THE SPECTACULAR theatre version of classic novel The Railway Children has returned to London.

The story, famously filmed in the 1970s on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, is being staged throughout the Christmas holidays.

The audience sit on both sides of a full-size replica of Oakworth Station, and a real steam train ‘performs’ alongside the human cast.

Midlands-based Moveright International Group laid the track in the purpose-built theatre next to Kings Cross Station, and operate the locomotive and carriage at every performance.

The Railway Children, which runs until at least next September during school holidays, is a revival of the production, written by Mike Kenny and originally presented at the National Railway Museum in York.

During the York run in 2009 audience members were able to see the Old Gentleman’s Saloon, one of the iconic engines from the film, after it was loaned by the Worth Valley line.

Members of the original cast visited the railway to prepare for their roles, riding in a carriage pulled by the Green Dragon, which also featured in the film.

The Railway Children is of three well-off siblings forced to move to live near a railway after their father is mysteriously taken away.