Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1980

1980 timetable

This page provides a timeline of events on the Severn Valley Railway during 1980. Eardington was again absent from the timetable.

Over the winter of 1979-80, major engineering work was carried out on Victoria Bridge, including replacement of the bridge decking and a complete repaint. 1980 again saw BR providing a DMU service from Kidderminster to the SVR at Bewdley on summer Saturdays and Bank Holidays.

The SVR announced in spring 1980 that they would not be able to finance the necessary repairs to 70000 Britannia and that the locomotive would be leaving the Railway.

Passenger numbers for the year totalled 186,700.

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February 1980

The new platform two starting signal at Bridgnorth was erected on 17 February with the aid of the 30-ton steam crane. When brought into service, every regular passenger train movement on the SVR would be controlled by working signals for the first time.

March 1980

The season opened on 1 March. Just after the second weekend of operations, the embankment at Folly Point slipped towards the river. Services on the next two weekends ran between Bridgnorth and Arley while remedial work was carried out on the affected 60ft section which involved excavation, the insertion of stone gabions and lifting the track by around 18 inches. The Western Diesel Weekend on 29-30 March was impacted, but the line was restored in time for Easter weekend on 4-6 April and the Spring Steam Gala on 12-13 April.

May 1980

Main article: Rocket 150

The SVR provided rolling stock for 'Rocket 150', a 3-day event at Rainhill on 24-26 May to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the trials the year before. On Saturday 17 May, LMS Princess Royal Class 6201 Princess Elizabeth started line side fires in the Ruabon area. Following the imposition of a steam ban, a diesel-hauled convoy of SVR locomotives and rolling stock departed for Rainhill on Monday 19 May. The SVR participants in the grand parade were 3205, 43106, 45000, 600 Gordon, 80079, D1062 Western Courier plus 3 coaches, GWR 829 Full Third, GWR 6913 Brake Composite, and LMS Brake Third Corridor 26921. 3020 Cornwall was also due to take part, but was forced to withdraw when the BR boiler inspector put his hammer right through the front ring of the boiler barrel! All pictures from Wikimedia Commons

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  3205
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  43106
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  45000 [LMS 5000]
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  600 Gordon
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  80079
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  D1062

The Railway played host to two incoming main line rail tours through to Bridgnorth on the same day. The Bridgnorth station announcer took the opportunity to make an announcement surely never heard before or since, “The next service will call at Bewdley, Basingstoke, Winchester, Eastleigh and Southampton. Change at Bewdley for Leeds, Keighley, Haworth and Oxenhope.” The two 10-coach tours passed at Arley, the only loop large enough to handle the crossing. SVR locos 6960, 7812 and 45110 hauled the tours between Bewdley and Bridgnorth.

June 1980

On Tuesday 1 June the 70ft vacuum turntable ex- Fort William was moved from the Bluebell Railway to Bewdley. At the time it was intended to install it at the Stourport Triangle, although it would eventually be installed at Kidderminster.

The SVR membership exceeded 10,000 for the first time.

The Great Western Weekend on 14-15 June saw 7 of the SVR's GWR engines in action (2857, 3205, 4930, 5164, 5764, 6960 and 7819), although LMS 43106 also worked on the Saturday.

A "Ten Year Celebrations" event on 28-29 June saw a re-creation of the SVR a decade earlier. This was intended to use the SVR's first four locos 3205, 43106, 46443 and 8233. In the event 46443 and 8233 had been withdrawn for major overhaul, so 3205, 43106 were supplemented by 6960 Raveningham Hall, 7819 Hinton Manor, 7812 Erlestoke Manor and 5164.

July 1980

On 5 July Northwood Lane level crossing became an 'open' crossing (with no gates or barriers, but protected by flashing lights displayed to road traffic). Until that time a hand signalman was required to be present during operations.

August 1980

The Ruston-Bucyrus coaling crane at Bridgnorth MPD was replaced by the first of the Sambron telehandlers.

September 1980

Filming of The Good Soldier took place at Arley.

The annual Enthusiasts Weekend was considered the most successful to date, with more than 6,000 visitors. 12 SVR locomotives were in steam, together with 45690 Leander which had just returned from main line duties for an overhaul. The gala saw services working as far as Foley Park.

October 1980

A Western Diesel Weekend was held on 3-4 October.

November / December 1980

Work began on a combined contractor / volunteer project to extend the south end of platform 1 at Bridgnorth by around 200 feet.

The Santa Special services, which ran between Bewdley and Arley on weekends from 29 November to 21 December inclusive, carried an all-time record to date of 17,872 passengers.

Steam locomotives used

A table of steam locomotives used and their mileages can be found on the Steam Locomotive Mileages page.

See also

• The Severn Valley Railway in preservation

British Rail or British Railways

Diesel Multiple Unit

Severn Valley Railway

London Midland & Scottish Railway

Great Western Railway

Ruston and Hornsby Ltd. of Lincoln, engineer and locomotive manufacturer acquired by English Electric in 1966. Also, Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd established in 1930 and jointly owned by Ruston and Hornsby and Bucyrus-Erie (US)

Sambron SA, a French manufacturer of telehandler-type forklifts used by the SVR for coaling