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==Severn Valley Railway News saves the day==
Severn Valley Railway News (the Railway’s quarterly magazine) is not just a good read, it once rescued a railtour! While on an SVR Railtours excursion in April 1984, Class 40 no 40024 failed at Hereford. The fault was diagnosed as a loose contactor causing poor electrical connection. The offending contactor was wedged in place with a copy of SVR News, and the tour continued to Leeds after a 10 minute delay.
==April Fool!==
The ‘April Fool’ involving the [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 1980-1989#1985 | repainting of City of Truro]] in BR livery is well known. Two other ‘April Fools’ appeared in the spring 1996 edition of SVR News Locomotive Notes. One reported that 2857, then under overhaul, was to be fitted with a Giesel ejector to reduce coal consumption. The other reported that to meet Health and Safety requirements on monitoring crew working hours, locomotives were to be fitted with tachographs.
==A real Thomas enthusiast==
In February 1996, the SVR received a fax from a Mr Chee in Malaysia, saying he has found the SVR on the Internet (which was primitive in those days!) and asking if the SVR did Thomas the Tank Engine weekends. A reply in the affirmative was faxed, and Mr Chee duly arrived from Selangor in June with his wife and young son.
==Children and animals==
The late John Leach was for many years the SVR’s Marketing Manager. Two examples of his maxim that ‘children and animals make a good story’. In 1995 the SVR membership hit 16,000, including a Dalmatian dog which had been enrolled by his owner. When contacted, the owner agreed that this would make a good local news item. The story escalated, eventually reaching several of the national tabloids (the Daily Star in typical fashion referring to the Dalmatian as ‘A new breed of train-spotter’). The same year a 10 year old girl sent a donation of £20.63 to the Railway which she had saved over the previous 6 months. The Bewdley office staff rounded this up to £25 which bought her a £25 share in the Railway. A ‘news photocall’ of the presentation was organised, which BBC ‘Midlands Today’ attended, and later broadcast a 4 minute news item on prime-time evening television. As John Leach pointed out, a 4 minute advertisement on Central TV would have cost the Railway around £215,000. Such is the value of a good story.
==See also==
[[The Severn Valley Railway in preservation]]
