Keighley station was first opened by the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway (LBER), on a site slightly further up the line in March 1847.

[1] The volume of traffic over the original level crossing in the town, prompted the Midland Railway, which had absorbed the LBER, to spend £60,000 in 1876 building the road bridge immediately to the north of where the present station is located.

Closed to British Railways' passenger traffic in 1962, it was reopened by the K&WVR Preservation Society six years later and is now a popular tourist attraction.

The new Northern franchise agreement, starting in April 2016, included provision to increase the Bradford service to hourly from its former two-hourly frequency, and this occurred at the December 2017 timetable change.

[9] It has a connection to the Airedale Line (via sidings) just north of the Bradford Road bridge for rolling stock transfers and occasional visits by charter trains.

The advert uses the platform that serves the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, notable for the period features that it has retained over the years.

[11] In the first episode of All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series), the main character, James Herriot, says goodbye to his parents and boards a train in Glasgow; these scenes were actually filmed at Keighley station.