RAIL lovers yesterday took a trip to Colne’s Boundary Mill Stores on a specially-chartered train.

Enthusiasts from the Skipton to East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) set up a train which took the picturesque route between Skipton and Colne.

Organisers say the service was the first one to travel between the two towns since the direct route closed 38 years ago.

Starting in Skipton, it transported Christmas shoppers to Colne via Keighley, Bingley, Shipley, Leeds, Halifax and Hebden Bridge in a plea for rail bosses to reopen a permanent link between the towns.

Andy Shackleton, from SELRAP, said: “The notion of a 75-mile journey between Skipton and Colne is quite daft but that’s the whole point of the exercise.

“A trainload of travellers will give a powerful message of support for reopening the direct route, when the journey will take just 15 minutes.”