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→Proposals prior to the construction of the SVR
===Worcester and Cardiff Junction Railway===
Proposed in '''1843''', the main branch would begin at the Taff Vale Railway near Cardiff and pass through Leominster, [[Wyre Forest Line#Easton Court|Little Hereford]] and [[Wyre Forest Line#Tenbury Wells|Tenbury]]. A branch was to run from [[Wyre Forest Line#Newnham Bridge|Newnham]] to Stourport.<ref>The Railway Times for 1843, Vol 6, p. 1092.</ref> A meeting was held in September 1844 at which it was resolved to ask the Company "...''to bring a branch line from Tenbury to Cleobury Mortimer, Bewdley and Kidderminster''.".<ref>Worcester Herald, 21 September 1844, via the British Newspaper Archive</ref>
===London, Worcester and South Staffordshire Railway===
Originally proposed in '''March 1844''' as the ''London and Worcester and Rugby and Oxford Railway Company'', renamed the London, Worcester and South Staffordshire Railway in February 1845. The proposed 'standard gauge' route from Oxford and Aylesbury in the south ran to Wolverhampton via Banbury, Evesham, Worcester, Stourport, Kidderminster, Stourbridge and Dudley, and was shown on a map of the proposed route of the OWW which covered much of the same ground. The Bill did not pass through Parliament and winding up was completed by October 1846<ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C12626 National Archives]</ref><ref>[https://postlmg.cc/R6DY2YFX Map of the proposed OWW held in the National Archives]</ref>.
===Hereford and Kidderminster Railway===
===Welsh Midland Railway===
Advertised in '''April 1845''' seeking capital of £3.5M. It proposed "''...to connect the manufacturing districts and the seaports of south Wales ... with Birmingham and the great manufacturing districts of Staffordshire.''".<ref>London Evening Standard, 14 April 1845, via the British Newspaper Archive</ref> A meeting took place at Worcester on 30 April 1845 at which it was noted that the proposed railway would be beneficial to the interests of the City. At that time the question of whether the railway would be built to 'broad gauge' had not been decided.<ref>Worcester Journal, 1 May 18541845, via the British Newspaper Archive</ref> Notice of the intention to bring a Bill to Parliament was advertised in November 1845.<ref>[https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3334419/3334420/4/Cilgerran The Cambrian, 21 November 1845, via National Library of Wales]</ref> By 1846 the affairs of the company were being wound up.<ref>[http://www.gwentarchives.gov.uk/media/46833/d4131-newport-abergavenny-and-hereford-railway-company-records-relating-to-the-taff-vale-extension.html#toc Gwent Archives]</ref>
===Worcester, Shrewsbury and Crewe Union Railway===
===Kidderminster and Welsh Midland Junction Railway===
Advertised in '''May 1845''' seeking capital of £650,000. This appears to follow on from the April 1845 proposal to merge the Hereford and Kidderminster Railway with the Welsh Midland Railway, as the advertisement repeated word for word the proposal of the former.<ref>Worcester Herald, 24 May 1845, via the British Newspaper Archive</ref>
===Direct East and West Junction Railway===
Advertised in '''August 1845''' seeking capital of £800,000. The route was described as "''This important railway is 42 miles in length; will commence at the railway station of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway at Kidderminster, and will proceed from thence by way of Tenbury and Leominster to Hereford''". The article also noted that "''The line is free from engineering difficulties, and gradients highly favourable''."<ref>Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, 21 August 1845 via the British Newspaper Archive</ref> That description does not really accord with the Engineer's map, which shows the proposed line crossing the Severn by a bridge approximately where Dowles Bridge was built, then entering a tunnel at Northwood Lane which ended beyond Habbeley Habberley Valley, a length of around 1.8 miles or about the same as Brunel's famous Box Tunnel.<ref>Copy of map prepared by J Gardener, held by Worcester Archive</ref> By 1846 it had been amalgamated with another scheme backed by the same promoters, the Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Junction Railway.<ref>Worcestershire Chronicle, 4 November 1846 via the British Newspaper Archive</ref> It was later alleged that this merger was unlawful, and by 1851 action was being taken to wind up the affairs of the 'Direct East and West'.<ref>Worcester Journal, 26 June 1851 via the British Newspaper Archive</ref>
===Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company===:''Main article: [[Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company]]===''
First proposed by Robert Stephenson in '''July 1845''' as one of four planned railways for the Shropshire Union. Stephenson surveyed the route from Worcester to Shrewsbury in 1846. A Bill was raised in Parliament the same year, but never enacted. Proposals for formation of a company to build railway appeared in July 1847, but no further action had been taken by 1848 after which time the Shropshire Union let the plan lapse. However Stephenson's plans were used by [[Robert Nicholson]] for what became the [[The Severn Valley Railway Company (19th Century)]].
===Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway'===
(Often shortened to Stour Valley Railway and now known as the Stour Valley Line): The Company was authorised by an Act of Parliament in '''August 1846''' and successfully built the line from Birmingham to Wolverhampton via Smethwick which opened in 1852 and is still in use today.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stour_Valley_Line Stour Valley Line on Wikipedia]</ref>The 'Stour Valley' by which the line is known referred to a branch (proposed but never built) from Smethwick following the [[River Stour ]] via Stourbridge and Kidderminster to its junction with the Severn at Stourport.<ref>Worcestershire Chronicle, 20 August 1845, via the British Newspaper Archive</ref>
===Shrewsbury, Ironbridge and Bridgnorth Railway===
==Other proposals after the opening of the SVR in 1862==
[[File:Birmingham, Kidderminster and Stourport Railway 1892.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Plan of part of the Birmingham, Kidderminster and Stourport Railway]]After 1862, the following railways were proposed to form a junction with , or cross, the SVR (incomplete list)
===Stourbridge Railway, Valley of the Stour Extension===
===West Staffordshire Railway===
Proposed in 1874, the route would run from the LNWR line south of Wolverhampton via Kingswinford, west of Stourbridge, Wolverley, west of Kidderminster to connect to the Tenbury and Bewdley Railway with a short branch to Bewdley. The scheme, which was backed by the LNWR as an alternative to the [[Kidderminster Loop Line]], was rejected by Parliament in 1875.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] p. 81.</ref><ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001590/18741212/049/0003 County Express; Brierley Hill, Stourbridge, Kidderminster, and Dudley News Saturday 12 December 1874 on the British Newspaper Archive]</ref> ===Birmingham, Kidderminster and Stoke Railway===Proposed around 1888-9, this would have provided a loop line to relieve the busy GWR main line and the Lickey Incline (the Stoke referred to is near Bromsgrove). A Bill went to Parliament in 1890 but failed under opposition from the GWR<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/tarkaman/9380075176 Ian Dinmore on Flickr]</ref>. ===Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Hereford and South Wales Junction Railway.===Proposed in 1891, the main railway would have run from Wolverhampton (Monmore Green) to Hereford, passing through Kinver, Kidderminster, Stourport and Areley Kings. The Birmingham branch would run from Kidderminster to Harborne via Halesowen.<ref>[https://postimg.cc/xcD9PBP1 Railway News, 23 May 1891, via the British Newspaper Archive]</ref>
===Birmingham, Kidderminster and Stourport Railway===Proposed in 1892, this followed the same route in the Northfield area as the previous scheme and presumably had the same objectives. A branch of this railway would have crossed the Loop Line near Falling Sands Viaduct and the SVR near Stourport Station, ending at the Basin in Stourport.<ref>Plans held at [[http://archivesunlocked.warwickshire.gov.uk/calmview/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=01510%2f1%2f3%2f10%2f1%2f471 Warwickshire Archives (Item 471)]</ref> ===Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway]] (extensions)=== :''Main article: [[Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway]]'' Some time after opening in 1908, the CM&DPLR considered an extension to Billingsley, whose [[Collieries served by the Severn Valley Railway|colliery]] was instead served by a [[Kinlet and Billingsley Sidings signal box|branch from the SVR]] authorised in 1911 and opened in 1913. In 1912 the railway considered three other possible extensions from the terminus at Ditton Priors, one of which would have joined the SVR near Bridgnorth. None of the extensions were taken up after the First World War.<ref>[[Bibliography#Other References|Price (1995)]] pp.39-40.</ref>.
==See also==
==Links==
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania Railway Mania on Wikipedia]
[[Category:The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership]]
