Heritage Railway – August 01, 2019

Longestevertrain on theSevernValley?

ByPaulAppleton

SATURDAY,June 1saw whatist hought
to have been the longest (and heaviest)
train to run on theSevernValley Railway
whenitreceiveda21-wagon consist
over its Network Rail connection
at Kidderminster.
Consisting of 18‘Osprey’track
carriers and Sibelcosandhoppers,
the trainwasoveraquarter- of-a-mile
long andweighed 1684tons.
OnceonSVR metals,ith ad to set
backto Kidderminster buffer stops
in Plat form One and only just fitted
within theDown advanced starter

signal on the‘main’line towards

Bewdley,allowing trainmovements

to operateout ofPlat formTwoand

along theLoop line out of the station.

Thetrain broughtint rack panels

and materials secured from Network

Rail forfurther use on the SVR.The

trainwassoon splitinto manageable

sections and unloadedby contra ctor

TXMasareciprocal gesture –the

companyhas the use of partof

Kidderminsterstation (EL1–engine

release line one) outside normal

operating timesto te st air brakes

on itsrail-borne machinery, getti ng

it signed off beforegoingelsewhere

on the national network.

Having been unloadedwith the

‘panel grabs’fitted on thesemachines,

this proved to be alot quicker than

if they had been unloadedby the

railway’s ownmachines,using chains

and slingsto do thelifting.

Ontrackfor thewinter

Half-a-mile of track is nowstored

alongside the siteofthe former sugar

beet factorynear Foley Park and will

be used in nextwinter’srelayonce

extensiverepairwork on Falling Sands

Viaducthas beencompleted.The

opportunitywill also be takento install

aturnout (point) thatwill leadto the

proposedwagon storage shed and

sidings on the siteoft he old British Sugar

sidings south ofBewdley tunnel.

Onceemptied,the wagonswere

takenforstora ge on the stub of

Stourportline at the‘tri angle’southof

Bewdley station, from wherethey will

be retrievedat alater da te;while the

hopperwagonswerecoupled upto

one of therailway’s air-braked Shark

ballast brake vans and used on driver

experiencetrains using air-braked

diesels on June 3/4, and againfor

GBRf and Network Rail corporatedays

on June 5/6June.

ThetrackpanelsfromNetworkRail,storedalongsidetheSVR’s form ationatthe
siteoftheoldsugarbeetfactory.PAULAPPLETON

The‘Ospr ey’bogiewagonsareseenstoredontheStourportlineat Bewdleyon

June10.PAULAPPLETON

Writetous:Heritage Railway,MortonsMediaLtd,POBox43,Horncastle, Lincs LN 96 LZ. Heritagerailway.co.uk 37