I caught the first Bewdley commuter train in 56 years for a charming and slightly surreal journey back in time

A 5am alarm is rarely the most welcome way to start a working day.

But there was a good reason for the unusually early start on Tuesday morning (September 1) as I headed to Bewdley to catch a train that had been 56 years in the making.

By 6.15am, while much of the town was still waking up, there was already a buzz around Bewdley Station.

Passengers, railway staff, local representatives and members of the media had gathered on the platform ahead of the 6.40am departure of the first Bewdley Express.

However, this was not one of the usual Severn Valley Railway services carrying visitors out for a day on the heritage line.

For the first time in more than half a century, people were turning up at Bewdley Station to catch a train as part of their morning commute.

Our transport was the Severn Valley Railway's heritage diesel multiple unit, taking us three and a half miles to Kidderminster, where passengers could connect with main line services towards Birmingham, Worcester and beyond.

There was a real sense of occasion before we set off. Some had come to experience the first journey, while others actually had work to get to.

Bang on time at 6.40am - which makes a change from most commuter trains nowadays - we were off.

At a maximum speed of 25mph, nobody is going to mistake the Bewdley Express for high-speed rail, but that is part of its charm.

The three-and-a-half-mile journey takes around 12 minutes, offering a rather different start to the working day from sitting in traffic or rushing onto a packed commuter train.

There was also something slightly surreal about travelling to work aboard a heritage train.

The Severn Valley Railway is normally associated with steam engines, tourists and days out through the Worcestershire and Shropshire countryside.

On Tuesday morning, however, people with work bags were using the railway for a very different reason.

There was even a remarkable link with the past.

Driver Bob Dunn explained that, by coincidence, a 7.40am service also ran between Bewdley and Kidderminster back in 1968 - although that journey took just nine minutes.

"We are recreating history here, and that's what we do on the Severn Valley Railway, we recreate history," he said.

Around 12 minutes after leaving Bewdley, we rolled into Kidderminster.

For commuters, it meant swapping the heritage railway for the modern network and continuing their journeys, and for the Severn Valley Railway it marked the beginning of an eight-week experiment.

Two morning and two evening services will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with passenger numbers helping determine whether the service has a future beyond the trial.

It remains to be seen whether the Bewdley Express will become a permanent part of people's working lives, but I certainly hope that becomes the case.