Steam power to the rescue
A railway line normally used to ferry families around a Kidderminster tourist spot will take the strain by carrying huge pipes for a major project in a bid to prevent severe disruption along a district's roads.
Severn Trent has taken the unusual step of chartering a train from the Severn Valley Railway to carry 50 of the large pipes needed for the £6 million project at the Trimpley Treatment Works, near Bewdley.
Officials decided on the measures as transporting the items, which are 19ft 6in long and one-and-a-half feet in diameter, would have posed too great a risk to the area's roads.
Contractors have been wrestling with the idea of how to transport the ultra-heavy load without risking major traffic disruption or even damage to the road surface.
The pipes are needed for the project which involved the construction of an extra water main linking the Trimpley works with and underground service reservoir at Hollywaste, near Cleobury Mortimer.
They will be loaded onto an SVR train at 6.20pm tonight after the Severn Valley Railway has finished work for the day. The 15-minute journey will take the train to a point where locomotives do not usually stop.
John Leach, marketing manager for the Severn Valley Railway, said it was rare for the line to be used in such a way but they had done occasional freight jobs before.
"We are putting on a special train which will leave Bewdley after normal business on the line has finished for the day and the last train from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster has passed.
"We have done the occasional freight job before and this was a specific request which will bring in money for the railway. We will be using one of the GWR pannier tanks for the job."
Although there is no station at the water site, permission has been granted for the train to stop to unload.
