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==Closure==
===Passenger services===
The last scheduled passenger service over the Viaduct was the 19:20 DMU from Bewdley to Kidderminster on Saturday 3 January 1970, with passenger services between being formally withdrawn from 5 January 1970.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] p. 164.</ref> When the SVR acquired the southern section of the line between [[Alveley Sidings]] and [[Foley Park]], the Viaduct remained in the section of the line still owned by BR. Following the SVR's reopening of Bewdley in 19841974, BR ran a number of summer weekend DMU specials between their Kidderminster station and Bewdley. One of these was photographed on the Viaduct on 11 September 1982 during the that year’s Enthusiasts Weekend.<ref>SVR News 66,67</ref> The last passengers to cross the Viaduct under BR ownership were on the “Severn Valley Enterprise” rail tour from Bewdley to Paddington and back on 8 October 1983.
===Freight services===
After crossing the viaduct when travelling toward Bewdley, the area of land on the left of the line was the site of the former British Sugar Corporation's Foley Park Factory. Freight services between the factory and Kidderminster continued after 1970, finally ending with the factory’s closure in late 1982.<ref>[http://www.miac.org.uk/sugar.html Railways in Worcestershire] (retrieved 23 April 2018)</ref> The last visible structures on the site, two large silos, were demolished in 2012 and the area is now being developed for housing.
On 6 September 2016 the HLF rejected a bid from the [[Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust Ltd]] for £902,200 but "agreed the project as a medium priority for support" and "noted that a strengthened resubmission that addressed [its] concerns would be welcomed." The concerns were "that community engagement and interpretation plans were not sufficiently strong."<ref>Minutes - Heritage Lottery Fund: Committee for West Midlands Meeting on 6 September 2016</ref>
===2017-18 HLF 19 National Lottery Heritage Fund bid==={{As of|2018|11}} In June 2017 the Trust has another secured £71,800 of HLF financial backing to develop a bid seeking £927,000 from the HLF for a large part of the quoted £1.324 million total project cost. In June 2017 the Trust secured £71,800 of HLF financial backing to develop its bid. The SVR has met the challenge of raising matched funding of £397,000 (originally £275,000) for which the Trust is co-ordinating ordinated efforts, and through a campaign entitled "'''Helping hands for which it has launched an appeal. The Trust submitted its bid on 26 October 2018, and hopes to receive HLF’s final decision in January 2019Falling Sands'''". Preliminary structual structural investigations in Summer 2018 had revealed two gas mains, one live, which increased the cost and SVR's contribution. If successful The Trust submitted its bid on 26 October 2018 and on 25 March 2019 announced the award of a further £853,800 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund which together with the earlier grant took the total amount of its funding to £925,600. The grant, along with other funds raised, will be used to restore Falling Sands Viaduct and to launch an exciting programme of community engagement and exhibitions that will explore the Railway’s early history. In August 2019 the Trust unveiled a large donation wall at [[The Engine House]] acknowledging the individuals, organisations and businesses who had donated to the "Helping Hands for Falling Sands" appeal. Repair work commenced in securing HLF support, January 2020 and will be fully completed by the autumn.<ref>[https://www.svr.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?a=875 SVR website]</ref> Previous announcements suggest the SVR would intend to undertake this urgent project in two stages, with the first stage from December 2019 to April 2020 necessitating closure of the railway between Bewdley and Kidderminster from the end of Santa [[Christmas services ]] until Easter. Subsequent works will involve replacing damaged brickwork and corbelling, and repointing throughout.<ref>[http://svrtrust.org.uk/our-projects/falling-sands-viaduct.html 'Falling Sands Viaduct', Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust website] (Retrieved 20 November 2018)</ref><ref>Shareholders' Newsletter, undated</ref><ref>SVR News 203, 204</ref><ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/epnovember18 Express Points November 2018]</ref> <gallery>File:Falling Sands 2020 repairs 1.jpg | View of the viaduct in January 2020 with the infill removed.</gallery>
== See also ==
==Links==
[http://svrtrust.org.uk/ Charitable Trust website]<br>
[https://www.svrlive.com/charitable-trust SVRLive page]<br>[https://www.fallingsandsviaduct.org.uk/ Falling Sands Viaduct website]
[[Category:Lottery funding]]
[[Category:Featured articles]]
