Editing Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (section)

===Inception and building of the branch===
In 1861, John McLandsborough, a civil engineer, visited Haworth to pay tribute to [[Charlotte Brontë]] but was surprised to find that it was not served by a railway. He proposed a branch running from the [[Midland Railway]]'s station at {{rws|Keighley}} to [[Oxenhope]]. The line would serve three small towns and 15 mills along its length.

A meeting of local gentlemen was told that the line would cost £36,000<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Railway for Keighley and Haworth |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000336/18611109/017/0005 |newspaper=Leeds Times |location=British Newspaper Archive |date=9 November 1861 |access-date=28 July 2016 |via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> to build<ref name="History of K&WVR">{{cite book|last=Povey|first=Ralph Oliver Thomas|title=The History of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway|year=1970|publisher=Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society|isbn=0902438093}}</ref> ({{Inflation|UK|36000|1861|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} A total of 3,134 shares worth £10 each were issued at this meeting, along with the election of directors, bankers, solicitors and engineers. J McLandsborough, the original proposer of the line (who dealt predominantly with water and sewerage engineering, but had experience of building the [[Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway|Otley and Ilkley Railway]]) was appointed acting engineer; whilst J. S. Crossley of the Midland Railway was appointed consultant engineer.

The railway was incorporated by an [[Act of Parliament#United Kingdom Parliament|Act of Parliament]] in 1862 and the [[Groundbreaking|first sod was cut]] on Shrove Tuesday, 9 February 1864 by [[Sir Isaac Holden, 1st Baronet|Isaac Holden]], the chairman of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. Cutting the First Sod. |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000155/18640211/023/0005 |newspaper=Bradford Observer |location=British Newspaper Archive |date=11 February 1864 |access-date=28 July 2016 |via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The railway was built as single track but with a trackbed wide enough to allow upgrading to double track for expansion.<ref name="History of K&WVR"/> Although the work was estimated to take approximately one year, delays including buying land for the line, a cow eating the plans near Oakworth and engineering problems meant the work took nearly two years to complete. In particular the southern tunnel to Ingrow West had quicksand oozing through bore holes that required additional piles to be driven down to the bedrock to support and stabilise the tunnel. Unfortunately the work damaged the foundation to the Wesley Place [[Methodism|Methodist Church]] resulting in the church receiving £1,980 from the railway company.<ref name="History of K&WVR"/>

Tracklaying was completed in 1866, having started at each end and joined in the middle. The line was tested with a locomotive from [[Ilkley]], which took nearly two hours to get from Keighley to Oxenhope, but just 13 minutes to get back.<ref name="History of K&WVR"/> Before opening, violent storms struck the line in November of that year.

The opening ceremony was held on Saturday 13 April 1867.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Opening of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000076/18670415/007/0003 |newspaper=Leeds Mercury |location=British Newspaper Archive |date=15 April 1867 |access-date=28 July 2016 |via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Unfortunately, the train got stuck on Keighley bank and again between Oakworth and Haworth, necessitating splitting it before carrying on with the journey. Finally, on 15 April 1867, public passenger services on the Worth Valley commenced.