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Significant events in the history of the Severn Valley Railway in preservation between 1965 and 1969 are set out below.
==1965==
'''June 1965'''
:On Friday 25 June 1965, the 'Kidderminster Shuttle' reported that BR had withdrawn the 8.30am 'Cathedrals Express' service from Kidderminster to London. Keith Beddoes, a local railway enthusiast, discussed this with a group of colleagues at work. The subject changed to the attempts to reopen part of the Bluebell line, and Beddoes suggested that the same could be done here.<ref name=MagnerBeddoes>[[Bibliography#Books|Magner (1997)]], pp 60-64, "Personal memories of Mr Keith Beddoes"</ref>
:Letters were written to the local press over that weekend, and on Monday they responded, suggesting a meeting. This took place at the house of Tony Tuite, a colleague of Beddoes, on the evening of Tuesday 29 June. Those present decided to organise a public meeting and arrangements to advertise this were put in hand.<ref name=MagnerBeddoes/>
'''July 1965'''
[[File: The Coopers Arms, Canterbury Road, Kidderminster - geograph.org.uk - 1113269.jpg |thumb|300px|right| The Cooper's Arms (Geograph)]]
:The formation of the Severn Valley Railway in preservation officially began on 6 July 1965. The public meeting proposed by Keith Beddoes, a local railway enthusiast, organised a meeting took place at the Cooper’s Arms in Kidderminster to discuss , attended by around 50 people. ::Three possible locations were considered for the potential preserved railway, and the meeting spent some time discussing the feasibility merits of preserving these. It was not considered feasible to use a section of the former GWR [[Wyre Forest Line | Tenbury Branch]] between [[Bewdley]] and [[Wyre Forest Line#Cleobury Mortimer | Cleobury Mortimer]] as BR were still using Bewdley station at that time and could not grant access. The [[Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway]] was also deemed unsuitable because of its remoteness and the relatively light axle load limits of the light railway. The Severn Valley Railway which had been closed by British Railways (BR)between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade was therefore chosen. Around 50 people attended the meeting, and those ::Those present agreed to form the [[Severn Valley Railway Society]] (“the Society”). The A committee of 8 was appointed, and the initial membership subscription was proposed as £1, but eventually set at 1 guinea (£1+1shilling) at the suggestion of John Garth, in order to increase funds.<ref name = SVR191>SVR News 191, “Fifty Years Ago" (Christopher George)</ref> :On Sunday 11 July the Society inspected the track from [[Hampton Loade]] to [[Bridgnorth]], noting that all the signals and most of the railway installations along the route had been removed.<ref name=Magner43>Magner (1997) pp. 43-46.</ref> While holding up the old station name board at Bridgnorth to take a photograph, they were challenged “What the hell do you think you are doing?” by a man with a shotgun. This turned out to be George Thorpe (also known as ‘Elias’) who had continued to operate the station refreshment room after the station itself had shut. Once the Society explained their idea, they were quickly made welcome! :On Sunday 25 July, the Society made a second visit to inspect the line between [[Hampton Loade]] and Bridgnorth. They discovered that since their first visit, BR had resumed the removal of track from Bridgnorth Station towards [[Kidderminster]]. The Society authorised John Garth to send a telegram to British Rail asking them to stop taking up the line. This was sent on Monday 26th, and at 5pm on 28 July BR agreed to a stay of execution while negotiations took place.<ref name=Magner43/> '''August 1965''':The Society’s initial goal was to operate services over the 4½ miles between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade. However the Society would also need to take on the track between Hampton Loade and Milepost 144½ near [[Alveley Sidings|Alveley]] in order to maintain a connection to the main line via the section beyond, which BR was still using for colliery traffic from [[Alveley Colliery]].
==1966==
BR proved unwilling to lease the line to the SVR, and initially quoted a price of £45,000 for the outright purchase of line between [[Bridgnorth]] and Milepost 144½ at [[Alveley Sidings|Alveley Colliery]]. However following a professional valuation the [[Severn Valley Railway Society|Society]] made an offer of £25,000 for the track and buildings, which BR accepted in February 1966. BR asked for a deposit of 10% against the purchase price.
The rest of 1966 was taken up with raising the deposit. Bridgnorth Station saw regular ‘open weekends’, the first being a steam-free information display as part of Bridgnorth Arts Festival, over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend.<ref>A. G. name=Cleaver, "The Early Days Of The 'Severn Valley'", ''SVR News'' 190 (2015), p.24</ref> Two further open weekends later in the year featured road traction engines and a miniature railway set up on Platform 2. Society membership grew to around 300 in the first year.
During 1966 the Society learned that operating authority from the Ministry of Transport would be required before the Railway could be bought from BR. BR would need to apply for a Railway Order to downgrade the line from “secondary railway” to “light railway” status. Once this was granted, a new Company would need to apply for a Light Railway Order (LRO) to transfer responsibility for the line; the Society itself not being able to apply for legal reasons. [[Severn Valley Railway Company Limited]], ‘the Guarantee Company’ (being a Private Company Limited by Guarantee), was incorporated on 24 May 1967 in order to make the application for the LRO at the appropriate time. However the company remained dormant for the next 2 years, with the Society continuing to conduct the negotiations with BR.
