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→Description of the Stourport branch: Info from GWR magazine
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[[File:BSicon_BHF.svg|25px]] [[Stourport]]
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[[File:BSicon WBRÜCKE+GRZqlocal.png|25px]] [[Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal]]
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[[File:BSicon_ABZrf.svg|25px]] To [[Stourport Power Station]]
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[[File:BSicon WBRÜCKE+GRZqlocal.png|25px]] [[River Stour]]<br/>[[File:BSicon DST.svg|25px]] [[List_of_signal_boxes#List_of_historical_Signal_Boxes_and_Ground_FramesWilden Sand Siding]]<br/>[[File:BSicon DST.svg|25px]] [[Leapgate SidingPrivate Sidings]]
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[[File:BSicon_ABZrg.svg|25px]] [[Hartlebury Junction | Hartlebury Jct]] (To [[Kidderminster]])
[[File:BSicon_STR.svg|25px]] To Worcester
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|}[[File:Stourport Branch 20151122.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The line of the Stouport Stourport Branch (right) and entry to the Triangle (left)]]This What is now referred to as the '''Stourport Branch''' was the original route of the original Severn Valley line Railway dating from 1862, connecting [[Bewdley]] and stations to the north with the OW&W main line at [[Hartlebury]] to the south. The [[Kidderminster Loop Line]] connecting [[Kidderminster]] to Bewdley link , which is now used by the present day SVR , opened in 1878. The area between the two lines is commonly referred to as the [[Stourport Triangle]] or Bewdley Triangle.In the picture, the original path of the Severn Valley Railway is the line curving away to the right. A set of points allows entry to the sidings in the triangle, added by the SVR during preservation. ==Description of the Stourport branch==From Hartlebury Station (131 miles 68 chains), the Severn Valley Branch began around 600 yards to the north at Hartlebury Junction (132m 15ch). From there the line curved to the west towards Stourport. After around 840 yards the line passed over the main Kidderminster to Worcester road, now the A449. The GWR Magazine November 1926 edition noted that "''The bridge which carries the Severn Valley line over the road at Hartlebury is to be reconstructed''." Following the closure of the branch, the bridge was demolished in 1985 although the sandstone abutments are still in situ. The view below is looking north with Stourport to the left.<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">Underbridge_A449_20201107.jpg | Abutments of the former underbridge on the A449 near Hartlebury</gallery> Beyond Milepost 133 the line was crossed by two overbridges. Charlton Lane, a minor road between the nearby villages of Torton and Charlton, crossed the Branch via the first (133m 13ch). The second (133m 28ch) appears from early OS maps to have been associated with a smaller track and may have been an [[List of infrastructure # Types of bridge and crossing |accommodation bridge]]. The maps also show the presence of a foot crossing next to a building between the two bridges.<gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">Charlton_Lane_Overbridge_20201107.jpg|Charlton Lane Overbridge looking eastOverbridge_near_Charlton_Lane_20201107.jpg|Overbridge west of Charlton Lane looking east</gallery> [[Leapgate Private Sidings]] (135m 53ch) were opened on 28 August 1939 to serve a depot of the Regent Oil Company (named Texaco after 1967). The line then entered a cutting at Wilden, a third of a mile long and 60ft deep. It would have been simpler to build a tunnel of that length and depth, but this would not have created sufficient spoil to build the large embankment required in the Stour valley beyond. The cutting was created by the unusual method of driving a tunnel with shafts through the hard sandstone, installing rails, dropping the softer upper material down the shafts into wagons to avoid lifting it, and finally blasting the hard rock underneath to compete the cutting. The west end of the cutting was the site of a [[Wilden Sand Siding|siding serving a sand quarry]] and later used to store coal wagons waiting to enter [[Stourport Power Station]]. Wilden Top Road passed over the cutting via a brick overbridge of 54 ft span. The view below is looking west towards Stourport; the sand quarry was on the right beyond the bridge. A [https://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?img=Y-46-06&serial=3 photograph from the Courney Haydon Collection] shows a view also looking west, with the Leapgate Private Siding points visible in the foreground. The OS map extract shows Wilden Top Road (centre) with Leapgate Private Sidings south of the line (right) and the Sand Quarry siding to the north of it (left). Wilden Lane is on the extreme left. <gallery mode=packed heights=150px style="text-align:left">Wilden_Top_Road_Overbridge_20201107.jpg|Wilden Top Road Overbridge looking west OS_Wilden_Detail.jpg|OS Map of Wilden 1951</gallery>
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File:SVR023star 20160514.jpg | SVR023*
File:SVR022star.JPG | SVR022* </gallery> BR ended passenger services over the Stourport Branch with effect from 6 January 1970. Coal trains from the south to the Power Station continued until March 1979 when road haulage took over completely.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Mitchell & Smith (2007)]]</ref><ref name="StourportPast">[https://www.facebook.com/STOURPORTPAST/posts/1170675616317956 Stourport Past Facebook Page, retrieved 14/06/2016]</ref> The line itself was finally taken out of use on 12 January 1981.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Vanns]] p. 94.</ref> ==Preservation==At the south end of the Branch, the area between Hartlebury Junction and the former A449 underbridge is now private woodland. The former trackbed between the A449 at Hartlebury and the canal bridge at Stourport is signed by Worcestershire County Council as a "Permissive Path" and is open to the public for activities including walking and cycling.<ref group="note">A permissive path is not a public right of way. It is a path clearly signed as a permissive that a landowner allows the public to use. This may be for walkers, riders, cyclists, or any combination. However there is no statutory right of access.</ref> Worcestershire County Council notices at access points refer to the path as the "Leapgate Old Railway Line". Much of the path also forms part of [[National Cycle Route 45]], while a short section is included in Worcestershire County Council's "Hartlebury Leapgate Circular Walk". No obvious traces of the Power Station or its branch line remain, all four bridges having since been demolished and the embankments levelled for the development of housing estates. The area between the canal bridge at Stourport as far as the former Burlish Crossing, including the site of the former Stourport Station, is now also completely occupied by housing. The SVR owns the track bed of the Stourport Branch from Bewdley through Mount Pleasant Tunnel to a point 302 yards beyond its southern portal, a short way north of Burlish Halt. It was acquired by the SVR when the southern extension from [[Alveley Sidings]] to [[Foley Park]] was purchased in December 1972. The trackbed running past houses was immediately sold off as garden extensions, thus offsetting part of the purchase price (the SVR had in effect acted as agents for the local residents' association). The purchase included the modern footbridge and the Halt at Burlish, the platform of which was made from precast concrete sections. Both footbridge and platform were dismantled and stored at [[Arley]] for many years before being sold.<ref>[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1067 Peter Pearson and Chris Walton, SVR Forum thread, 21-22 February 2009]</ref> The [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1970-1979#1973 | 1973 Light Railway Order]] allowed the SVR to operate over this section, although it has never been used for public services. The first ¾ mile was re-laid in 1975 for filming of [[The Seven-Per-Cent Solution]] to take place. Part of this short length of track is now used as a siding. In December 2010 an attempt to build a [[Wagon Review Group|two-road shed]] for the storage of up to 50 wagons on the course of the trackbed of the branch failed when the HLF turned down an application for funding.<ref>[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1133&highlight=hlf Fathers, P., SVR Forum 10 December 2010] (Retrieved 4 January 2018</ref> In 2015, Rail Safety Solutions (RSS) entered an agreement with the SVR to lease the branch as far as Mount Pleasant tunnel, for the purposes of training Network Rail apprentices in track laying and maintenance. In exchange, the SVR would gain ongoing training for its own staff, as well as use of the relaid track for occasional train services.<ref>SVR News 192, "General Manager's Notes", Nick Ralls</ref> A small section of relaid track can be seen on the site, along with a hoarding bearing the logos of RSS, Auctus Training Solutions and the SVR.<gallery>File:RSS_Poster_20170218.jpg | Poster at the Stourport Triangle in 2017File:Triangle_20170409.jpg | Examples of track work
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==Notes==
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==See also==
==References==
<references /> ==Links==*[http://gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/website/Countryside/ Worcestershire Public Rights of Way Interactive Map] (Confirming the absence of a public right of way)<ref>*[https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/directory_record/2579/hartlebury_leapgate_circular_walk Worcesterhire County Council: Hartlebury Leapgate Circular Walk] [[Category:Featured articles]]