All aboard the spooky train!

Grand Central and Huddersfield Town Foundation managed to scare the daylights out of some local schoolchildren on its annual Spooky Train journey last week.

Thirty children from Healey Junior and Infant School in Batley wrote ghost stories to frighten their friends on the ride, provided by Grand Central from Brighouse to Doncaster on 24 October.

Author and Town Foundation patron Helena Pielichaty, who was raised in Yorkshire, told the children stories before encouraging them to write their own ghost tales and take part in roleplaying games. There were prizes for the best stories, costumes and presentation and a goody bag containing a water bottle, a book by Pielichaty, a Happy Meal toy donated by McDonalds on Leeds Road, Huddersfield and a Grand Central storybook.

“It was a great way to start Halloween,” says Town Foundation’s head of trust fund, Julie Sheffield, “The children were thoroughly engaged throughout the journey and showed real creative flair in their stories. I would like to thank Grand Central for providing us with free transport, as without them it wouldn’t have been possible to put this event on for the schoolchildren.”
She adds, “The feedback we got from teachers, the pupils and everyone else involved was fantastic and we are looking at putting a similar event on in the future.”

Nathan English, Grand Central’s community stakeholder and engagement assistant, says, “The whole thing went down a treat! With help from our colleagues at the Huddersfield Town Foundation, we managed to deliver what was an excellently creepy experience for our young guests, half of whom, had never even travelled by rail before, which made the day even more special.” And far from being little monsters, says English, “The children were an absolute pleasure to have on board.”

About Grand Central

Grand Central Railway Company Limited is an established train operator that provides direct rail connections from towns and cities in Yorkshire and the North East England with London.

Established in 2007, Grand Central celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2017. Customer satisfaction levels are consistently high and the rail company has just been named Britain’s best value rail operator for the fifth year in a row.

Grand Central operates West Riding Services between Bradford Interchange, Low Moor, Halifax, Brighouse, Mirfield, Wakefield Kirkgate, Pontefract Monkhill, Doncaster and London Kings Cross. The rail operator also operates North East services between Sunderland, Hartlepool, Eaglescliffe, Northallerton, Thirsk, York and London Kings Cross.

Grand Central is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe. Arriva employs more than 60,000 people and delivers more than 2 billion passenger journeys across 14 European countries each year.

For further information on this or Grand Central’s community and stakeholder activity, please contact Hazel Davis – [email protected].

For all other Grand Central enquiries please contact Sarah Banks/Anna Hodgson on 0191 261 4250, [email protected]