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[[File:7325_20190629.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Association's locomotive 9303 (7325) at Kidderminster, June 2019]]The '''Great Western (SVR) Association''' is a registered charity (No 1078718). It exists primarily to preserve and restore items of rolling stock for service on the SVR, in particular GWR carriages from the 1920s to 1940s.
==History==
The Association began in 1968 as the 'Great Western Rolling Stock Fund' (also referred to as the 'GWR Coach Fund'), and quickly began to accumulate pre-nationalisation carriages which were being withdrawn from service by BR at the time.<ref name=GWSVRA>[http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/background.html GW(SVR)A website ‘Background’] (retrieved 8 February 2019)</ref> In 1972 a separate group, the ‘Great Western Locomotive and Carriage Society’, was formed with the intention of saving a locomotive, [[GWR Mogul 7325 | Collett Mogul 9303/7325]], from [[Barry Scrapyard]].<ref>SVR News 25</ref> The two groups shared common aims and members, and in 1973 merged to form the Great Western (SVR) Association,<ref name=SVR128>SVR News 128, “The Great Western (SVR) Association celebrates 25 years”</ref> the somewhat convoluted title being chosen to avoid any confusion with the Didcot-based Great Western Society.<ref>SVR News 157</ref> The first Annual General Meeting of the new Association was held on 18 May 1974.<ref>SVR News 34</ref>
The Association’s 25th Anniversary was noted in SVR News in 1998.<ref name=SVR128/> The Constitution which governs the Association’s status as a registered charity was adopted on 24 October 1998.<ref>Charities Commission website</ref>
It ran a special train on 12 May 2019 to celebrate “the 50th Anniversary of the Association on the Severn Valley Railway”.<ref>Leaflet circulated to members, January 2019</ref> This anniversary relates to the 1968 origins rather than the Association’s formation in 1973.
==Membership and fund raising==
The Association is a membership body, by payment of a subscription. An illustrated members' Newsletter is nominally published twice yearly.<ref>[http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/how_to_help.html GW(SVR)A website ‘How to help’] (retrieved 8 February 2017)</ref>
The Association operates a [[The Great Western (SVR) Association Shop|shop]] at [[Bewdley]] selling books and other railwayana. This is located in [[GWR 1145 Toplight 'Snake C' Passenger Brake]] adjacent to the car park.
In 2019, for the Association’s 50th year, it launched a fund to return [[7325|Mogul 7325]] to the Collett GWR condition of 9303.
The Association is a minor shareholder of [[Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC]].<ref>[https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01046274/filing-history Full list of shareholders at 24 June 2016]</ref>
==Rolling stock==
===Acquisitions and disposals===
The Mogul was purchased in 1974 and moved to the SVR in 1975; it is still owned by the Association.
Acquisition of further redundant ex Departmental Stock continued in the 1970s. By mid-1998 the Association owned 14 carriages and ‘brown vehicles’.<ref>SVR Stock Book Ninth Edition</ref> Since that time:
*[[Carriages formerly resident on the SVR|Collett bow-ended Corridor Third 4546]] which had been used as a dormitory coach left circa 1999.
*A further 5 carriages in private ownership on the SVR were taken over by the Association.
*[[GWR 2426 Toplight Full Third|2426]] was acquired from [[SVR(H)]].
*[[GWR 9581 Wheelchair accessible Buffet Car|5043 (now 9581)]] was acquired from [[The 2857 Society]] in 2014
*In 2017 the Association agreed to transfer 5043 to [[SVR(H)]] in exchange for [[GWR 4786 Full Third]].
*In 2019 the Association acquired [[GWR 2242 Corridor Brake Third]].
{{As of|2020}} the Association owns 20 [[Carriages | carriages]] (three of which are owned by Association members), one [[GWR 1257 Siphon G Bogie Milk Van| Siphon G Milk Van]], and a [[GWR 107291 Macaw B Bogie Bolster| Macaw B Bogie Bolster]].<ref>[http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/stock_list.html Stock list on the GW(SVR)A web site (retrieved January 2020)]</ref>. A full list of SVR-based rolling stock owned by the Association may be found [[:Category:Rolling stock owned by the Great Western (SVR) Association | here]].
===Restorations===
The Association's restoration of [[GWR 9103 Nondescript Saloon | GWR 9103 Nondescript Saloon]] was the overall Winner in the Heritage Railway Association's Carriage and Wagon Competition for 2015.<ref>[http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/news.html GW(SVR)A website] (retrieved 6 January 2017)</ref> The most recently completed restoration projects are [[GWR 650 Brake Third Open (Excursion)|Art Deco Brake 3rd 650]], which entered service in November 2015 and [[GWR 6045 Bow-end Composite|Bow-end Composite 6045]] whose restoration was completed in April 2020.
Only 3 of the carriages have yet to be returned to working order.<ref>GW(SVR)A booklet (since publication 6045 has been completed and 2242 acquired)</ref> {{As of|2020}} work on 4786 is in progress at Bewdley<ref>GWR(SVRA) Newsletter published Jan 2019</ref> and on 2242 at Kidderminster. 2426 was moved to Bewdley in 2019 where it is being used as a workshop although work has started on restoring the ends.
== See also ==
*[[List of preservation groups]]
*[[:Category:Rolling stock owned by the Great Western (SVR) Association | List of rolling stock owned by the Great Western (SVR) Association]]
==References==
<references />
== Links ==
*[http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/ Great Western (SVR) Assoc. web site]*[https://www.facebook.com/groups/1802133566694120/ The GW(SVR)A on Facebook]
