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Add later history of the line
Planning for the Loop began in 1860, before any of these railways opened. However it would be 18 years before the Loop was completed. A feature of the Loop was that although the GWR (and earlier companies absorbed by it) would be responsible for construction, its rival the LNWR would probably gain more benefit from it through its running powers over the Tenbury Branch, via which it would generate traffic between South Wales and the West Midlands. This may explain the GWR’s apparent ambivalence towards completing the Loop.
This article gives a history of the Loop’s constructionand subsequent changes on the route. For context, milestone dates during this period for the railways concerned were as follows:
'''Severn Valley Railway''':
A further Board of Trade inspection on 29 May authorised the opening of The Loop, and the first public services began on 1 June.
==HaltsLater Developments==When openedOn opening, the Loop had there were no intermediate haltsstations or sidings between the junctions at Kidderminster and Bewdley. The route has not significantly changed and is still in use as part of the preserved SVR. HoweverMajor features on the route include [[Falling Sands Viaduct]], two crossing the [[Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal]] and the River Stour; the 480 yard long [[Bewdley Tunnel]]; and [[Sandbourne Viaduct]], on the approach to Bewdley. Two intermediate halts were subsequently openedon the route in the early part of the 20th century:
*[[Foley Park Halt]] opened on 2 January 1905, and remained in use until the end of passenger services in January 1970.
*[[Rifle Range Halt]] first appeared in Bradshaw in October 1907, coinciding with the introduction of a steam rail-motor service. It closed on 4 October 1920.
[[Foley Park sidings]] were opened in 1925, serving the British Sugar Corporation and Smethwick Drop Forgings.
Following the cessation of passenger services beyond Bewdley to Tenbury in 1962 and to Shrewsbury in 1963, passenger services continued to run on the loop line as part of the Kidderminster-Bewdley-Hartlebury triangle. Passenger services on this route ended on 5 January 1970, with only a short section between Kidderminster Junction and Foley Park Sidings remaining in use for goods services, the remainder of the line beyond Foley Park being purchased by the preservation movement. Foley Park Sidings finally closed on 25 October 1982, with the line re-opening throughout on 30 July 1984, serving the [[The development of Kidderminster Town Station|new Kidderminster Town Station]].
==References==
The Bewdley-Kidderminster Loop Line”, article by John Marshall in SVR News 69
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