A week in the Shire(s)

The shires in question were Shropshire and Worcestershire to be precise. It was my birthday week and with big plans to celebrate my birthday itself with rhinos, we needed to stay relatively near to where the rhinos live, just outside Kidderminster. (I've already mentioned some of what we did in my round up for March as we were away on the cusp of the month.)

We opted for a cottage rental on a working farm and horse racing stable just south of Bridgnorth. We had a couple of trips into Bridgnorth itself. It's a nice small town with some lovely little shops including Booka, a fab independent bookshop, and some historic buildings.

Bridgnorth is blessed with interesting railways. We rode on Shropshire's randomest railway (the Bridgnorth cliff railway), and also took some photos of steam engines at the Severn Valley Railway terminus as well.

Spotter spotted!

Across the county border, we went to a falconry centre in Hagley. This was exceptional value, with two flying displays included in the admission price. All the birds get to fly daily and they all seemed very well cared for. 

One of the flying displays went amusingly awry when a peregrine falcon decided to fly off leaving the presenter in the lurch. He did a good job carrying on talking to the audience while the peregrine resolutely didn't come back. 

I put some pics from the falconry centre in the March round up post. But here are some more...

I had a fun week of football, with trips to Ludlow Town and AFC Bridgnorth before a Good Friday game at Shrewsbury Town, the day after my birthday. Salop were playing Tranmere and won! The three points were a great belated birthday present.

My friend Paul had come up from Cardiff and came to sit next to me in the second half. Here we are looking suitably thrilled during the match. (Thanks to Podge and his super zoom lens from the other end of the ground!)

I also saw my friend Jim and his son, Nick, at the game. Jim is the friend I went to Malaga with back in February. I made them pose for a selfie.

After the game we had a family pizza evening at my brother's house. I even had balloons to remind me of my advancing age.

And so, after a week that went by very quickly, we departed the shire(s) and returned home to Wales.

Welsh railwayana on the Severn Valley Railway

In my previous post about our visit to the Severn Valley Railway, I mentioned the Barry Railway Company coach that needed a good refurb.

However, in the little museum in Kidderminster there was a room chock-full of other Welsh 'railwayana' - name plates and notices and devices and other odds and ends. I went round taking photos of some items that had been gathered from Wales, mainly from across the South. 

First up, some signs. I don't think there was a railway station on the top of the Sugar Loaf - more likely this was to tell engine drivers they had reached the top of a long climb up the hill. Meanwhile, Pontarddulais is missing a d in the signal box sign underneath, a relic from when Welsh names were anglicised on official signs. 

There was another signal box sign from a long-vanished location below the impressive array of finials that would have been on top of signal posts.

And I was naturally massively excited to see this sign for Grangetown station!

Some signs were more than just names. There is a huge amount of detail in these safety notices from the Barry Railway and the Rhymney Railway.

This no trespassing notice was cast in metal for the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Company. 

I'm not sure what this key was used for. I'd guess it's something to do with signalling. If you know, feel free to add a comment.

This poster for excursions to Barry Island captures a moment when a seaside trip was a proper outing and people would travel all the way from Cardiff and Newport.

There were also several mementoes taken off steam engines that were sent for scrap long ago. I imagine Nora worked around the mines in Blaenavon.

All the little railway companies in South Wales were absorbed into the Great Western Railway, which in turn became part of British Railways after nationalisation in 1948. This box on the way into the museum probably dates from the 1950s.

You can see evidence for long-gone railways across South Wales, with bridge-walls and even some extant viaducts visible on almost any car journey. But many railway sites have disappeared without leaving much of a trace, just occasional relics like these that were salvaged and put on display.

Birthday number 47 - at the Severn Valley Railway

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.

Like every heritage railway there is a variety or random rolling stock sitting in sidings. Cathy pointed out this handy place to store improvised gunpowder if you found yourself accidentally making some.

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.