A world-famous steam railway has come under fire in a new book written by one of its own members.

Martin Bairstow describes the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (K&WVR) as "one of life's disappointments".

The chartered accountant, who joined the railway's preservation society 40 years ago, said the organisation had made no attempt to achieve one of its original prime objectives -- a commuter service.

And he claimed it had even failed to fully exploit its tourist function, with traffic -- he alleged -- seemingly in long-term decline.

The accusations have been refuted by K&WVR bosses, who said figures released this week showed that the number of people travelling on the five-mile line was continuing to increase.

Mr Bairstow, 51, stresses that the book -- "Railways Through Airedale & Wharfedale"-- does praise the considerable achievements of the K&WVR and its volunteers. But he believes that the railway, which was reopened by enthusiasts in 1968, six years after its closure by BR, had failed to realise its potential.

He said: "I have not had any direct contact from anyone on the K&WVR council, but some railway members do not like criticism and I believe the piece has caused some controversy.

"In the pages of the book relating to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway there are three photos which all include the word 'achievement' in the captions. All I have done in this piece is, while cataloguing some of the achievements, point out that in total they do not add up to what was promised in the original prospectus.

"The reopening was achieved, which took some doing, and the infrastructure has been improved. But the fact is the railway said in its prospectus of 1964 that it aimed to run a weekend tourist service and soon afterwards a daily commuter service, yet today it is still closed to business on more days than it's open."

Paul Brown, chairman of the K&WVR Preservation Society, felt the comments were dated. He said: "Although I have heard about what is said in the book I haven't read it myself, so it is difficult for me to comment fully.

"What I would say is that current figures indicate the railway is very much on the up and the criticisms probably refer back to the situation some years ago.

"Martin comes to every AGM but he has not been to a council meeting since the early 1990s, and he would find that things have now altered quite significantly." The K&WVR said passenger figures for the first four months of this year were about 5 per cent up on the same period last year, with some special events achieving a 20 per cent rise.