Railway Children arrive first class after 26 years

Wrinkles and experience were forgotten yesterday as the original Railway Children arrived on a colourfully decorated steam train for a day of nostalgia at the Victorian station where the children's classic was filmed 26 years ago.

Jenny Agutter and Sally Thomsett, who played two of the three Edwardian children in the 1970 film, and Iain Cuthbertson, who played their father, arrived to a rousing brass band reception at Oakworth station, Keighley, West Yorkshire. They were welcomed with posies from children dressed in Edwardian costumes, and guards and porters dressed in original black and gold uniforms.

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society invited the three actors to the station to unveil a Cinema 100 plaque awarded by the British Film Institute to commemorate the film of the Railway Children in the institute's 100th year of British cinema. The trio's arrival in a first class carriage of thetrain used in the film was a far cry from their Railway Children characters, who could only afford the cheapest seats.

After listening to speeches from cinema and railway enthusiasts and messages from some of the film's stars, including Dinah Sheridan and Bernard Cribbins, who could not be there, Ms Agutter spoke of her own love for the charming Lionel Jeffries film.

She said: "I feel I don't really deserve to be here because it was such an enjoyable thing to be involved in."

Sally Thomsett, who played Jenny's younger sister, said: "Lionel Jeffries created something innocent and wonderful ...He made us feel like we were the railway children."