Severn Valley Railway is today commemorating 60 years since the last British Railways train run before the mainline was closed.
On 8th September 1963, the last ever trains ran on the Severn Valley line. Sixty years on, the heritage line will commemorate the event, with a special train, recreating part of that final trip.
The SVR plans to run its pannier tank, No 7714, today and tomorrow carrying a special headboard to mark the occasion. It will depart Kidderminster at 10am today, and tomorrow, it will be on display at Kidderminster station, before it works the 12.45pm departure.
By the time the line closed in 1963, it was served by diesel railcars, but the final departure from Bridgnorth to Birmingham Snow Hill was steam-hauled. It left Bridgnorth at 6.58pm, hauled by ex-GWR pannier tanks 9624 and 4665, carrying a ‘Special Last Train’ headboard.
It was followed by the last passenger service north of Bewdley, the 8.30pm Hampton Loade to Snow Hill, formed of a three-car diesel set. It looked as though more than 100 years of Severn Valley railway history had come to a close.
However, less than two years later, in July 1965, a group of people attended a public meeting in the Cooper’s Arms pub, Kidderminster, where the Severn Valley Railway Society was formed.
The pioneering preservationists had started the long haul to re-open the line, which is now one of the UK’s leading heritage railways, welcoming up to 250,000 visitors a year.