Thursday 22nd February 2018

At the invitation of Mr James Hervey-Bathurst, who is a trustee of the Severn Valley Railway (SVR), Veronica and I made a visit to the Railway in Bridgnorth where we were met by Nick Paul, the Railway’s Chairman, and Mike Ball, Deputy Chairman. Mike Ball boarded the train with us and accompanied us to Kidderminster, where we visited the Railway’s carriage repair works. SVR arranged for us both to spend time on the footplate in the locomotive, and we both enjoyed the trip enormously. In addition to approx 100 employees, SVR is very well served by its many volunteers, who assist in every aspect of the running of the railway including driving the train, acting as guards, ticket-collectors and station masters. We were very impressed with the seemless operation of the railway, the evident quality of the maintenance work and pride that all involved take in the service provided. I thoroughly recommend to anyone who has not visited the stations or taken a ride on a train to do so.