It will be 40 years next year since the last passenger train made its way through Otley.

On Whit Monday, June 7, 1965 the excursion from Preston to York stopped off at Skipton, Ilkley and Otley - the last time a train visited the town.

In April the following year the tracks were ripped up and all rail links to Leeds, Bradford and Harrogate severed - a victim of Dr Beeching's rationalisation of the national rail network.

From the end of 1963 an axe had hovered over all of the 11 railway stations in Wharfedale and Aireborough. Dr Beeching recommended the closure of Apperley Bridge, Addingham, Arthington, Ben Rhydding, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Guiseley, Ilkley, Menston, Horsforth Newlay, Pool-in-Wharfedale and Otley stations.

Closure notices first appeared in December 1963, inviting objections to the Transport Users Consultative Committee. The committee met in Ilkley in May, 1964 to allow objectors to speak.

The meeting heard that a total of 22 stations were under threat - including all those in Wharfedale plus stations on the neighbouring line through Aireborough.

But despite such catastrophic proposals, the only users who made an impact at the public hearing were commuters from Ilkley, Ben Rhydding, Burley, Menston and Guiseley - who together had formed the Ilkley Railway Supporters Association.

This paper reported in March 1963 that the recommendations would 'virtually deprive the Wharfedale and Airedale district of the local train service.' It went on to report that the news had been a shock, but added that reaction had not all been unfavourable.

In Arthington, the then MP Colonel Sir Malcolm Stoddart Scott, who lived in the village, had led an appeal against the proposed closure of the station and was hopeful that the decision to close could be reversed.

He told the paper that he could not understand why a station on the main Harrogate line was to be closed when the line was to remain open.

But the village's postmistress, Mrs D Boothroyd, who said people would now have to rely on just two buses a day, believed most in Arthington had expected the decision.

Forty years on, Otley Town Council is leading efforts to restore the rail link and build a station in the town. But back in 1963 the town council was of a different opinion.

The council chairman, Councillor J Simpson, believed no one would argue with the decision to close Otley Station.

He said that more could have been made of the trains and added that there were 'adequate facilities' for people to travel to and from the town by bus.

And according to the town's station master, six Ilkley to Leeds trains stopped at Otley every day - but were used very little by people from the town.

Menston Station was also under threat, but unlike Otley, councillors there fought to keep it open.

Coun H Bell, Menston's representative on Ilkley Parish Council said proposals to close Menston were a shock and he believed it would hit people in Menston very hard.

He said: "Certainly I think all Menston councillors will fight to keep it open. Some people are going to be prisoners in their own village. Everybody does not have a car and on summer weekends it is impossible to get a place on a bus."

Coun Bell was also worried about plans to build more than 100 new houses around the station which he described as a 'valuable amenity'.

Ilkley's station was also under threat and like Menston, people in the town were firmly against it.

The town's clerk, Bertram Townend told the Wharfedale it would be a 'blow to the many people of the West Riding who like to take advantage of the facilities for open air recreation which Ilkley offers'. He added that the 200 students of Ilkley's College of Housecraft travelled to the town by train - and many had heavy luggage.

In Aireborough, the council set up a sub committee to fight the loss of its stations and to appoint counsel.

County councillor William Hudson suggested that the council should join up with neighbouring authorities to fight a common cause. And fellow councillor Miss M Holdsworth said thousands of people would be inconvenienced, but believed closures could not be avoided.

Her views were shared by Coun D Dodson who said everyone knew that neither Apperley Bridge nor Guiseley stations were paying their way.

Dr Beeching's decision was announced in September 1964 - 17 of the threatened stations were to close, but a decision was deferred on the services between Leeds, Bradford and Ilkley via Guiseley. In the end, the decision was deferred for eight years during which time trains continued, but with only the barest of essential maintenance work.

The last regular passenger trains ran between Arthington and Burley and from Ilkley and Skipton on March 20, 1965. Meanwhile, the service via Guiseley continued much as before, but slightly better because of the diversion of the Otley trains.

However, the biggest change of all was that all trains ran non stop from Guiseley to Leeds and from Shipley to Bradford because of the closure of all the stations along the route. And in Easter 1965 for the first time ever there were no excursion trains to or from Ilkley.

Goods yards at Burley and Arthington were closed in 1964 and the following year the last two empty coal wagons were collected from Ben Rhydding. 1965 also saw the closure of the line between Burley and Arthington.

Demolition of the Otley line began in April 1966 with materials carried out by rail via the Burley junction where the sidings in the goods yard came back into temporary use.

At one point a farmer from Pool found a long line of wagons blocking the route taken by his cows for milking - an engine was dispatched from Leeds to remove the wagons.

Ilkley Station reverted to a terminus in January 1966 when buffer stops were built at the end of one of the platforms and the next year the last steam engine visited the town when it was dispatched to retrieve a broken down diesel.

In 1968 a fresh closure notice for the line between Bradford and Ilkley was issued and stations at Menston, Burley and Ben Rhydding all became unmanned. Only Ilkley and Guiseley kept staff to handle parcels.

Proposals to close the station at Ilkley were fought by the Ilkley Railway Supporters Association which helped produce more than 2,500 objections. A second public inquiry was held in 1969 and three years later rumours circulated that the station was to close.

Campaigners took their fight to the top and met with the minister of transport. Their efforts were partially successful - in 1972 it was announced that the Ilkley to Leeds line had been saved, although the route between Guiseley and Shipley was to be closed - however, the closure never went ahead.

Instead, local authorities joined together to subsidise the service with Baildon Urban District Council agreeing with the condition that its station was re-opened - which it was in January, 1973.