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Between 1862 and 1864, the Worcester Journal published a series of articles titled "Excursions by Railway". The April 25 and May 2 issues of 1863 featured the Severn Valley Railway from [[Hartlebury]] to [[Shrewsbury]]. The following is the text of that article.
<p><div style="background:#fcfcfc; border-style:solid; border-width:2px; border--color:#895920; margin:20px 10px; padding:5px;">SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY. This line is appropriately named, for the new iron road<ref group="note">The article was written in 1863, one year after the railway opened</ref> runs, throughout almost its entire course, in view of the [[River Severn]]. It is one of the prettiest lines in England, presenting at every turn (and they are many, for as we have said, the line following the bends of the river describes the same sinuous course) great variety of scenery. The traveller, even without leaving the train, catches glimpses of wood and river, blossoming orchards, rocks, glades, and hills which few if any other English railway affords. An additional train,<ref group="note">The opening timetable included only three full line return services per day.</ref> to and fro, has recently been put on for the accommodation of the district, so that the tourist or man of business, who professes belief in the old Latin doctrine that "''Diluculo surgere saluberimium est''" may rise with the lark, have a long day, and finish with the owl.
We commence our journey on the Severn Valley line at [[Hartlebury]], where it joins the [[West Midland Railway|West Midland]], and being a single line the trains are so arranged as to meet at certain stations where there are sidings. This arrangement rather tends to punctuality, as the officers know that the delay of one train necessarily occasions similar delay to another moving in an opposite direction. As trains from Wolverhampton and Birmingham on the one side, and [[Worcester]] and Hereford on the other, meet Severn Valley trains at Hartlebury, there is generally an introductory performance of an unpleasant kind (to a traveller in a hurry to get to the end of his journey) known by the modern term of "shunting", to be performed by way of introduction to the new district; but, this preliminary ceremony over, the journey commences through a pleasant undulating country to the first station at [[Stourport]], with short cuttings and embankments alternating, and some few bridges to be passed over and under. 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.
[[Shrewsbury]] is a great railway centre for North Wales, Liverpool and Manchester, Hereford and South Wales, and the Midland district. There are also many places of interest in the immediate locality, and, first in order must be named the Wroxeter excavations, by which the ancient Roman city of Uriconium has been brought again to daylight. Wroxeter is distant from Shrewsbury about five miles by road. It can also be approached by railway. Take train to Upton Magna (three or four miles), and walk about two miles, a very pleasant road, to the locality. No visitor to Shrewsbury should miss this treat. A collection of antiquities, gathered in the course of the excavations, is to be seen in the museum in the town. The return to [[Worcester]] may be made from Shrewsbury by another route, ''via'' the Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton line to [[Wolverhampton]], and thence through the Black Country to Dudley, Stourbridge, and [[Kidderminster]]. The effect of such a journey is most striking at night, when the flaming fiery furnaces present a scene which, it may be supposed, can only be rivalled in Pandemonium. The return journey by this route would give the traveller the opportunity of saying that he had travelled by rail "All round the Wrekin."
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==See also==
*[[The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership]]
==Links==
[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17612/17612-h/17612-h.htm Handbook to the Severn Valley Railway, by J. Randall] A similarly styled 1863 description of the towns served by the Severn Valley Railway, from Worcester to Shrewsbury, published as an eBook on [https://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg].
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