Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1999

1999 timetable

This page details events on the Severn Valley Railway during 1999. Passenger numbers reached a new record of 228,010.

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March 1999

The annual Members Day took place on Saturday 13 March with the usual format of an increased service and 'behind the scenes' visits.

April 1999

At the start of April the SVR Board accepted a proposal from McArthur Glen, the owners of Swindon Outlet Village, for 4930 Hagley Hall to go to Swindon on loan as a static exhibit, taking the place recently vacated by City of Truro. The loan was expected to be for 'at least two years'. A cosmetic restoration was carried out at Bridgnorth and was completed on Thursday 20 May. The locomotive was unloaded at Swindon on Tuesday 25 May.

• 
  Hagley Hall at Swindon in 2007 (Geograph)

On Sunday 10 April, the platform clock under the island platform canopy at Bewdley was recommissioned after a one-year restoration.

• 
  Bewdley station clock

The Spring Steam Gala on the weekend of 24-25 April featured guest locomotive GWR Churchward 4200 class 2-8-0T 4277.

May 1999

On 12 May the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.757m towards the construction of Kidderminster Carriage Shed was announced. The grant was for 75% of the cost of building work, but did not include track work or the footbridge extension as had been hoped for in the August 1998 revised application.

As a result of the popularity of the 'Thomas' events, the SVR decided to stage twice the number from previous years, using consecutive weekends in May (15-16 and 22-23 May) and September (4-5 and 11-12 September).

Black 5 45110 took part in the year's 'Steam on the Met', working Amersham-Watford shuttles during Whitsun week.

June 1999

Another 'Heavy Horse Weekend' took place on 10-11 June.

Planning permission for the construction of the Kidderminster Carriage Shed was granted on 22 June.

July 1999

The annual Forties Weekend took place on 3-4 July.

On 24 July the Railway saw an incoming railtour from Preston to Arley using Black 5 45407. The locomotive remained at the SVR for several weeks.

On 28 July the 'first sod' was cut on the site of the new Kidderminster Carriage Shed.

August 1999

From 1 August line speeds were increased to allow commissioning of new 'Coradia 1000' Class 175 diesel multiple units under special conditions.

Mick York stepped down as Chairman of SVR(H) at the August Board meeting due to his off-Railway job commitments, and was succeeded by Paul Fathers. When Mick had been appointed in 1993, he believed it would be just a 'holding' capacity, saying: "I'll take it on for six months".

September 1999

The Railway saw an unusual visitor on 4 September with a through Bridgnorth - Paignton excursion using a GWR HST.

Contractors Carrillion Construction arrived on site on 20 September to begin work on the new Carriage Shed. This spurred a marathon of junk moving by the PW staff and volunteers – more than a mile of old track was recovered!

During the Autumn Steam Gala on 24-26 September, five BR Standard 2-6-4 tanks were lined up including resident 80079. The guest locomotives were:

• 9466: BR(W) Hawksworth 9400 class 0-6-0PT (from Dennis Howells; also took part in the October Classic Vehicle Day)
• 80080: BR Riddles Standard 4MT class 2-6-4T (from the MRC, Butterley; also took part in the October Classic Vehicle Day))
• 80098: BR Riddles Standard 4MT class 2-6-4T (from the MRC, Butterley)
• 80104: BR Riddles Standard 4MT class 2-6-4T (from Swanage)
• 80136: BR Riddles Standard 4MT class 2-6-4T (From the Churnet Valley)

• 
  80098 at Bridgnorth on 25 September (Geograph)

October 1999

The ninth annual joint SVR / Worcester Bus Preservation Society Vintage Vehicle Day was held on Sunday 10 October. The event expanded to include Bewdley and Bridgnorth stations for the first time.

The Annual Diesel Gala took place on 15-17 October, having reverted to a three-day Friday to Sunday format. The guest locomotives were:

• 50149 Defiance: E.E. Class 50 Co-Co (appeared as visiting guest but remained at SVR)
• D345 (40145): E.E. Class 40 1Co-Co1
• D832 Onslaught: BR Class 42 'Warship' B-B
• D5054: (24054): BR Class 24 Bo-Bo
• 57002: Brush Class 57 Co-Co (Sat/Sun only, courtesy of Freightliner)

November 1999

The first steelwork was installed for the new Carriage Shed.

Steam locomotives used

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

See also

• The Severn Valley Railway in preservation

Severn Valley Railway

Great Western Railway

George Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1902-1922

Permanent Way

British Rail or British Railways

Frederick Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1941-1948

Robert Arthur "Robin" Riddles, Member of the Railway Executive for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering responsible for the design of the British Rail Standard Class locomotives

The British Railways system of classifying steam locomotives by power using a number from 0, least powerful, to 9, most powerful, followed by either F for freight, P for Passenger or MT for Mixed Traffic.

English Electric