To the SVR, once more

It was quiet and wet at the SVR on Sunday. They will be hoping for better weather for their forthcoming steam gala weekend. For the second day running, I had been disappointed by the extent of the refreshments available on the day at a heritage line. Many people visiting the SVR will be making a whole day of it and will be requiring sustenance throughout. It was bad news, therefore to read a few days before our visit that the kitchen at Bridgnorth station café would not be serving hot food, even though they were opening at 9.30. It would have been no advantage for us to go to Kidderminster, instead, because their station café didn’t open until 12.00, so well after the first train of the day had left at 10.15.

As we were travelling from Merseyside, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire to meet up at Bridgnorth in Shropshire, it would have been nice to start off with something fairly substantial to eat. In the town and a short walk away, I found that Greggs, Costa, Maisie’s and the Castle Tearoom were all open and serving breakfast within the market square alone. Fast forward to dinner time at Kidderminster, and we were very pleasantly surprised by Sunday lunch on the station. The café here is linked to the adjacent pub, the King and Castle, which also belongs to the SVR, and they’ve really got their act together. The food quality was excellent, it was good value for money and the service was first class. Off we went, steam-hauled to Highley in the rain. We thought we might squeeze in a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the splendid first floor café that overlooks the running line but the doors were locked by 3.00 and we had to settle for the drinks machine in the shop, though the attendant kindly took pity on us and gave us a free cuppa. Perhaps we looked a bit bedraggled by then.

Let’s be clear. We can work around these things. Victuals are not the be-all and end-all for us. Reaffirming life-long friendships, exchanging news since our previous get-together and enjoying the ambience created by the heritage railway that reminds us so strongly of our youth and our shared affection for steam traction, are all more important than stuffing our faces all day, believe it or not.

I also understand the pressures for the heritage railways that exist in this area. Franchising out responsibility for refreshments is difficult. The railways do not run anything like every day. There just isn’t the potential custom. They rely on imaginative schemes to lure visitors in, especially out of the holiday season and usually at weekends. The patchy nature of the typical calendar for running trains makes viability for allied businesses, which are therefore effectively part-time by necessity from the very start, really difficult.

As a volunteer with a heritage railway, myself, I know just how important this aspect of people power is to their continued survival, and how critical it is to renew volunteer labour by attracting more youngsters wherever possible. Without this willing labour pool, cafes can just not offer the service the railway would surely wish for, namely a full range of possibilities at all the available venues, whenever trains are running. The SVR remains a convenient, centrally located Midland venue, set in its wonderfully scenic valley - a significant tourist attraction for the area, with financial spin-offs for many surrounding businesses.

The crowds will return from next Thursday for four hectic days of activity, and no doubt all the ancillary providers will do a roaring trade and good luck to them. Fingers crossed, though, that when we get back there next, as we surely will do, but on a purposely quieter day as befits our advancing years, as we don’t particularly want to jostle for seats on a crowded train, or have to queue for lunch. Hopefully, some more bright-eyed young folk who live locally can be prised away from their online alternatives to find that the SVR provides a sociable and worthwhile way to spend a Sunday, whilst making an important contribution to the overall visitor experience in a place that we all hold dear.

         

The Nene Valley Railway

If you have to go to the passport office in Peterborough at short notice, popping in to the NVR on the way back home seemed like a good idea. We rolled up at 2.00 in the hope of a late lunch, but the kitchen at the café had stopped serving minutes before we sat down, leaving very little choice from a restricted menu. The last time we were there, we had been very impressed with the café and the wide range of food on offer, but things have obviously changed and the formerly detailed chalk boards on the wall advertising what was available were scrubbed clean.

The NVR were celebrating Railway 200 over the weekend with the LNWR coal tank No. 1054 visiting from the K&WVR and ex-GWR Large Prairie No. 4144 on loan from Didcot. The ex-LT diesel shunter was offering footplate rides for a fiver between the station at Wansford and the entrance to the sheds.

Fledborough viaduct

The viaduct is a very substantial survivor of the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway, which later became part of the Great Central Railway. The early optimism of the LD&ECR was ill-founded, as it never reached either Lancashire or the east coast. Its route was limited to the stretch between Chesterfield and Lincoln, though it was built as a double-track main line.

Fledborough viaduct was constructed in 1897 and is 890 yards long. It consists of 59 brick arches across the River Trent flood plain and 4 steel girder bridges above the river, itself. After closure in 1964, the track was removed and it eventually became part of a Sustrans national cycle route.

It can be viewed today from Fledborough, but only at a distance, and more clearly from the east side of the river to the south of the structure. It can be accessed between the villages of North and South Clifton by walkers and cyclists from a path connecting the viaduct approach to the minor road.

Chester station

I pointed out to Chris where we had stood on the steps that still lead down from the Hoole Road overbridge on the occasions that we cycled to Chester to train spot. We probably only managed it once or twice, as we usually went by train. Looking down onto the station from the top of the steps today means viewing an extensive car park, as some of the bay platforms, where the Western Region trains arrived and departed were abandoned decades previously. After all, it was 60 years ago that I last stood here.

The station itself is largely unchanged and it brings back many memories. Chester was an interesting venue for trainspotters, as a wide mix of locomotive types could be seen, including WR, LMR and Standard classes. There are barriers at Chester today and as I strained to take a picture from behind the line, I was approached by a lady who was part of the station staff and she asked if I wanted to come through to take my pictures. How nice was that? She went on to tell me about the many charter specials that visit Chester these days and how enthusiasts were always made welcome. I found that very encouraging and rather refreshing, when the trend nationally is probably the other way, in the direction of suspicion and increased surveillance.

 

Thomas Brassey, Railway Builder

A statue outside in the forecourt and a plaque on the wall inside Chester station mark the substantial contribution of Thomas Brassey to the railway age. Born nearby and educated in Chester, Thomas Brassey lived and worked in Birkenhead, where he set up his Canada Works near Beaufort Road. He went on to build the first railways in France and became a prolific and successful railway engineer in Britain and in many other countries. He is referred to as the foremost railway builder of all and deserves to be  regarded in the same light as Brunel and Stephenson. 

 

Queen Hotel at Chester

We found a reasonable deal for this hotel, which is on the other side of the forecourt opposite Chester station. It was opened as the Queen Railway Hotel in 1860 and has been tastefully refurbished, while retaining its substantial attractions. The links with the past include an explanatory corridor mural and an LMS-era photograph of a Stanier Black Five at the head of a train in the station, which adorns the wall in the gents’ toilet. Convenient nearby overnight parking is accessed by passing through the elegant archway at Queen Hotel Mews.