Keighley's chances of hosting a remake of the classic film The Railway Children have been shunted into the sidings.

Carlton TV is negotiating with the Bluebell Railway in Sussex for locations to shoot its £2 million version of the Edith Nesbit novel. The news is a bitter blow to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (K&WVR), where the original movie was shot some 30 years ago.

K&WVR chairman Graham Mitchell, who played a guard in the 1970 masterpiece, told us: "The Worth Valley is the obvious choice for the remake - everybody associates The Railway Children with this area.

"We have not had any contact at all from Carlton, which is surprising and extremely disappointing. Normally a researcher for the production company would phone round a number of potential locations and thoroughly check them out.

"If Bluebell is confirmed as the location it will be a blow to the K&WVR and to the district as a whole."

Disappointment is shared by Keighley councillor Barry Thorne. He told us: "The K&WVR is a very professional organisation with a great deal of experience working with film and television companies and there is no doubt it would have been able to meet the requirements."

He says the loss of the immediate economic benefit from the filming, and the missed opportunity to promote Keighley as a tourism destination, would be a blow.

Carlton - which has signed up Simon Nye, creator of the hit sitcom Men Behaving Badly, to write the movie - is divulging little about its plans. A spokes-man says: "It is very early days. Nothing has been decided about the location."

Chris Knibbs, operations manager with Bluebell Railway, is equally tight-lipped but he confirms that approaches have been made by the TV company.

He adds: "I can't say anything more at the moment. There is nothing concrete."

The Bluebell Railway is a nine-mile line running from Sheffield Park to a point near East Grinstead. The railway society, established 40 years ago, employs some paid staff and the remainder are volunteers. It - like the K&WVR - has been used extensively in the past for filming .

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