History

Bewdley station, built for the opening of the Severn Valley railway in 1862, has a long and colourful history. However, whilst its longevity is impressive from the Human viewpoint, it forms only the most recent chapter in the existence of the Severn Valley itself.

In geological terms, the River Severn is surprisingly young, forming 25,000 years ago during the last glacial period. A lake, near what is now Shrewsbury, overspilled, carving out a steep sided gorge at Ironbridge and widening out as the river crossed over into Worcestershire.

The river is quite deep, broad and potentially lethal, and so relatively shallow crossing points were extremely valued. A permanent settlement, Gurbehale, was eventually established by the Saxons on the east bank of the river. Ultimately, this became the parish of Wribbenhall which contains Bewdley station itself (Many railway stations were named after the more sizable population nearby and this was no exception). The town of Bewdley was certainly established by the Norman period and became an important inland port, particularly since the river was tidal this far inland until the construction of weirs downstream.

The earliest bridge was built in 1336, although today’s structure is a Thomas Telford design, dated 1798. The opening of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal in 1772 was to prove a crippling blow to the towns four thousand inhabitants due to the loss of trade downstream to Stourport and it soon became apparent that without action the situation would continue to worsen.

The first railway proposal was for a tramway from Wribbenhall to the canal basins in Kidderminster, partially built along the main Kidderminster road. This 1801 proposal was never pursued beyond the initial planning stages and would have not have made the town a rival of Stourport anyway, since transhipment of goods would need to be done at Kidderminster as well as at the River Severn, wasting valuable time and effort.

It was to be another forty five years before more proposals were made, and these would all be for railways along the valley, and not specifically to Bewdley. In 1846, the Shropshire Union Canal employed Robert Stephenson to prepare a plan for a railway linking Shrewsbury with Worcester, although the idea was dropped due to other commitments.

The Severn Valley Railway Company, formed in 1852 was to construct the railway as seen today, running from Shrewsbury To Hartlebury via Bridgnorth, Bewdley and Stourport. The necessary act of parliament was granted in 1853. However, deviations from the original route were decided upon, requiring another act in 1855. The main deviation in the Bewdley area was at Mount Pleasant, the original route to Stourport being replaced by a shorter one with a tunnel 124yds long. With the route decided, construction of the SVR could begin.

By the time construction began in summer 1858 the intended engineer, Robert Nicholson, had died. His replacement was John Fowler, famous for his other works, the Forth Bridge and the Metropolitan Railway. However, many of the well known engineers delegated work to their assistants, and much of the work was in fact carried out under Henry Orlando Bridgeman instead. By August 1859, Mount Pleasant tunnel was begun, whilst in the December of that year the keystones were added to the main arch of Wribbenhall viaduct. Construction accidents were common and affected both of these structures. An 1861 collapse of the viaducts wing retaining wall took two workers with it although fortunately both were only slightly injured. In contrast, Mount Pleasant tunnel had a much grimmer record. In January 1860 a scaffold collapse badly injured a labourer, then almost a year later, a fatal accident occurred. The unfortunate navvy, James Bishop was killed by being too near a rock blasting, leading to a review of working practices. This would not stop the final accident at this site however, for a few weeks later a landslip would injure yet another worker.

Landslips were to prove a serious problem with building the line, despite these problems the first train would pass through Bewdley in May 1861 although this was only a contractors ballast working. The official opening was on the 31st January 1862 with ordinary trains commencing the following day.

It is perhaps important at this point to explain the slightly complicated ownership situation of the station. It was initially constructed for the Severn Valley Railway Company. Before the railway was even finished it was effectively absorbed by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway who signed a 999 year lease for the route on the 14th June 1860. However, only two days later the OWW became the West Midland Railway Company and it was this company which first operated trains through Bewdley. In 1863, the WMR was dissolved and thus it was that the SVR, and hence Bewdley, became part of the Great Western Railway.

By 1859, with construction of the SVR still in its infancy, a second railway was already planning to use Bewdley station for its junction. The Tenbury & Bewdley railway, which was opened to the public on the 13th August 1864, had a junction with the SVR at Bewdley, then paralleled it north for 2 miles. Curving off to the west, it then crossed the three 70ft spans of Dowles Bridge, and headed off to Wyre Forest, Cleobury Mortimer, Neen Sollars, Newnham Bridge and Tenbury stations. From there, it joined the earlier Tenbury Railway which ended at Woofferton Junction on the Shrewsbury to Hereford line.

The second junction to be built at Bewdley was for the Kidderminster loop, intended to funnel trains from the valley and the west to Kidderminster without reversing at Hartlebury. This section of line was first proposed in 1860, and made an act of parliament in 1861. However, construction was postponed due to the difficulties in finishing the SVR and responsibility would pass to the GWR when the route was absorbed. The bill was kept alive with various amendments even though many GWR officials considered it to be unaffordable. Indeed, Daniel Gooch once described the section as a ’useless curve’, nevertheless the line was begun in 1874. The contractor was Charles Dickinson and the main works were completed by March 1878, although the Board of Trade insisted on some alterations which delayed opening until the 1st June that year.

In preparation for the opening of this second junction, the station was considerably remodelled to substantially the form seen today. A pair of new signalboxes were built in 1877 / 1878 in preparation and the track layout reconfigured with the lines through platforms 1 and 2 operated as a stretch of double track main line. The island platform was extended at both ends and a footbridge constructed to avoid passengers crossing over the rails at ground level as they had up to this point. Additionally, the northern end of the current canopy with its wooden frame was erected, although the southern end was added later and has a steel frame. The final modification was the loss of the stations turntable.

The early years of operation were relatively uneventful considering that at that point signalling was relatively primitive and signal interlocking unheard of. An accident did occur in the November of 1866 when a goods train from Buildwas ran into the back of another having passed a signal at danger although the damage to all concerned was slight. An almost identical incident occurred in October 1888 although this time a passenger train from Shrewsbury was involved although again there were no casualties.

Originally, all movements were controlled by single needle telegraph apparatus. By 1872, the line to Tenbury Wells had been upgraded to the ‘Staff and Ticket’ system, whereby a train entering a section must take a staff in with it. If two trains were due to travel in the same direction, the first would carry a ticket instead, although the driver still needed to see the staff before he set off. This system can be limiting, which is perhaps why the much less fail safe telegraph system was installed for the Kidderminster Loop in 1877. In the same year, the ‘Absolute Block system was installed for the two main lines between the new north and south signal boxes. It was not until 1891 that Staff and Ticket working or Absolute Block was finally introduced for most of the Severn Valley Railway, with Bewdley ‘Back Road’ (Platform 3) being worked by the Electric Staff system by 1894. The locking frame in Bewdley South Signal Box was replaced in 1909 although no changes to the working practice were effected, it was simply worn out. The now familiar Electric Token system was not introduced on the SVR until after the Second World War although at Bewdley this is now only used for trains to Arley. The Absolute Block is still used between the two signal boxes, whilst trains to and from Kidderminster are now controlled by Acceptance Levers. With this system, a train to Kidderminster needs the acceptance lever pulled in Kidderminster Signal box, locking its signals and allowing the starting signals at Bewdley to be operated. This system was added in 1987 due to the passing loops at Kidderminster which have been added in preservation.

As the railway became established, a number of improvements and modifications took place. In 1892, a footbridge was erected to the north of the station site. This was demolished in the 1930s and replaced by a foot level crossing, although the remnants of the eastern brick piers remain. In 1896, the board of the GWR authorised £100 to be spent improving the lavatory facilities. The new Mens Toilet was inserted between the main buildings and the Station Masters Office and was accessed from Platform 1, whilst the Ladies were behind this and could be accessed from the Booking Hall or Waiting Room. Both rooms have different uses today, having been superseded by the modern facilities in the buffet building. At around the same time, a cast iron toilet was installed on the island platform. This was demolished during the British Rail period and the current example was relocated to the site from Melrose station in Scotland 1977. Unfortunately, due to modern health and safety regulations, it was closed in 1998, but is retained as a distinctive fixture.

When inspected by the Board of Trade prior to opening in 1878, Bewdley tunnel received much favourable comment, yet only ten years later it was found that a portion of the roof was collapsing and from then on patches were regularly renewed. In 1908, the problem was finally tackled head on an the entire tunnel was relined with a 9 inch thick inner lining of blue brick which reduced its bore to 17ft 16in. In the meantime, more major excavations were carried out at the station itself, enabling the ‘Rock Siding’ to be laid. This is a loop line intended for holding freight trains in and has since been used for the storage of the preserved railway’s heritage diesel unit and as a locomotive depot.

The track layout of Bewdley station has been amended many times. In 1919, the whole route was upgraded. Great Western engines were given a colour disc which indicated which routes they could be used on, since branch lines and lesser routes were equip with weaker bridges. The amended route classification allowed ‘yellow’ engines (Axle loading of 16 tons or less) complete access and ‘blue’ engines (Up to 17 tons 12 hundredweight) access subject to a 25mph speed restriction. At Bewdley, the layout at the south of the station was altered, eliminating the scissors crossover arrangement fitted upon opening of the Kidderminster line which had severely limited the engines using the route. This arrangement was similar to that used today, although slight alterations were made in 1932. Both the Kidderminster and Stourport lines were re-laid to ‘dotted red’ allowing all GWR engines other than the ‘King’ and 47xx classes to use them. The section from Hartlebury to Kidderminster made up the third side of a triangle, which would have enabled the larger permitted engines to be turned round, although whether this happened frequently is unknown.

In June 1935, Northwood Halt was opened for business. This proved so popular with local fishermen that a ticket booth was erected on the site, although this was subsequently lost. The current shelter is a replica of a Great Western pagoda hut erected in 2005 to replace the previous worn out wooden shed (Dating from the early 1970s). Like many of these small stopping places, the halt is adjacent to a lane, which crosses it by means of a level crossing. This was the scene of two fatal incidents where road vehicles have been struck by a train, consequently it is now controlled by warning lights. The post war era brought little change to Bewdley although the North Signal Box had its upper portions raised bodily by one foot in 1954. By 1963, the railway had passed from British Rail’s Western Region to the Midland Region and was beginning to succumb to the decline of rural rail traffic.

The first Bewdley passenger services to perish were those to Tenbury which ceased in August 1962 (Tenbury to Wooferton services having ceased the previous year). Meanwhile, in 1963, the Shrewsbury to Bewdley section was closed to passengers, leaving Bewdley rail connected with Stourport and Kidderminster. Freight traffic from the Ditton Priors Light railway which joined the Tenbury-Bewdley railway at Cleobury Mortimer helped delay the end for this line until 1965 and it was lifted shortly afterwards. The section between what is now Country Park Halt and Bewdley was used by coal trains from Alveley Colliery until 1969. The loss of this traffic made the fate of Bewdley Station inevitable and despite local objections all traffic ceased on Saturday 3rd January 1970.

However, by this stage the section of the SVR from Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade was already being run as a preserved railway and the closure of Bewdley was a great stimulus for this operation to extend southwards. The society eventually purchased the route from Hampton Loade to just beyond Bewdley tunnel in 1971 and two years later moved the preserved lines headquarters to Bewdley. On the 18th May 1974, the station reopened for business although it was not until that winter that the newly installed locomotive pit and water tanks were brought into operation to allow use of the rock siding as an engine ‘shed’ although the engines are not actually kept undercover here. A few changes were made to the track layout at the north of the station prior to reopening, with the elimination of the now unnecessary crossover from Platform 3 to the former Tenbury line. The passing loop was also extended by moving the crossover to the north end of Wribbenhall Viaduct and this layout remains today. In 1998, a collection of brick outbuildings to the south of the station house was replaced with an extension of the company offices which had become cramped, and this has blended into the overall image of the station.

This brings the history of Bewdley station to the present day. However, history does not stand still, and small changes are still occurring. In 2002 the decaying enamel British Rail style lamps were removed (They had been installed post preservation since British Rail had installed modern lampposts immediately before closing the railway) and replaced by the more appropriate Windsor Pattern style. These help maintain the 1920s period feel of the station, and much hard work continues to maintain this image. Bewdley station, it seems, will continue to gradually evolve as it always has.