Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1984

Article under construction This article is currently under construction. Further data will be added shortly.

1984 timetable

This page provides a timeline of events on the Severn Valley Railway during 1984. In July 1984 the SVR finally reached Kidderminster. The development of Kidderminster Town Station gives a full account of events leading up to the opening day, the opening day itself and continued development of the station thereafter. Turnover for the year passed £1 million for the first time, helped by the Kidderminster opening.

Around this time, SVR news referred to a target of maintaining a working fleet of 15 locomotives. This gives an indication of the commitment to main line working at the time; in 2014 summertime services used only 8 steam locomotives.

---

February 1984

The share offer to raise money for Kidderminster Town reached £230,000, well in excess of the preliminary target of £90,000. Exchange of contracts with British Rail had taken place to purchase the line from Foley Park to Kidderminster and lease an area of the Goods Yard on Comberton Hill.

• 
  Kidderminster Goods Yard in February 1984

The SVR applied for the Light Railway Order (LRO) necessary to operate over the last section of the line between Foley Park and Kidderminster. Even though they would now own the line, without an LRO they could not use it without a hired-in BR driver.

45690 Leander, by now an SVR locomotive, was working the Welsh Marches Express.

May 1984

Work on the Kidderminster site began in earnest with BR granting walking permits for workers on the site. The proposed opening date of 30 July gave just eleven weeks to complete the job.

• 
  May 1984, 2 months from opening
• 
  SVR leaflet from 1984 advertising the new through route to Kidderminster.
• 
  Reverse of leaflet.

Early Summer 1984

SVR news confirmed that 46443’s new owners would not be moving the locomotive to the GCR at Loughborough. SVR members had launched a fund to buy back the locomotive which was now ‘on the market’.

July 1984

3717 City Of Truro arrived from the Swindon Museum on 14 July. The locomotive was to be restored by the SVR with a view to being used on the main line in the 1985 GWR 150 celebrations.

Kidderminster Station was opened on 31 July 1984. Trains ran over the full 16 miles from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster for the first time in the preservation era.

• 
  4930 Hagley Hall with the opening day train

September 1984

5051 Drysllwyn Castle (later renamed Earl Bathurst) visited from Didcot and took part in the Enthusiasts Weekend. 45690 Leander visited Didcot in exchange. At the same time two of the SVR’s smaller engines were steamed for the first time in some years; GWR 813 had not steamed since a brief test in 1975 while Peckett 1738 had not steamed since 1970.

October 1984

The SVR Board rejected a proposal from a local group to re-erect the former Exeter West Signal Box on the SVR, despite fund raising having taken place on the Railway for several years. The signal box was eventually re-erected at the Crewe Heritage Centre.

December 1984

The first Santa Special services from Kidderminster involved 34,628 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

Severn Valley Railway

Light Railway Order

British Rail or British Railways

Great Central Railway

Great Western Railway