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{| class=" wikitable floatright"|-|[[File:BSicon_exCONTglocal.png|25px]] 1912 proposed extensions<br/>[[File:BSicon DSTlocal.png|25px]] RNAD Ditton Priors<br/>[[File:BSicon_HSTlocal.png|25px]] Ditton Priors<br/>[[File:BSicon_ABZrflocal.png|25px]] Abdon Clee Quarry Railway<br>[[File:BSicon_HSTlocal.png|25px]] Burwarton<br/>[[File:BSicon_eABZg+llocal.png|25px]] Proposed Kinlet & Billingsley extn.<br/>[[File:BSicon_HSTlocal.png|25px]] Stottesdon<br/>[[File:BSicon_HSTlocal.png|25px]] Cleobury Town and Shed<br/>[[File:BSicon_ABZrglocal.png|25px]] [[Tenbury Branch]] to [[Bewdley]]<br/>[[File:BSicon BHFlocal.png|25px]] Cleobury Mortimer<br>[[File:BSicon_STRlocal.png|25px]] [[Tenbury Branch]] to Tenbury<br/>|-|}The '''Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway ''' (CM&DPLR) opened in 1908. It connected with the [[Wyre Forest Line | Tenbury and Bewdley Railway]] at [[Wyre Forest Line#Cleobury Mortimer | Cleobury Mortimer]]. From there the line ran northwards for 12&frac12; miles via Cleobury Town, Stottesdon and Burwarton to Ditton Priors. It became part of the Great Western Railway in 1922.

==Rolling stockConstruction==At opening The CM&DPLR was built under the Railway had two Manning Wardle 0-6-0 saddle tanks, numbers 1734 Burwarton and 1735 CleoburyLight Railways Act of 1896. The railway An order under the Act was absorbed into the GWR granted in 1901 with construction eventually beginning late in May 1922, following which the locomotives were re1906.<ref name=Price>[[Bibliography#Other References|Price (1995)]] pp.7-numbered as GWR 28 and 29; they were later rebuilt as pannier tanks at Swindon in 193011. They remained as the regular engines </ref> A goods service began on 19 July 1908, initially using the line, although other small GWR tank engines would appear on contractor's locos as the line from time to timeRailway's own locomotives were not delivered until August. GWR 28 and 29 were recorded as being at [[Kidderminster Shed]] between 1940 and 1945<refname=Beddoes>[[Bibliography#Books|Turley Beddoes & Smith (20051995)]] p. 11765.</ref> The line opened for passenger traffic on 21 November 1908, although for the first six months the line speed was limited to 20mph rather than the 25mph permitted as a light railway while the track bed was allowed to consolidate<ref name=Price/>.

Ultimately the First World War brought an end to these plans and none of the schemes went ahead<ref>[[Bibliography#Other References|Price (1995)]] pp.39-40.</ref>

Passenger numbers were never great and declined steadily after the First World War. The railway became part of the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922 as part of the grouping under the Railway Act of 1921.<ref>[[Bibliography#Other References|Price (1995)]] p.59.</ref> As early as the 1920s some stations had effectively become request stops, and by the 1930s traffic had reduced to two ‘mixed’ trains per day. Passenger services ceased altogether in September 1938. However in 1941 the Royal Navy opened a Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD) at the end of line at RNAD Ditton Priors, close to Brown Clee Hill. The line therefore remained open for both freight and military traffic, and locomotives using the line were fitted with spark arrestors.

Ownership of the line passed from BR to the Admiralty in May 1957, the occasional haulage by now being provided by the Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0 diesel shunters. Navy use of the line continued until 1960, when the railway finally closed (some Admiralty equipment was moved from the Depot by rail thereafter).