Royal rail visit boost

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be visiting the floods-ravaged Severn Valley Railway – taking a special trip on a steam train.

The visit will be a huge boost to the railway, after the severe floods caused most of the track to be closed last summer until Easter this year.

A popular diesel railcar for summer trains was also burnt out in a fire last month leading to thousands of pounds of damage.

Prince Charles and Camilla will arrive in Worcester via the Royal train on June 10. They will then travel by car to the Kidderminster station of the Severn Valley Railway and are expected to ar- rive by steam train in Bridgnorth at around 3.40pm.

SVR general manager Nick Ralls said he was delighted the royal couple would be visiting.

He said: "They were due to come to us before the floods happened and when we had all the problems the visit had to be re-scheduled."

The Prince and Duchess are also due to visit Upton-on-Severn, in Worcestershire, which was also devastated by flooding.

The Severn Valley Railway welcomed back thousands of passengers during the Easter Bank Holiday in March when the 16-mile line fully re-opened after nine months of repair work.

Delighted staff and volunteers estimate they had between 1,800 and 2,000 visitors each day over Easter making it one of the attraction's most successful Easter weekends.

The new £4.3million visitor and education centre, The Engine House, at Highley station has also proved popular with the crowds.