It’s no secret that I love a steam train; the romance of it, the Hogwarts Express feel of it – I always feel like a character in a novel. Which is one of the reasons why I love the North York Moors Railway so much.
In a pre-Lockdown world where everything was opened with socially distancing and masks in place, I visited the Severn Valley Railway. It is a heritage steam railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The 16-mile line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, crossing the Shropshire/Worcestershire border, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route.
The railway is privately owned and trains run several times a day. Due to social distancing, only one family bubble was allowed per carriage. Masks had to be worn in common areas, but once in the carriage and the doors were shut you could take your mask off.
BBC television adaptation of Charles Dickens’ short story The Signalman was filmed around the cutting on the Kidderminster side of the Bewdley Tunnel, which my English classes will know as I made them study it. In the 2005 film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of their trains brought the Pevensies to the nearest station to the Professor’s house. And in 2019 the railways was also used for the filming of Netflix’s Enola Holmes.
You can buy your tickets here on the website. Tickets start at £50 per couple.
Have you ever traveled on the Severn Valley Railway? Or by steam train?
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North York Moors Railway (Grossmont and Goathland)
Wormsley Cricket Grounds
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Hever Castle
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Haworth
Hebden Bridge
Forbidden Corner
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