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==Stourport Station==
'''Stourport ''' Station was located 3 miles from Hartlebury and 37¾ miles from Shrewsbury. It was considered one of the principal stations on the line, with two platforms and a passing loop from opening in 1862 as well as a small goods yard and goods shed. The station building was almost identical to those at [[Bewdley]] and [[Buildwas]]. The location of the station just a short way north of the town made it perhaps the most convenient of the Severn Valley Railway’s stations relative to the town it served.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Vanns (1998/2013)]] p. 75.</ref>
The line through Stourport ran east-west, the goods yard being situated south of the line. In 1885, additional sidings were installed north of the line connecting to a newly built basin on the [[Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal]]. Around this time the GWR also built two new interlocked [[List of signal boxes#List of historical Signal Boxes and Ground Frames |signal boxes]] at each end of the station; these were named Stourport North and Stourport South, referring to the overall direction of travel rather than the geography of the station itself. From late 1887 the double line between the boxes was worked under [[Absolute Block | absolute block]] regulations.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Vanns (1998/2013)]] p. 77.</ref>
[[SVR staff in 1922#Severn Valley Railway (South of Bewdley)|GWR staff records for 1922]] show the station had a staff of 28.
The Civil Parish of Stourport station was officially renamed "'''Stourport-on-Severn' ''" in 1934, possibly to avoid confusion with nearby Stourbridge as there was no other (see 'The town of Stourport' below). Stourport stationwas similarly renamed in the same year.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Marshall (1989)]] p. 89.</ref><ref group="note">Marshall suggested the station might have been renamed to avoid confusion with nearby Stourbridge as there was no other Stourport station. The change of name of the Civil Parish was more likely the reason.</ref>
The Shropshire & Worcestershire Electric Power Co built a [[Stourport Power Station | power station]] at Stourport after the First World War. However a direct rail connection to the Severn Valley Railway was only opened in 1940, coal deliveries before then being mainly via the River Severn or the [[Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal]]. Once opened, the rail connection remained until January 1981, prolonging the life of the southern end of the Severn Valley Railway.
A [[Excursions by Railway|description of the newly opened Severn Valley branch]] in 1863 describes: "Stourport is marked in the distance by three tall smoking chimneys, and as you pass through the station the sensitive nose detects the not unpleasant aroma of bark, leather-tanning being the staple trade of the town. Just before reaching the station the line crosses the little river which gives its name to the town, and we arrive within sight of the Severn"<ref>"Excursions by Railway", Worcester Journal, 25 April 1863</ref>.
Historically the town of Stourport was in the chapelry of Mitton, which lay within Kidderminster Parish. '''Stourport Civil Parish''' was created in 1928 through the union of the Lower Mitton and Upper Mitton Civil Parishes, and was in turn renamed 'Stourport-on-Severn' in 1934.<ref>[https://www.worcesterbmsgh.co.uk/parish/stourport-on-severn.html Worcester Branch of the Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry]</ref>.
==Gallery==
==See also==
[[The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership# Map of the Route and Nearby Railways | The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership]]
==Notes==
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==References==
