Railway on track for reopening

A worker surveying damage to the track

The railway devastated by floods which washed away huge sections of the line is due to reopen fully for Easter.

Since the summer floods left the 16-mile Severn Valley line between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth in tatters, it has been all hands on deck as railway bosses and volunteers tried to keep the popular tourist attraction running.

Only the section between Kidderminster and Bewdley has been in operation and the total repair bill for damaged track in 45 separate locations has been put at more than £2.5 million.

Engineers have been working to repair four major landslip sites at Northwood Lane, near Bewdley, Fisherman's Crossing, between Arley and Highley, the station at Highley and Sterns, between Hampton Loade and Bridgnorth.

SVR marketing manager John Leach said: "All estimates of when the work will be finished will be down to whether Mother Nature is kind to us. If the whole of January is white with snow it may set us back."

Donations for the railway's flood damage appeal are still rolling in and the total has soared past the £525,000 mark.

Officials are also hoping to receive government grants and European funding to back the public appeal.

An auction of artwork and railway memorabilia in September helped to generate more than £3,000 towards the fund.

Revellers at the summer's Bewdley Beer Festival have also contributed and Stourbridge band Highway Dave and the Varmints donated profits from download sales of their tune Ride The Lion.

The railway has continued to operate along the Kidderminster to Bewdley stretch of the line, which was unharmed by the floods.

Meanwhile, families evacuated because of the dangers of a landslip cascading down on their homes are now living with the fear of winter weather affecting their properties.

Since the families were evacuated from five properties near the railway in Northwood Lane, Bewdley, their homes have been sealed off because of a continuing safety threat from land left unstable by the floods. Now many are concerned about what is happening to their homes which council officials cordoned off.

Mr Colin Wing, aged 67, and his wife, Beryl, who have remained in their home, said today: "The damp will get into their properties because of the lack of heating."

Both Colin and Beryl are also concerned that as work progresses on pinning back the landslip to make it safe that heavy lorries are damaging Northwood Lane.

"It's terrible, the heavy lorries have caused the sides of the lane to sink."

Now a £500,000 project to pin back the hillside to stabilise it has begun. Jonathan Symonds, a consultant civil engineer, has warned that shoring up the hillside is a "mammoth task".