On Tuesday 24 March 2026 Community Rail Officer Emily Oldfield shadowed Try The Train Lead Catherine Kingdom (Community Rail Lancashire) in accompanying a group of young adults on a Try The Train trip from Bradford Interchange Station to York.
The group was from Coleman Training Development, a Bradford-based organisation setting out to support young adults with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) into employment. The trip was designed with careers in mind, whilst also building rail confidence (an important element in potential travel to work) and place-awareness. It involved completing a successful return journey from Bradford Interchange to York Station, as well as a walk through York and a visit to York Chocolate Story to discover more about one of the city’s historic major industries… chocolate and confectionery!
Starting out at Bradford Interchange in the morning, the group gathered in the station to demonstrate and clarify important skills in navigating the station environment; including the awareness of where/how to buy a ticket, where to find information about train times and locating the correct platform. Once on the train, the group completed more interactive activities, before reaching York and navigating out of the station safely.
The visit to York was an opportunity for the group to also build their confidence in navigating a busy city environment and following directions. After a walk and lunch, there was a pre-booked visit to York Chocolate Story; an interactive visitor attraction exploring York’s key role in chocolate and confectionery manufacture over the years. There were several sweet samples to enjoy and chance to make a chocolate lolly to take home too. The visit was also highly relevant to Emily’s ongoing research into food, drink and rail heritage in Northern England – to be the feature of a future blog post.
The group successfully navigated back to the station and onto a specific train, demonstrating their practical knowledge of using the railway network. On the return journey, each member of the group was awarded with a certificate congratulating them on completion of their Try The Train training – with this group having completed a previous trip and workshops as part of the programme. It was a valuable and insightful opportunity for Emily to be part of, and she is hoping to continue shadowing/training to help deliver Try The Train to groups in Bolton and Wigan in the future.
More information about the Try The Train initiative can be found on the dedicated website. Emily is grateful to Catherine for the guidance and enjoyed shadowing such an engaged group who had evidently grown in rail confidence and awareness. Looking forward to more in the future!
