The Severn Valley Heritage Railway.

Wednesday 4th July on the Severn Valley Railway.
We decided to spend a day doing one of our favourite things - playing steam trains.
The Severn Valley Railway between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth is acknowledged to be one of the finest heritage lines in th country.
Walking towards the station, we passed this handsome former carpet mill built in 1864; it has now been converted into a Premier Inn and a branch of Debenhams. So nice to see this fine old building given a new lease of life.

Kidderminster's two railway stations (the old and the new) sit side by side. The "old" station is permanently set in the Second World War, complete with an unexploded bomb in the forecourt, which everyone seemed to take for granted.

We bought our tickets in the period ticket office. 

The line is a popular destination for groups of school children and there were at least three school parties there today. One group was seated in front of a representation of a 1940s house interior complete with a gentleman demonstrating a mangle to wring the laundry.

Another group was seated in front of a shop full of old familiar brands of goods and there was a third group having a talk about the blitz, gas masks and black-out precautions.

We had a quick visit to the tea room, bedecked with union jacks, to buy some water, as it was getting very hot.

Finally, it was time to board our train and, as ever, we walked up to check out the engine.

Our very splendid locomotive was called "Taw Valley" a 4-6-2 West Country class engine built in 1946 in the Brighton Works.

Later, we saw her being coaled up with the help of a tractor and fore-loader, which filled her tender with a dozen huge buckets full of coal.

At Highley, they have a cafe, which provided us with lunch. We sat on the verandah and watched the luncheon special steam past by.

There is also a splendid Engine House Museum containing some of their reserve engine collection, some of which are runnable and some of which are awaiting further restoration. The original "Gordon", that inspired the blue engine in Thomas the Tank Engine, lives here; sadly its boiler failed inspection so it would need a massive effort to get it running again.

M was thrilled to find this old Royal Mail coach.

Inside, it was complete with the beautiful wooden sorting racks and postal sacks.

Our locomotive for the final leg back to Kidderminster was the "Bradley Manor", a Manor class 4-6-0 engine built in 1938.

We bought a card depicting "Tornado" visiting the Severn Valley Railway to send to Lucas and Rory and posted it in the postbox under the watchful gaze of Sir Rowland Hill, founder of the "penny post" in 1840 and a son of Kidderminster.

A summary of the joys of steam train travel!

Today: MM had a well deserved rest.