TWO women who braved a daring walk through a disused railway tunnel under Queensbury as young girls have returned to the site to tell their remarkable story.

It comes as campaigners continue their plight to save the tunnel from closure and move forward with plans to safeguard it for future use.

The visit was arranged for a collection of filmed interviews - called 'Reflections' - which the Queensbury Tunnel Society has produced in its campaign to save the Victorian structure for use as part of a cycle path network.

On February 11, 1960, 12-year-olds Kathleen Leonard and Trudy Baxendale, now Daveney and Bradburne, joined four of their school friends to walk through the tunnel, which is almost one-and-a-half miles in length.

The exploit left them cold, wet and frightened until they eventually found sanctuary in a house close to the northern entrance.

There was deep snow on the ground when the six girls left school at 3.30pm and headed to the tunnel. Armed with a torch, the pair were unaware of what might lay ahead of them.

“I don’t think we had any idea really, how bad it could be,” said Kathy.

“My biggest memory is all the water coming down a big vent. We had to breathe in and go around it. I cried and they all took the mickey out of me because I wanted to go back all the time.”

Expecting the trip to last half-an-hour, it was well after 6pm when they finally emerged into the deep cutting close to the site of Queensbury’s former station. Darkness had fallen and the torch was no longer working. Exhausted and bedraggled, they clambered up the hillside, attracted by the lights of a house.

The lady inside took pity on them and rang Trudy's father, who informed police that all six were safe.

Trudy said: “We were called to the Headmaster’s office. He was telling us off but he had a twinkle in his eye. He said ‘What were you thinking?’ I remember being asked that question by my parents when I got home. I didn’t know the answer then and I don’t know the answer now."

Their interview will be released next week and is one of five videos due to be published each morning by the society.

Norah McWilliam, leader of the Queensbury Tunnel Society, appears in one of the videos and said: “Kathy and Trudy are the real stars. It was a joy to meet them and hear their story. The memories clearly came flooding back - like it was yesterday - as we walked with them up the cutting, 58 years after they were last there. It was quite emotional for all of us."