£132K FOR SEVERN VALLEY LANDSLIP AND HAWKSWORTH RESTORATION
£132,000 worth of funding has been granted by the Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust towards repairing a serious landslip and completing the restoration of a Hawksworth coach formerly owned by the late Dennis Howells.
The lion’s share of the funding – £120,000 – is being used to assist the repairs to a landslip at Sterns, between Eardington and Hampton Loade, caused by storms Ciara and Dennis in February. The project to stabilise the slip is already under way.
SVR Infrastructure Manager Chris Bond said: “We are hugely grateful to the charitable trust. Without this project there would be a likelihood that we would have to cease passenger trains between Highley and Bridgnorth once the winter weather returns. That would have isolated the engineering hub at Bridgnorth from the rest of the railway, which in the current circumstances could have been catastrophic for the financial viability of the SVR. The stabilisation of the area will maintain the required safety and permit full line journeys to be maintained.”
The remainder of the trust’s grant – £12,000 – is being used to ensure that 1950-built Hawksworth Brake Third No. 2242 can enter traffic in 2021. The vehicle was acquired by the Great Western (SVR) Association in 2019 following the death of its previous owner, Dennis Howells, who was best known for owning Hawksworth ‘94XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 9466.
Once complete, it will allow the SVR to form a three-coach Hawksworth set, along with Thirds Nos. 829 and 2119 (once the refurbishment of the latter is also completed) as well as providing extra luggage space for bicycles and pushchairs in the line’s ‘Great Western Set 2’.
Shelagh Paterson, the trust’s director of development, said: “We are delighted to be able to fund these two projects, thanks to the generosity of our donors.
One will ensure the continued safe operation of the railway, and the other will extend its accessibility to all members of the community.”