Following our very busy March, we felt we needed a break and booked a cottage in North Worcestershire, not far from Kidderminster. I thought about going to the Severn Valley Railway on my birthday and when I looked it up I discovered it was the "Open House" weekend which meant various areas that were normally off limits were open for people to have a wander around. And by people, I mean us!
I have already blogged about a funny juxtaposition I saw on our visit. But here is a big write up of our day.
The Open House ticket also gave us unlimited trips on the railway. We arranged our travels up and down the line on the service pulled by a steam train. Here's a photo of the loco taking a break at the Bridgnorth end of the line.
As we left Kidderminster we passed the West Midland Safari Park and the rhino house. It was the first time in my life I had seen rhinos from a steam train. An excellent way to start our train adventure.
Our first stop of the day was at Highley where we visited the big engine shed exhibition and museum.
Along with several locos, there was also a travelling post office (TPO) carriage.
Letters and parcels were literally sorted in transit as the train was moving along. The TPO service ran as late as 2004 although in a greatly reduced fashion from its heyday in the early and mid twentieth century. The Great Train Robbery was of a TPO car back in the sixties.
They had several locos as well, including 'Gordon', a giant blue engine that was formally on the Longmoor Military Railway where army personnel were taught to drive steam trains.
A fun aspect of being at the railway on an open house weekend was knowing that you could have a close up look of the various bits and bobs that have accumulated off to one side. Like workmen's trolleys.
There was the instantly recognisable profile of a Class 37 diesel loco under a heavy tarpaulin awaiting restoration.
We caught the train back a few stops and got off at Bewdley where there was the opportunity to have a brake van ride behind a trusty Class 09 diesel shunter. These are very similar to the Class 08 (known as Gronks) but are fewer in number than the 08s.
We took a ride in the GWR 'Toad' style brake van.
More random rolling stock - a banana fan poses with a banana van.
And a relic from South Wales, a Barry Railway coach that was partly restored.
Another short trip later and we were in Bridgnorth, the other terminus of the Severn Valley Railway. Here the machine shops and repair shed was open. They had lots of engines in various stages of repair. Some of them were just down to their frames. Others were missing cabs.
Everywhere we went there were vintage posters. Here's a photo of Cathy pointing at one for Wales, which seems a suitable place to finish this write up.
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