City News

Less than a year ago, the Severn Valley Railway was ‘on the ropes’, the line between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth devastated by flood damage, and with incessant rain repeatedly disrupting the £3.5 million line rebuilding programme.

Now, following a remarkable turn-round in its fortunes this year, the 16-mile steam heritage has been voted ‘top of the pops’ in a clutch of special awards for its entertainment value, all-round excellence and its remarkable reconstruction campaign.

The railway has beaten allcomers to the gold medal for the ‘Best Tourism Experience’ in the Heart of England Excellence in Tourism awards - the ‘Oscars’ of the West Midlands tourism industry - and now goes forward to compete against other regional winners in next year’s national finals.

Additionally, it has been deemed to have made the most Outstanding Contribution to Tourism in the West Midlands catchment area this year.
 
Elsewhere, the Severn Valley line has won the heritage railway industry’s premier accolade - the ‘Peter Manisty Award’ - a discretional award made by the Heritage Railway Association in consideration of the herculean efforts by SVR managers, staff, volunteers and contractors to reconstruct the line which in June last year was washed out in more than 40 places.

And it has also been confirmed as the winner of another major industry accolade for the way it went about ‘getting back on its feet’ following the summer flooding, though these details are currently embargoed to give the award promoters ‘first shout’ with publicity.
 
In taking the gold medal for ‘Best Tourism Experience’ in the Heart of England awards, the SVR beat off a powerful challenge from the eventual silver-medalist, Stourbridge International Festival of Glass and its many world-class exhibitions, and also the University of the Great Outdoors - a polished promotion by Herefordshire Council to promote activity holidays in the county, which took the ‘highly commended’ citation.

The gold award, in the form a specially-commissioned, handcrafted Wedgwood trophy, was presented by West Midlands media personalities Jo Malin (ITV Central) and Ed James (Heart FM), at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre on Tuesday November 11th.

In the sphere of heritage railways where the Severn Valley has been a ‘premiership’ player for more than 35 years, the ‘Peter Manisty Award’ presented by the Heritage Railway Association is not an annual award, but one given only in cases of extraordinary achievement beyond ‘normal’ parameters.

The £3.5 million reconstruction of the devastated 12-mile section of the SVR between Bewdley and Bridgnorth between July 2007 and April 2008, was deemed by HRA Awards Chairman Ian Smith to be “without precedent in the field of railway preservation.”

It was, he said “up there with the rebuilding of St. Pancras - a phenomenal achievement.” The Awards Committee was “in awe” at the way in which the railway had organised itself and knuckled down to the task of rebuilding, simultaneously, at so many different ‘washout’ sites, and had set an example of leadership which had “galvanized the industry.”

Commented SVR Marketing Manager John Leach: “At the time of the line rebuilding, we were so stretched there really wasn’t time to think about much else but just getting on with it, and doing what we could to get the railway up and running again in the shortest possible time.

“For nine months we were able only to run a curtailed steam operation between Kidderminster and Bewdley, and obviously revenues were well down as a result. But we’ve pulled it back, and in retrospect we’re justifiably proud of our efforts, not just to restore the line, but to build it as a better, more robust railway than it has ever been. These awards have put the cherry on the cake for us.”