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Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1965-1969

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:On Friday 25 June 1965, the 'Kidderminster Shuttle' reported that BR had withdrawn the 8.30am 'Cathedrals Express' service from Kidderminster to London.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/><br> .
'''July 1965'''
: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/><br>.
'''August 1965'''
:A public meeting took place at Kidderminster on 9 August, attended by between 70-100 people. The majority of those attending supported the plans, although some felt the provisional price of £45,000 was too high. Dissent was mainly from representatives of other Midlands preservation societies.<ref name=Magner43/><ref name=Cleaver/>
:Another public meeting took place at Bridgnorth on 31 August, attended by between 50-80 people. The proposals were generally well received.<ref name=Magner43/><ref name=Cleaver/>.<br>
'''September 1965'''
:The first working party took place at Bridgnorth station on Sunday 26 September.<ref name=Magner43/> Regular Sunday afternoon de-weeding of the track and painting of the buildings continued throughout the 1960s as the station was gradually restored to working condition.
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'''October 1965'''
:Having obtained a professional valuation of the station buildings, the Society posted a tender to BR Estates on 21 October offering £25,000 for the line from Bridgnorth to milepost 144&frac12;. On 26 October four members of the Society, led by John Garth, met with BR to discuss this.<ref name = SVR191/><ref name=Magner43/><br>.
'''November 1965'''
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