Tom Eaves and her two brothers when she was ten.

“My father always liked to have livestock, hens and geese, and wanted a bit of land. He said he had found us a place to go with some land, and when mum went to look it was this carriage.”

The accommodation was quite spacious, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, lounge and kitchen. Enid recalls her parents building on another bedroom.

“The kitchen and bathroom were small and when we first moved in it was all gas-lit but we did get electricity in. The toilet was outside,” recalls Enid. “It was a lovely quiet place.

The family lived in the carriage from 1948. Enid’s mum finally moved out in 1971 and she recalls the new owner used it as a store room.

Among the other exhibits are the recently-refurbished Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Blackpool Club Car, the only one of its kind. It was built in 1912 for the Lytham St Annes and Blackpool Travelling Club – a group of businessmen who negotiated with the railway to get a carriage exclusively for their use. Inside were 40 individual leather chairs for the men to relax and talk business.

When the carriage came to the attention of the Trust it had been used as a cricket pavilion since 1951 but it had been vandalised and its future was looking uncertain through its location on a site near Derby designated for development.

The carriage was bought for £1 by the Trust, which spent 18 years and a further £50,000 restoring it for its return to service along the Keighley & Worth Valley line in time for its centenary next year.

During its life as a cricket pavilion, partitions were moved, creating a central communal area for the serving of teas and cucumber sandwiches. Showers for home and away teams were incorporated at either end.

Eric, who worked on the project for six years, says the partitions and some original fitments which had been retained were put back in place.

Some features, such as brass window catches and an internal door, were replicated, along with leather chairs upholstered in Keighley. Some of the brass was also cast in Keighley.

Framed pictures of European landmarks, and an advertisement to the railway’s routes are now on show after it was discovered they had been turned round and used as pin-boards for the cricket fixtures!

Robin Higgins, treasurer of the Trust, who has worked on the project for 15 years, says: “It’s a great achievement. It’s part of social history.”