THE Severn Valley Railway has won the prestigious National Railway Heritage Awards ‘Independent Railway of the Year’ title, the ‘top Oscar’ of the heritage railway industry.
A commemorative plaque recognising the remarkable £3.8 rebuilding of the Kidderminster to Bridgnorth line following the devastating flood damage of June and July 2007, was presented to SVR company chairman David Williams yesterday.
It is the second major award to be won by the SVR for the rebuilding over a nine-month period of the line which was washed out in no less than 45 different places, with sections completely washed away at Highley, Hampton Loade, Oldbury Viaduct and Victoria Bridge by flash floods of unparalleled severity.
In December, the railway also received the Heritage Railway Association¹s top award for its reconstruction of the 12-mile stretch of line between Bridgnorth and Folly Point, near Bewdley, scene of the worst natural disaster to befall any UK railway line in half a century.
SVR marketing manager John Leach said: “These are good times for the Severn Valley Railway. We’ve just made our best-ever start to any year in the railway’s 39-year history, with passenger figures running some 41 per cent over budget - and now we are celebrating the ‘Railway Oscar’ as the ‘Independent Railway of the Year’.
“The wheel has come full circle since the black, desperate days of June and July 2007, when the railway was literally in pieces. It’s been a stern test of our character and resolve volunteers and staff alike but we’ve come through.
“I don’t think we¹re being smug, but we have very good reason now to be proud.”