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Proposal to relocate the rare K4 telephone kiosk to a covered location at The Engine House
[[File:Bewdley station has three platforms and was formerly the junction for both the Wyre Forest and Stourport lines, both of which are now use as sidings- general view - geograph.org. The next uk - 1255902.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Bewdley station in the ]][[File:Southern approach to Bewdley.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Southern approach to Bewdley]]{| class="wikitable"|+Next stations|-! Up direction is (towards [[Kidderminster]], and the next stations in the ) !! Down direction (towards [[Bridgnorth]] are )|-| [[Northwood HaltKidderminster]] and (3½ miles) || [[Arley]].(3¾ miles)<br>via [[Northwood Halt]]|- |}
==The station==Bewdley MPD is home to station in Worcestershire has three platforms and was formerly the junction for both the [[Class 108 DMU Wyre Forest Line | Class 108 DMUWyre Forest]]. Other operational locomotives are also stabled at Bewdleyand [[Stourport Branch | Stourport]] lines, running light engine to Kidderminster at the start and end both of each day which are now used as requiredsidings.
[[Bewdley has limited public pay Down Yard]] is home to the [[Bewdley Carriage & Wagon Department | Carriage and display parkingWagon department]] which supplements the [[Carriage Repair Works | Carriage Repair Department]] at Kidderminster and maintains the fleet of goods wagons. Three A considerable amount of [[List of shops :Category:Rolling stock in Bewdley Down Yard|rolling stock is stabled there]] including [[Rolling stock currently under restoration| sales coachesrolling stock under restoration]] run by support groups are adjacent . Public access to the car parkyard is available during the annual [[Open House Weekend]] (and was formerly available during the [[Peep Behind the Scenes]] event).
Bewdley Platform 1 is home to the Volunteer Liaison Office.
==Legal Charge==
On 8 August 1988 [[Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC]] gave a Legal Charge in favour of the County Council of Hereford & Worcester in respect of "All that land at Bewdley containing six point seven acres or thereabouts together with the buildings erected thereon." The charge was given as security against "All monies due or to become due from the company to the chargee under the terms of agreement dated 10.5.88." {{As of|2024}} its status is shown as 'Outstanding'.<ref>[https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01046274/charges Companies House] (Retrieved 29 February 2022)</ref> The Council itself was abolished in 1998 and reverted to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
==Facilities==
Bewdley has limited public parking, which moved from Pay and Display to ANPR in 2023. Four [[List of shops | sales coaches]] run by support groups are adjacent to the car park.
In March 2018 the buffet adjacent to Platform 1 (but not the more recent toilet block and kitchen) was closed pending demolition of the buffet building, which took place from 16-19 July. [[BR 4593 Tourist Standard Open]] was moved to the dock in front of the buffet to be used as seating for staff and the public, with table service provided from the kitchen. In January 2020 a prefabricated timber buffet building was installed on the concrete plinth of the old buffet building, and 4593 was removed.
The main passenger access to island platforms 2 and 3 is via the [[Bewdley Station Footbridge|footbridge]], but the only access route for those with restricted mobility is via a barrow crossing at the opposite end of the platform, accessed through the [[Bewdley Down Yard]]. A 2021/22 project funded primarily by the [[Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust Ltd|Charitable Trust]] to improve access includes a reinforced concrete path between the gates protecting the rail crossing and the yard gates adjoining the car park, with a branch to the existing disabled toilets; removal of the obtrusive GWR water tower on the island platform; improvements to the crossing itself; and appropriate signage.<ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/bloct21 Branch Lines, October 2021]</ref> In October 2022 the SVR announced:'' "it is hoped that external funding can also support the creation of a disabled toilet facility on the station platform. This will hugely improve facilities for our less-abled visitors"''<ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/bloct22 Branch Lines October 2022]</ref>.
== Points of interest ==
====Booking hall====
The booking hall had been ‘modernised’ by BR with tall ticket windows and plywood facing. The plywood was removed in winter 1980-81 to reveal the original GWR panelling. At the same time the smaller windows were reinstated and fitted with brass wired grids acquired from the old Birmingham Snow Hill station. The balustrades in front of the windows also came from Snow Hill<ref>SVR News 59</ref>.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File: Bewdley_Booking_Office_20151114.jpg | Ticket window and balustrade
</gallery>
====Phone box====
The phone box outside the station is a rare example of the K4 type, introduced in 1930. The K4, nicknamed the Vermillion Giant, was a combined telephone and post box. Only 50 were ever produced.<ref>[http://www.redphonebox.info/galleryK4.html RedPhoneBox.info]</ref>
The box is Grade II listed by Historic England and described as "Intact but not on original site".<ref> [https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1100700 Historic England listing entry for the phone box] </ref> It arrived on the SVR in winter 1981-82 on permanent loan from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust<ref>SVR News 62</ref> and was originally situated on Platform 1.<ref>SVR News 66</ref> A planning application proposal to relocate it to a covered location at [[The Engine House]] 'to better protect and display this artefact' was approved in November 2023<ref>[https://planningpa.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=RVZ3FGSILXW00&activeTab=summary Wyre Forest District Council planning application 23/0418/LBC] (Retrieved 14 March 2024)</ref>.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Phone box at Bewdley Station - geograph.org.uk - 1454715.jpg | Phone box at Bewdley
File:Phone box rear.jpg | Rear view of phone box
</gallery>
==== Footbridge ====
A covered wooden [[Bewdley Station Footbridge|footbridge]] at the northern end of the station allows access between Platform 1 and Platforms 2&3. It is [[List of infrastructure|numbered bridge 10]].
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Bewdley station - north end - geograph.org.uk - 899053.jpg|Bewdley station footbridge
File:Bewdley footbridge interior.JPG|Bewdley footbridge interior
</gallery>
==== Water towers ====
Two water towers at the southern end of Platforms 2&3 and in the MPD area allow watering of locomotives. The tower on the island platform is of GWR origin and was recovered from Stow Heath yard, Bilston in 1969. The tower next to the MPD is of LNWR origin and was retrieved from Hadley, near Wellington, in October 1972.<ref>SVR News 29</ref> Both columns were installed during the winter of 1973-74.<ref>SVR News 31</ref> Unlike at Bridgnorth and Kidderminster, the water supply at Bewdley is not specially treated, and so the columns are only used on rare occasions such as galas.
In October 2020 the [[Charitable Trust]] announced a project to improve wheelchair access to the island platform via the barrow crossing next to the MPD. The announcement noted that "''The SVR also aim to remove the water tower at the base of the platform ramp as it is causing an obstruction and puddles on the access route. This water tower is not an original feature, but was a later addition, installed during the preservation era, that is no longer essential to operations. This will be relocated to [[Highley|Highley Station]]''."<ref>[https://www.svrtrust.org.uk/index.php?page=News Charitable Trust 2020 News page]</ref>
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Bewdley railway station MMB 04 6024.jpg|Water towers at Bewdley station
File:Bewdley water towers.jpg|Water towers as viewed from the platform
</gallery>
==== Island platform canopy ====
Platforms 2 and 3 share a canopy, built in 1878, giving passengers protection from the weather. The canopy, featuring timber frames on cast iron pillars was extended around 1900 with the new section supported on steel frames.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Bewdley Station - geograph.org.uk - 1477635.jpg|Bewdley station from the footbridge, showing the island canopy
File:PGH Bewdley.jpg|An up train in platform 2 in April 1962 (PG Hindley)
File:Bewdley canopy 3.JPG | Bewdley island platform canopy shortly after completion of refurbishment in April 2016
File:Bewdley canopy 1.JPG | Underside view of the canopy showing the two different methods of construction
File:Bewdley canopy 2.JPG | Underside view of the canopy showing the two different methods of construction
File: Bewdley_Canopy_20150528.jpg | The canopy was refurbished using materials from the old Snow Hill station.
</gallery>
==== Platform clock ====
The double-faced clock under the island platform canopy was built for the GWR by Kays of Worcester in the late 19th or early 20th century. It was used at nearby Stourbridge Junction until 1977 when, no longer required by BR, it was acquired by staff from [[Arley]] station. It worked until 1998, but then underwent a year-long overhaul, being re-commissioned on 10 April 1999<ref>SVR News 130</ref>.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Bewdley station clock.jpg|Bewdley station clock
</gallery>
==== Urinal ====
An open roofed cast iron gentlemen's urinal is located on Platforms 2 and 3 on the site of the original urinal which was built in 1896. The replacement was relocated from Melrose in Scotland by SVR volunteers and formally opened in [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1970-1979#1977 | September 1977]]. See 'Links' below for two copyrighted images of the urinal at Melrose.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Bewdley gents urinal.jpg|Bewdley gents urinal
File:Bewdley gents urinal detail.jpg|Bewdley gents urinal detail
</gallery>
==== Portable water tank ====
A portable water tank with hand powered pump was used for the refilling of carriage water tanks.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Water Carrier - geograph.org.uk - 1492157.jpg|Portable water tank
</gallery>
====Token catcher====
The token catcher opposite Bewdley North signal box was originally located opposite Bewdley South signal box, where it could be used by locomotives on the former [[Stourport Branch]]. It was moved to its present location during the 1974-75 close season.<ref>SVR News 36</ref> It is not currently in use, tokens instead being exchanged by hand.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File: Token_Catcher_20110814.jpg | Token catcher opposite Bewdley North signal box
</gallery>
== Bewdley history before preservation ==
[[File:Bewdley railway station 1795793 c24b1cba.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Bewdley station in 1963 (Geograph)]]
*1862 Bewdley has a population of 2900<ref>[[Bibliography | Handbook to the Severn Valley Railway, J. Randall, 1863]]</ref> (Population; 10869 in 2001)<ref>[http://www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/things-to-see-do-and-visit/tourism-and-travel/guide-to-bewdley.aspx 2001 census]</ref>
*1862: When the Severn Valley Line opened, Bewdley was a crossing point and was deemed a principal station, being provided with a goods shed and goods yard. Construction of the [[Wyre Forest Line | Tenbury and Bewdley Railway]] and the [[Kidderminster Loop Line]] had already been authorised, and the station was always planned to be a junction.
*1864: The Tenbury and Bewdley Railway opened on 13 August. Around that time turntable was moved from Bewdley and re-erected in the goods yard at [[Wyre Forest Line#Tenbury_Wells|Tenbury]]
*1877: In preparation for the delayed opening of the Kidderminster Loop, authorisation was given to enlarge the island platform and provide a shelter and footbridge. New Bewdley North and Bewdley South signal boxes were also built.
*1878: The Kidderminster Loop opened on 1 June.
*1900: Authorisation was given for additional siding space including the [[Rock Siding]] at the back of Platform 3 and the siding along the far side of the yard.
*1911: Great Western Magazine included a photograph of Bewdley Ambulance Class taken by TJ Ricketts of Bewdley. The Mayor had presented awards - supervised by HK Woodward, Divisional Engineer.<ref>Great Western Magazine, January 1911</ref> A 1935 GWR plan of Bewdley shows an "Ambulance" in the Down Yard. This was a grounded M&SWJR coach body used as a First Aid training centre.
*1922: [[SVR staff in 1922#Severn Valley Railway (Kidderminster to Bridgnorth)|GWR staff records]] show the station had a staff of 19.
*1924: The island platform was extended from 400 to 515 feet to serve excursion traffic. Subsidence, landslip and sand washed onto the line between Arley and Kidderminster and Hartlebury - including Bewdley - affected services from 31 May to 3 June.<ref>Great Western Railway Magazine, July 1924</ref>
*1927: A new 20 ton cart weighbridge for motor vehicles was provided.<ref>Great Western Railway Magazine, June 1927</ref>
*1932: A small warehouse was added.<ref>Great Western Magazine, January 1933</ref>
*1939: It was announced that "A new warehouse is being provided at Bewdley", probably referring to the Provender Shed at the far end of the yard.<ref>Great Western Railway Magazine, February 1929</ref>
*1962: Passenger services to Tenbury ceased on 31 July<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Beddoes and Smith ((1995)]] p. 193.</ref> (services beyond Tenbury to Woofferton had ended a year earlier).
*1963: Passenger services towards Shrewsbury ceased on 9 September, with through freight services ending at the end of November. The Public Notice announcing closure of the line can be seen behind the ‘Platform 1’ sign in the photograph to the right (a copy of the closure notice is on display in [[The Engine House]]).
*1964: Goods services ended on the Tenbury Branch and the line was closed.
*1965: The goods yard closed on 1 February.
*1969: All goods traffic north of Bewdley ceased with the closure of [[Alveley Sidings | Alveley Colliery]]. This enabled the SVR Society to rent the former goods-shed and yard (even though they had not yet opened the first section of the railway between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade by that time). This space was used for restoration of locomotives and rolling stock, 4566 and 1501 being among the earliest residents.
*1970: Passenger services to Kidderminster and Hartlebury ended on 5 January, ending the pre-preservation use of Bewdley Station.
There was reference to a 'fruit pulping depot' at Bewdley under the Ministry of Food immediately after the Great War.<ref>Great Western Magazine, May 1937</ref>
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:Bewdley1898.jpg|Bewdley Station in 1898
File:Bewdley_1910.jpg|Bewdley Station circa 1910
File:Railmotor_Bewdley.jpg | A GWR Steam Railmotor at Bewdley circa 1908-1911
File:Bewdley PW.jpg|Permanent Way gang at Bewdley
File:Bewdley Britain From Above 1930.jpg|Aerial view of Bewdley in 1930
File:Bewdley Britain From Above 1952.jpg|Aerial view of Bewdley in 1952
File:PrairieBewdleyNorth-1959-10-07.jpg|A train waits to depart Northbound from Platform 1 in October 1959 ([[Sellick Collection]])
File:PGH BewdleyGoods.jpg|An up goods passes Bewdley in April 1962 (PG Hindley)
File:Bewdley-Railcar-1962-10-06.jpg|An ex-GWR DMU arrives at Bewdley in October 1962 ([[Sellick Collection]])
File:Closure_Notice.jpg | Closure notice
File:Bewdley ambulance.jpg | Plan showing ambulance in Down Yard
</gallery>
{| class="wikitable
|+ Early Station Masters at Bewdley prior to 1939
|-
!Name!!Born !! data-sort-type="date" | From !! data-sort-type="date" | To !! Comments
|-
|Thomas Appleton||26 April 1826 Newton-Le-Willows, Lancashire|| data-sort-value="1/8/1863" | August 1863||data-sort-value="31/1/1897" | 31 January 1897 ||Joined West Midland Railway October 1854. Retired 1897. Died 17 April 1906, Worcester
|-
|William John Curtis||16 July 1859 Salisbury, Wiltshire|| data-sort-value="1/2/1897" | February 1897||data-sort-value="1/8/1898" | August 1898 ||
|-
|George Smith||14 January 1867 Shipton Oxfordshire||data-sort-value="1/9/1898" | September 1898||data-sort-value="1/12/1909" | 1 December 1909||Started work 6 November 1882. Later Station Master at [[Bridgnorth]]
|-
|Frederick William Augustus Hallett||12 August 1868 Batheaston, Somerset||data-sort-value="1/12/1910" | 1 December 1910||data-sort-value="23/7/1914" | 23 July 1914||Started work 9 January 1882. Died in 1914 aged 46 in a nursing home at Proud Cross, Kidderminster while awaiting an operation.<ref>Great Western Magazine, September 1914</ref>
|-
|Ernest James Neate Carter||21 September 1879 Slough, Buckinghamshire||data-sort-value="1/9/1914" | September 1914|| data-sort-value="1/12/1927" | December 1927||
|-
|George William Lane||31 May 1872 Hartlebury, Worcestershire||data-sort-value="1/1/1928" | After 1927|| ||Previously station master at Hartlebury
|-
|William John Barton Banbury||11 June 1880 Teignmouth, Devon||data-sort-value="1/1/1930" | 1930s|| data-sort-value="1/2/1937" | By February 1937||Previously station master at [[Wyre Forest Line#Cleobury_Mortimer|Cleobury Mortimer]], by 1937 station master at Stourport
|-
|Alfred Walter Cooke||15 September 1886 Witney, Oxfordshire||data-sort-value="1/4/1937" | April 1937|| ||Previously employed at Bridgnorth, [[Wellington to Craven Arms Railway|Much Wenlock]] and [[Eardington]] and station master at Cleobury Mortimer.
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ |+ [[Traffic statistics in commercial service]] for Bewdley (including Northwood Halt), selected years 1903 to 1952
|-
! !! colspan="3" | Passenger Traffic !! colspan="2" | Freight Traffic !!
|-
! Year !! Tickets issued !! Parcels despatched !! Revenue (£) !! Tons received & despatched !! Revenue (£) !! Total revenue (£)
|-
|1903||style="text-align:right"|63,131||style="text-align:right"|15,577||style="text-align:right"|4,296
|style="text-align:right"|16,588||style="text-align:right"|5,076||style="text-align:right"|9,372
|-
|1913||style="text-align:right"|82,475||style="text-align:right"|19,845||style="text-align:right"|4,702
|style="text-align:right"|17,020||style="text-align:right"|4,074||style="text-align:right"|8,776
|-
|1923||style="text-align:right"|92,463||style="text-align:right"|16,783||style="text-align:right"|7,584
|style="text-align:right"|20,171||style="text-align:right"|7,553||style="text-align:right"|15,137
|-
|1929||style="text-align:right"|92,479||style="text-align:right"|17,812||style="text-align:right"|6,202
|style="text-align:right"|20,201||style="text-align:right"|8,875||style="text-align:right"|15,077
|-
|1930||style="text-align:right"|88,763||style="text-align:right"|14,840||style="text-align:right"|5,251
|style="text-align:right"|19,323||style="text-align:right"|7,812||style="text-align:right"|13,063
|-
|1931||style="text-align:right"|69,627||style="text-align:right"|14,706||style="text-align:right"|4,922
|style="text-align:right"|20,599||style="text-align:right"|9,227||style="text-align:right"|14,149
|-
|1932||style="text-align:right"|56,206||style="text-align:right"|13,689||style="text-align:right"|4,042
|style="text-align:right"|16,907||style="text-align:right"|7,180||style="text-align:right"|11,222
|-
|1933||style="text-align:right"|56,012||style="text-align:right"|15,578||style="text-align:right"|4,007
|style="text-align:right"|15,158||style="text-align:right"|6,802||style="text-align:right"|10,809
|-
|1934||style="text-align:right"|55,051||style="text-align:right"|15,834||style="text-align:right"|4,061
|style="text-align:right"|14,797||style="text-align:right"|6,679||style="text-align:right"|10,740
|-
|1935||style="text-align:right"|61,135||style="text-align:right"|16,093||style="text-align:right"|3,988
|style="text-align:right"|13,668||style="text-align:right"|5,920||style="text-align:right"|9,908
|-
|1936||style="text-align:right"|63,262||style="text-align:right"|16,300||style="text-align:right"|3,896
|style="text-align:right"|14,457||style="text-align:right"|6,931||style="text-align:right"|10,827
|-
|1937||style="text-align:right"|66,925||style="text-align:right"|16,001||style="text-align:right"|4,164
|style="text-align:right"|13,357||style="text-align:right"|5,627||style="text-align:right"|9,701
|-
|1938||style="text-align:right"|60,251||style="text-align:right"|14,120||style="text-align:right"|3,748
|style="text-align:right"|10,874||style="text-align:right"|3,833||style="text-align:right"|7,581
|-
|1942||style="text-align:right"|93,092||style="text-align:right"|X||style="text-align:right"|7,325||style="text-align:right"|17,227||style="text-align:right"|X||style="text-align:right"|X
|-
|1947||style="text-align:right"|72,637||style="text-align:right"|12,251||style="text-align:right"|6,479||style="text-align:right"|13,376||style="text-align:right"|X||style="text-align:right"|X
|-
|1952||style="text-align:right"|64,647||style="text-align:right"|9,138||style="text-align:right"|5,328||style="text-align:right"|28,528||style="text-align:right"|X||style="text-align:right"|X
|-
|}
X: Data not recorded
==Historic maps of Bewdley Station==
* GWR plan of Bewdley station with the original lines in blue and the Rock Siding and alterations to the Down Yard as later amendments in red
* 1884 map showing scissors crossovers at both ends of the station and the short platform canopy
* 1903 map showing facing and trailing crossovers, the Rock siding and an additional siding in the goods yard
* 1927 map showing the longer platform and canopy and changes to the southern access to the Back Road and Rock Siding
* 1938 map showing little had changed since 1927
* 1964 map showing showing changes to the southern access to the Back Road and the goods yard
* 1905 GWR schematic plan of Bewdley giving siding capacities and other details.
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">
File:GWRplanBewdley.jpg
File:Bewdley1884map.jpg | 1884
File:Bewdley1903map.jpg | 1903
File:Bewdley1927map.jpg | 1927
File:Bewdley1938map.jpg | 1938
File:Bewdley1964map.jpg | 1964
File:Bewdley plan 1905.png | 1905
</gallery>
== See also ==
[[Bewdley Down Yard]]<br>
[[List of stations]]<br>
[[List of shops]]<br>[[Wyre Forest Line|Tenbury & Bewdley Railway]] ==References==<references />Early Station Masters data taken from census and GWR staff records by Reg Instone, who is involved with the Signalling Records Society, the LNWR Society and the GWR Study Group. Additional information from Chris Haynes.
==Links==
[http://www.bewdleystation.co.uk/ Bewdley Station web site]<br>
[http://www.svr-vlo.org.uk/ Volunteer Liaison Office web site]<br>[https://canmore.org.uk/collection/427522/ Image of "Melrose, Railway Station, urinal View from W" 8/4/1974]<br>[http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-299-998-457-C/ Image of "Interior of cast-iron urinal at Melrose Railway Station, Melrose, Roxburghshire", n/d] {{#coordinates:52.375771|-2.307005|[primary|][dim:1000]}}{{StationNavbox}}[[Category:Featured articles]]
