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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 MidlandRailway|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.
After leaving Stourport the line begins to run parallel with the river, and the woods of Ribbesford rising up from the western bank are seen. It is at this spot where, according to an ancient legend, a gallant archer made an extraordinary shot, having killed a buck, and, the arrow passing through the deer, having transfixed a salmon in the river! We tell the tale as the old chronicles record it, leaving the reader to give it just what credence he thinks fit. The country retains its undulating character as we pass along the eastern side of the river up to Bewdley, Winterdyne, now the residence of Major Gresley, forming a conspicuous object on the opposite bank. [[Bewdley|Bewdley station]] is in that part of the borough known as Wribbenhall (a separate parish), and is on the rising ground on the east bank of the Severn. Passing its outskirts on the way to Arley, the little town is looked down upon lying snugly in a hollow between abruptly rising ground on either bank of the Severn, groves of fruit trees now white with blossom, sheltering it and giving it a thorough ''rus in urbe'' character.
