Severn Valley Railway

[Blandford1969]

Next Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the closure of the the SVR as a through route. By the time of closure steam was rare , however on the last day the Western Region turned out 2 panniers 4665 and 9624 and left at 6.58pm for Snow Hill.

 

This Friday and Saturday (the actual anniversry) 7714 is working services (in fairness it does every week apart from on washout) but hey it makes for more of a story. 

 

It is working the 10am from Kidderminster and 12.45 on Saturday the 9th and will be carrying a headboard (apparently)  The article says it will be on display beforehand - not sure if that means on the front of the train and we will have set back as the WTT does not tell me. Just that we are due light engine to arrive at Kidder at 11.10am. 

[AY Mod]

12 minutes ago, Blandford1969 said:

on the last day the Western Region turned out 2 panniers 4665 and 9624 and left at 6.58pm for Snow Hill.

 

Coincidentally, maybe, I saw this on Facebook a few days ago.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4282876815271381&set=gm.1799870073814959&idorvanity=337630196705628

 

Nos.4555 & 1420. SLS Special. Bewdley.

19th September 1965.

 

A couple of years later but nice to see.

 

 

[rogerzilla]

Was at the autumn steam gala on Saturday.  Was easier to get a seat than it was at the spring gala.  Hagley Hall sounds great.  I'm not a big S160 fan but it was something different.  Mayflower seemed to have a slipping issue - it barely made it into Arley.  There are points just before the bridge, so I suppose sanders were out of the question.

[SR71]

I see in the latest Bluebell email that LBSCR Terrier Fenchurch will be visiting the SVR 18-21st April 24. Given it struggles to get to East Grinstead on water/coal I'm not sure how it will cope on the SVR!

[Blandford1969]

13 hours ago, rogerzilla said:

Was at the autumn steam gala on Saturday.  Was easier to get a seat than it was at the spring gala.  Hagley Hall sounds great.  I'm not a big S160 fan but it was something different.  Mayflower seemed to have a slipping issue - it barely made it into Arley.  There are points just before the bridge, so I suppose sanders were out of the question.

Some see using sanders as a failure - male ego comes to mind. Additionally we don't use them near points. Hope you enjoyed it despite the late running

[Blandford1969]

11 hours ago, SR71 said:

I see in the latest Bluebell email that LBSCR Terrier Fenchurch will be visiting the SVR 18-21st April 24. Given it struggles to get to East Grinstead on water/coal I'm not sure how it will cope on the SVR!

Would assume a local from Kidder to Bewdley or Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade

[rogerzilla]

The 6/7 Jan 2024 winter steam gala looks really interesting - the SVR does turn on carriage heating (unlike some) and the steam will be spectacular in the cold.  I suppose the biggest risk is of snow keeping visitors away.  We'll be going, anyway.

[2750Papyrus]

Travelled on the SVR on Saturday.  It was very busy and we spent half of the journeys standing in the corridors.  Bridgnorth town was also very busy, yet Friday and Saturday nights in Bewdley were very quiet.

 

A good trip, part of a biennial re-union.

[billywhizz]

Bewdley wasn’t that quiet at kicking out time on Saturday night. Lively would be one way to describe it!!! 

[rogerzilla]

Went for a quick one-dayer today.  Very busy and they'd put an extra relief train on at 0940 from Kidders.  Only gripe is that the volunteer catering arrangements aren't all there - no buffet on the train, as the caterer hadn't made it in, and Bewdley tea shop was closed too.

[Blandford1969]

2 hours ago, rogerzilla said:

Went for a quick one-dayer today.  Very busy and they'd put an extra relief train on at 0940 from Kidders.  Only gripe is that the volunteer catering arrangements aren't all there - no buffet on the train, as the caterer hadn't made it in, and Bewdley tea shop was closed too.

That's just down to the number of volunteers that put in as available I'm affraid. All the catering staff were cut back in the early period of the year. 

 

The releif train was put on at short notice after last Saturday was over full. Suggestions were made that many were using their free return. 

 

Meanwhile we spent all day cleaning mainly the bottom half of the visiting S160 to get rid of all the rubbish that was still on it from not being loved whereever it was before. 

[rodent279]

The green goddess waits right time at Bridgnorth, with the 1340 to Kidderminster on a wet 4th November, with 1934 built LMS dining car 7511 at the front.

 

 

[Andy Kirkham]

I was there on Tuesday. Dismal weather, hard to see out of the windows and an ominously full river. Still I enjoyed myself but had a miserable journey home to Bristol: multiple cancellations and finally got to Temple Meads by taxi from Gloucester at 1 am.

 

But something intrigued me. There was a train hauled by the London Transport-liveried Class 20, which apparently ran from Bewdley to Kidderminster while I was up the line. It consisted of bogie wagons laden with concrete slabs. Then there were a number of modern-looking bogie vans branded with "RailAdventure". What was all this about?

[Erixtar1992]

8 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

I was there on Tuesday. Dismal weather, hard to see out of the windows and an ominously full river. Still I enjoyed myself but had a miserable journey home to Bristol: multiple cancellations and finally got to Temple Meads by taxi from Gloucester at 1 am.

 

But something intrigued me. There was a train hauled by the London Transport-liveried Class 20, which apparently ran from Bewdley to Kidderminster while I was up the line. It consisted of bogie wagons laden with concrete slabs. Then there were a number of modern-looking bogie vans branded with "RailAdventure". What was all this about?

The vans are translator wagons for hauling EMUs ect when newly delivered, the flat wagons have concrete ballast weights on top to increase brake force 

[Andy Kirkham]

11 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

The vans are translator wagons for hauling EMUs ect when newly delivered, the flat wagons have concrete ballast weights on top to increase brake force 

Thanks.

But what are those vehicles doing on the SVR?

[woodenhead]

56 minutes ago, Andy Kirkham said:

Thanks.

But what are those vehicles doing on the SVR?

Being commercial entities a lot of 'preserved' lines provide services - storage, training, testing facilities etc to private railway companies as it generates income or in some cases a bit of quid pro quo for use of a crane or plant and suchlike to save the preservation company some money.

 

Or it could have been delivering an electric unit to Bewdley.

Edited January 5 by woodenhead

[Chris116]

4 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Or it could have been delivering an electric unit to Bewdley.

Would that be for the new line into the forest, once the bridge has been rebuilt?

[woodenhead]

2 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

Would that be for the new line into the forest, once the bridge has been rebuilt?

The shuttle service to the West Midlands Safari Park

[Ben B]

1 hour ago, Andy Kirkham said:

Thanks.

But what are those vehicles doing on the SVR?

 

There's a pic of the train I spotted earlier on here, might have been in the HST pics thread? Two Rail Adventure HST's pulling it on the mainline

[Phil Bullock]

With the change in management at  SVR with Gus Funster at the helm we have gone back to management by a railwayman.

 

Gus has many contacts in the railway industry and these are beneficial in several ways … not least financially with the railway storing, working on and testing stock from companies on the big railway but also with infrastructure companies who can train staff on the SVR without the access issues they would have on the main line.

 

Win win all round! The main line connection is invaluable… 

[adb968008]

4 hours ago, woodenhead said:

The shuttle service to the West Midlands Safari Park

Sure you need a Swiss SBB Ce6/8  Krokodil for that, to fit the surroundings ?

[F-UnitMad]

4 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

With the change in management at  SVR with Gus Funster at the helm we have gone back to management by a railwayman.

I've heard of this change of management, apparently the railway is still suffering from the fallout from the previous one?

On Thurs 28th Dec my family & friends had what could only be described as an "authentic 1960s railway experience" - over-crowded trains, late departures, lack of variety of food & slow service at the cafes, and not even an announcement that the first train of the day was leaving Kidderminster - meaning one of our group was left stranded as she was still in the ticket office queue to exchange her advance-purchased e-tickets for 'proper' cardboard ones (WHY??????!!!!) Her distress at missing the train was matched only by the distress of her elderly mother who was with the rest of us but suffers from dementia. Only one of the staff at Kidderminster showed any sympathy to her or tried to help.

A horrible experience all round and a reminder of just why the railways were in freefall decline in the 60s as the public went in droves for the convenience of the private motor car. 🙄🙄🙄

Both mine & my friend's letters of complaint to the SVR make for entertaining reading. If I didn't live relatively local, & wasn't a railway enthusiast anyway, I would never bother visiting the SVR again.

Edited January 5 by F-UnitMad

[Blandford1969]

4 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

I've heard of this change of management, apparently the railway is still suffering from the fallout from the previous one?

On Thurs 28th Dec my family & friends had what could only be described as an "authentic 1960s railway experience" - over-crowded trains, late departures, lack of variety of food & slow service at the cafes, and not even an announcement that the first train of the day was leaving Kidderminster - meaning one of our group was left stranded as she was still in the ticket office queue to exchange her advance-purchased e-tickets for 'proper' cardboard ones (WHY??????!!!!) Her distress at missing the train was matched only by the distress of her elderly mother who was with the rest of us but suffers from dementia. Only one of the staff at Kidderminster showed any sympathy to her or tried to help.

A horrible experience all round and a reminder of just why the railways were in freefall decline in the 60s as the public went in droves for the convenience of the private motor car. 🙄🙄🙄

Both mine & my friend's letters of complaint to the SVR make for entertaining reading. If I didn't live relatively local, & wasn't a railway enthusiast anyway, I would never bother visiting the SVR again.

To answer your a number of your points. I understand and am sorry you did not have a good time. However some of what you have written is unfair. 

 

We no longer have paid staff in the buffets and are totally reliant on volunteers. I remember that it was made clear before Christmas that due to lack of staff there would be a very basic service over new year.  There were only limited numbers of volunteers who knowing who is involved would have been doing their best to go as quickly as possible. 

 

For the overcrowding I'd always recommend if trains are running from Bridgnorth to start from there. The trains were 7 and 8 coach sets and that is the limit for our line based on passing loops. In an ideal world people would be evenly spread out over all days, however we do not live in a perfect world. The railway has been putting on additional trains from the original service to take account of higher demand.  The first service from Kidderminster is always heavily loaded having said that. The largest delay of the day was 14 minutes and I can see from the notes the TTIs were going through one of the three trains appologising for being held at Highley.

 

On the 28th we had a high winds which meant that at times speed restrictions were put on first servces, plus additional desiel inspection trains run in front of the first serivce  to ensure there were no trees down after we had a neighbouring tree come down on the line recently. On the 28th an engine had to be failed due to a boiler fault, which I am sure you would prefer was sorted rather than putting peoples lives at risk.

 

On the 26th an engine was failed on shed and another loco had to be prepared which takes time, we cannot afford to keep spare engines in steam.   On the 2nd of January the firebrigade requested a line block due to responding to a vehicle stuck in floodwater which resulted in delays whilst that was in place and also afterwards when a caution was in place. Apart from those all other days ran without issues on times. 

 

No idea why the booking office at Kidder would not have announced the first train, that sounds unusual. I did not know you even had to exchange the e tickets.  I would always say to anyone who is waiting for someone to tell the gaurd, how is the train crew to know if someone from a party is not on the train. 

 

Your experience is not what any of us as volunteers who have given many years or decades would want and on behalf of us I appologise for the things that have gone wrong, although we  dont have control over the weather nor a loco developing a fault.  I get you are upset but feel posting as you have is perhaps a bit unfair as you have not by the sounds of it even given the railway the opportunity to look at your letters or respond. 

Edited January 5 by Blandford1969
adding detail

[Blandford1969]

10 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

Thanks.

But what are those vehicles doing on the SVR?

HSTs are being prepared for export to Mexico. We are also storing some other vehicles on a commercial contract

[Michael Hodgson]

4 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Sure you need a Swiss SBB Ce6/8  Krokodil for that, to fit the surroundings ?

Yes please, always liked those .  They're available RTR in HO, but pricey.