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Tuesday 18th April 2023 Bewdley, Worcestershire

A day at the Severn Valley Railway with the classic combination of Pendennis Castle and GWR coaches

Recreate the classic days of the Great Western Railway in the 1920s-1930s at the Severn Valley Railway featuring visiting No.4079 Pendennis Castle hauling the line’s awesome and authentic GWR coaching stock

£145.00

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About this event

We are delighted to announce an exciting agreement between TimeLine Events and the Severn Valley Railway to bring a trial photographic charter back to the SVR after a break of several years. The Railway have allowed for this trial photography event to resume under safe and controlled conditions and we are very happy for this event to financially support the Railway whilst allowing responsible photographers the opportunity obtain stunning images for themselves and to publicise this fantastic heritage Railway.

Our day will feature No.4079 Pendennis Castle in Great Western Railway livery paired with the SVR’s awesome and amazing GWR coaching stock, meaning we can recreate an authentic-looking train formation from the pre-Second World War days of the 1920s and 1930s. The day will start and conclude at Bewdley Station where paid car parking is available and we will have exclusive use of the line on a day when there are no passenger services operating. We would like to thank the host Severn Valley Railway and the locomotive’s owners the Great Western Society for facilitating this special trial event, the first in what we hope will be a great success and become an ongoing partnership.  

We plan to visit many of the railways best locations during this day and that will include some stations and train in the landscape scenes for you to enjoy and capture.

The Severn Valley Railway is one of the United Kingdom’s premier heritage lines running for sixteen miles through the beautiful countryside of Shropshire and Worcestershire. Reopened in sections between 1970 and 1984, the route runs from the town of Kidderminster where it connects with the national network to the market town of Bridgnorth. It is the remaining section of the Hartlebury to Shrewsbury line, opened in 1862, with the Kidderminster to Bewdley ‘loop’ originally being part of the Great Western Railway and opened in 1878. Under the auspices of British Railways Western Region, the line closed to passengers in September 1963 with a minimal service between Bewdley and Kidderminster retained until 1970, and through goods traffic ceased in November 1963. Limited goods traffic continued to and from Alveley Colliery just outside Highley until 1969 and on the mile between the British Sugar Corporation Works and Kidderminster until 1982. In 1966, BR agreed to the line being purchased for preservation which began what has been a continually evolving success story ever since.

Pendennis Castle is a member of the 4073 Class of locomotives and is one of the first ten Great Western ‘Castles’ to be built at Swindon Works from where it emerged in early March 1924. The following year 4079 was loaned to the London and North Eastern Railway for comparison trials with the LNER’s A1 Class Pacifics; the Castle performed favourably in terms of both power and efficiency, hauling 16-coach loads on the East Coast Main Line working out of London’s Kings Cross station. After this, it was displayed at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in London along with ‘A1’ Class Flying Scotsman - a notice displayed next to 4079 proclaimed it to be the most powerful passenger express locomotive in the country. The two appeared together again in 1989 in the unlikely setting of Perth in Australia as part of that country’s bi-centennial celebrations.

Back on GWR territory, 4079 was based at Old Oak Common to work services from London Paddington to South Wales and the West Country. After the Second World War, depots included Hereford, Gloucester, Stafford Road, Taunton, Swindon, Bristol Bath Road and finally Bristol St Philip’s Marsh from November 1963 and from where 4079 was withdrawn in May 1964. Pendennis Castle was purchased for private preservation from British Railways Western Region and was based at several locations including Southall and Carnforth before being sold to the Hammersley Iron Company of Western Australia. After working part of the Great Western Envoy rail tour from Birmingham to Didcot, the locomotive emigrated in 1977 for use by the Pibara Railways Historical Society on excursion trains, being transferred from Avonmouth Docks to Sydney, Australia. No.4079 is now in full working order and is visiting the Severn Valley Railway for the line’s Spring Steam Gala as part of a short tour of heritage lines.

The Severn Valley Railway’s fantastic Great Western coaches make an ideal pairing with Pendennis Castle. As the coaches are not currently being used for public services, this represents the only opportunity during the visit of 4079 to see this awesome and authentic combination operating together. We expect this to be a popular event and places are limited, so please book fast and early to avoid disappointment. Due to the coaches currently not being used for public services & out of commission for carrying passengers this event will involve car sharing between the photographers between locations.




Event requirements

Equipment

  • Spare batteries
  • Camera
  • Lense cloths
  • Lenses
  • Camera protection - rain covers etc

Other things you should bring

  • Snacks

Knowledge

  • All levels welcome

Fitness

  • Medium

Other essentials

  • Sturdy outdoor shoes
  • Warm clothing
  • Wet weather gear

Event location

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