Kirklees celebrates 25 years in style

The Kirklees Light Railway celebrated its 25th anniversary on the weekend of October 15/16. The inspiration of the late Brian Taylor, and his wife Doreen, the first 15in gauge trains ran on the one-mile former standard gauge Clayton West branch to Cuckoo’s Nest on October 19 1991. Extensions to Skelmanthorpe (1¾ miles) and Shelley (3¼ miles) followed in 1992 and 1997. The railway’s carriages and first four steam locomotives were built in-house by Mr Taylor, and the KLR is unusual among 15in gauge railways in its practice of steam-heating its stock in winter. It also features the longest tunnel on any 15in gauge line, at 511 yards. The Taylor family’s involvement ended on January 1 2006, and the business was sold to Stately-Albion, a familycompany in South Wales that makes residential park homes and lodges. It continues to invest in and support the KLR. For the celebration, the railway steamed and operated all of its locomotives, put on a photographic display and reduced child fares to the 1991 tariff of £1.