Tornado strikes the Severn Valley
Yesterday we drove to Kidderminster to visit the Severn Valley Railway, specifically to see the A1 class “Tornado“. The first train of the day was hauled by “Royal Scot” which left Kidderminster at 10.30, arriving at Bridgnorth just over an hour later.
Royal Scot
We caught our first glimpse of Tornado as we passed through Hampton Loade, the penultimate station on the journey.
Alighting at Bridgnorth, the northerly terminus of the SVR, we walked into town and had some lunch at “Bamboo” which sits next to the bridge over the river. We both had pie & mash and then we went to explore the town, first Lowtown and then Hightown which we reached by means of the funicular railway.
Funicular Railway
After walking around in the late October sunshine, we made our way back to the station and waited for Tornado to arrive. Authenticity is important on this heritage railway and sure enough, they even had the trains running late! Eventually Tornado steamed into the station, ran around the train of coaches and prepared for the trip back to Kidderminster.
The light was starting to fade when we arrived at Kidderminster but there was still a lot of interest as once again the engine was uncoupled and moved to the other end of the train.
Sue steaming with excitement!
So that was it, we had finally caught up with Tornado with the bonus of seeing Royal Scot into the bargain.