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Tales from the Severn Valley

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'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' (Railwayman's Arms version) - Facebook 21.12.22

== 5764's rapid entry to SVR service==

[[5764]] was acquired direct from London Transport, arriving in LT livery on 19 June 1971 and entering service shortly thereafter. An indication of just how quickly it entered service may be judged by the lighting of a fire in the engine whilst it was being unloaded from the low-loader. <gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">S7609_5764_L95_David_Cooke.jpg | Arrival of 5764 (David Cooke)</gallery>

==The Steaming Granny==

==Yellow Peril catches fire==

Diminutive diesel shunter [[Ruston and Hornsby Diesel Shunter 402812 Yellow Peril|"Yellow Peril"]] lived up to its name when it caught fire one day at Bewdley. Mick Osbourne, signalman in the South Box, ran down the box steps and put the fire out using the box’s fire extinguisher. Mick Thorp arrived on the scene and, using his ingenuity in rewiring the loco, got it working again. In just over ten minutes, it was back shunting!<ref name=SVR133> SVR News 133 p. 62. “The Early SVR Shunters” (Chris Magner)</ref>

Ruston Hornsby 402812 Yellow Peril.jpg|Yellow Peril (David Cooke)

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==1859 thefts==

At 4am on Wednesday 15th May 1867, a wagon loaded with charcoal caught fire "through carelessness in loading it with a piece of lighted charcoal". The fire spread to the two adjacent wagons and resulted in two wagons being destroyed.<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000150/18670518/106/0008?browse=False Worcester Journal on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>

Charcoal production was a significant industry in Bewdley and the Wyre Forest at this time.

==Daring robberies from Bewdley goods shed==

From the Worcester Journal of Saturday 31 August 1867 "For many months a series of daring robberies have occurred at the shed, Bewdley Station, and they have been managed in such a mysterious way as hitherto to evade detection. Some time ago a ham was stolen; and at various times many other articles suitable for domestic consumption or clothing have been missed without leaving any clue as to how they were removed from the shed. The shed was always locked at night, and in the morning there was not the slightest indication of its having been broken into. Last Monday week Mr. Landon, liquor merchant, Bewdley, sent four jars of spirits to the station, containing four gallons of gin and three of whiskey. This, notwithstanding the terrific storm of that night, was gone on the following morning. The company sent a detective to investigate this case, but he failed to discover the stolen articles, as the police had hitherto done. P C. Pennington, stationed at Wribbenhall, however, on Wednesday morning, suceeded in finding the jars buried in a garden adjoining the station, in the occupation of Charles Browne, a "tapper" employed there. He immediately sent for Supt. Staunton, of the Stourport Division, and Browne was taken into custody, and removed to the Stourport lock-up. One of the jars was unsealed, one empty, one broken, and the other about half full."<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000150/18670831/065/0003?browse=False Worcester Journal on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>

==The 'Bodmin' Fund==

In around 1970 a fund was set up to purchase SR Bulleid West Country class Pacific 34016 Bodmin, then at [[Barry Scrapyard]], for use on the SVR. After a period of quiet the secretary announced that the fund was being wound up, with monies returned or applied to other SVR projects. A clerical error and unfortunate misunderstanding at Barry meant they had overlooked a prior deposit paid by another fund based at Swanage, who had later confirmed their intention to complete the purchase. This was not before the SVR fund had made extensive preparation work to allow the locomotive to be shunted out.<ref>SVR News 19, Spring 1971, p. 29</ref> Ironically, the locomotive did not end up at Swanage, and is restored at the Mid Hants Railway.

==1970 reopening photography==

The [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1970-1979#1970|reopening of passenger services in 1970]] is one of the poorest covered of such events photographically in Britain. It was a period when young keen SVR supporters were quite poor, and colour photography was very expensive. The nation’s top (wealthy) photographers had yet to discover where Bridgnorth was on the map and were still mourning the then recent loss of BR steam.

Another failing was that a party of 8 from the SVR had booked flights to Portugal some three months earlier. This included two of the most prolific and keen photographers, [[Image Collections#David_Cooke_Collection|David Cooke]] and [[David Williams]], and others newly equipped with Pentaxes. This seemingly inexcusable fact was because the date of reopening was not known until the Light Railway Order was granted on 20 May 1970 and there was no time to lose!

The weather was uncharacteristically poor for that period, dull and hazy. So, while the same few monochrome photographs have appeared of day 1, there is little of quality of this event. Day 2 by comparison was attended by good weather, and most published pictures show the sunshine of that day and other days<ref>David Williams, personal correspondence April 2020</ref>.

==The Bodfish Trophy==

In the later 1970s or early 1980s, Jim Bodfish in a shunting mishap succeeded in demolishing the [[Bridgnorth|Hollybush Road carriage sidings buffer stop]], and so failed to extend the SVR northwards towards Shrewsbury. A ''Bodfish Trophy'' was created, to be presented to drivers who subsequently made the same error, by welding metal remains from the demolished buffer stop together and fixing to a toilet seat to act as a plinth<ref>SVR News 210</ref>. The trophy is on display in the Railwayman's Arms at [[Bridgnorth]]. It reads "''Awarded to the following SVR members of staff for their attempts to reach Salop''". A number of distinguished SVR names are featured.

Bodfish_Trophy_20210813.jpg|The Bodfish Trophy

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=="Soul destroying" boredom at Kidderminster==

In 1973, the Birmingham Post reported that Thomas Whatmore, a former relief freight shunter in the Birmingham area with 26 years service with British Railways, resigned a little over three months after being transferred to Kidderminster as a passenger train shunter, due to the "soul destroying" boredom of the job.<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002135/19730310/053/0003 Birmingham Daily Post - Saturday 10 March 1973 on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>

Most trains from Birmingham terminated at Kidderminster, and as Phil Moone describes on the [https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4280&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=340 SVR forum], "''As soon as the train arrived the driver got out of the front cab and someone else immediately got in. The driver would walk along the platform to the rear cab closing doors as he went. When he was in the rear cab there would be an exchange of buzzers and the train would proceed to the crossover by the Junction Box. If the northbound line was clear then as soon as the train cleared the points the signalman would have the crossover reversed and the ground signal off, often before the train had even come to a stop. The original driver would then drive the train back to the station, often with only a few seconds stop at the Junction. It was a very slick operation, and presumably was to save the driver having to climb down to track level as many of the DMUs at that time had no through corridors... I also got the impression that the train was being driven from the rear up to the Junction and the person at the front would push the buzzer if the signal went back to danger or some other emergency occurred...''". This practice meant the relief driver's duty was little more than acting as a look out in the leading cab for the few seconds it took to reverse the train from the platform to the crossover point.

=='Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' (Railwayman's Arms version)==

''Hark! The Herald Angels Sing''

''Batham's beer is just the thing''

''Wondrous bitter, glorious mild''

''Sorts a man out from a child''

''Brewed in the heart of the old Black Country''

''Sold in the Lamp in fair Dudley''

''Hark! The Herald Angels claim''

''Adds strength a tone every strain''

''Hark! The Herald Angels Sing''

''Batham's beer is just the thing!''

Credited to the late Jim Bodfish, as recollected by Jan Chojnacki in December 2022.

==See also==

==References==

[[Category: Miscellaneous articles]]

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