WEEKEND AWAY TO SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY PART TWO

www.svr.co.uk

The second part of our trip on the Severn Valley Railway finds us arriving into Bridgnorth and taking in the wonderful views of the town and the peaceful banks of the river itself, time for a spot of lunch and then a relaxing journey back to Kidderminster. 

It's a 16+ mile trip following the river for most of the way and well worth a visit, even if you not a fan of heritage steam railways, the scenery and beauty of this region is worth it. 

Leaving Bridgnorth SVR station you find yourself high above town with good views of the River Severn itself, a walk around the footbridge and down the incline sets us up nicely for a Sunday afternoon lunch down by the river. 

After a relaxing walk by the river and spot of lunch we need to think about heading back to the station for the return journey, however I don't fancy the steep walk back up so am thankful that the good people of Bridgnorth in 1892 saw fit to build this.

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Bridgnorth Cliff Railway 

The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway is a funicular railway linking the Low Town of Bridgnorth, adjacent to the River Severn, with the High Town, adjacent to the ruins of Bridgnorth Castle.

It is one of the steepest railways in the country, and at least one source (the information panel outside the top station) claims it is both the steepest and shortest, capable of carrying 18 passengers at a time up/down a height of 111 feet. 

The journey may only take a little over a minute, but sure saves a steep walk up the lanes to arrive back to the summit. 

A VIEW FROM THE TOP

A short walk back to the SVR and time to have a look around the station area, if there's one down side to this heritage site it's that there's not a lot of access to see other loco's and stock on show, some of it is parked up in the station but out of reach to the casual visitor. 

For instance why they have this here I do not know, get it on display or undercover, why it's surrounded by a pile of bricks?

The "Catch me who can" was built by Richard Trevithick locally some 200 years ago and this is clearly an attempt at a replica but it's just left out in the yard so at least put it on display and not leave exposed to the elements? 

 Similarly this apparently is the SVR attempt to build a "new" locomotive, a Class 3MT 2-6-2 Tank none of the originals survived so this is a unique opportunity, not on the scale of the Tornado project, but has some similarities. 

Found more information on this project at this site - http://www.82045.org.uk/

The Diesel shed at Kidderminster, the yard here at Bridgnorth. I know they have the "Engine Shed" at Highley but we don't all have the desire to decamp there on the way out/back. 

There's surely scope to run shuttles to Bewdley and back or brake van rides in Kiddie, with the spare platforms and spare head-shunt capacity, anyway there's probably a reason for it and I guess it's to do with Health n f***ing Safety as usual. 

Well overall I've had a great weekend, it's sure worth a visit and definitely stay a day or two to enjoy the Severn Valley in all it's glory.

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