IT’S ALMOST 100 miles as the seagull flies from the Severn Valley Railway to the nearest ‘decent’ sandy beach at Barmouth, on the mid-Wales coast. Or if you don’t mind a muddy estuary and the constant drone of traffic on the M4 motorway, there’s always Severn Beach, a mere 85 miles ‘down country’ on the outskirts of Bristol.
But during the three days of this coming weekend’s August Bank Holiday (Saturday August 27th - Monday August 29th), the Severn Valley Railway will give local families the best possible reason NOT to go driving off to the coast, or joining the inevitable tailbacks of bank holiday traffic. It’s bringing the seaside into the heart of the West Midlands!
Better still, classic seaside attractions such as donkey rides, Punch and Judy, bouncy castles, fairground rides and face painting are all free within the price of a normal train ticket.
Buoyed by a positive response to previous ‘Seaside Special Weekends’ which were first held three years ago during the 2008 school summer holidays, the 16-mile Kidderminster - Bridgnorth steam heritage line is once again importing tons of prime sandcastle-making sand to make its own ‘beach’ at Arley, and laying on the full gamut of classic seaside attractions.
Just about the only thing missing, will be the sea itself!
The first lorry-load of high-grade sand - deemed to be just perfect for making sandcastles - will be delivered this week to Arley station yard, where the beach, contained by dozens of straw bales, will be laid out, and where buckets and spades can be bought at a kiosk.
Turning back the clock to the 1950s and 1960s when most people still travelled to the seaside by steam train, a succession of departures from both Kidderminster and Bridgnorth at 45-minute intervals will give passengers a big choice of where to go and what to do, and many trains will bear the headboards of famous holiday expresses of old, like ‘The Cornishman’ and ‘The Cambrian Coast Express’.
Arley (by-the-sea!) will be the main focus for many visitors because of its beach, Punch & Judy shows and face painter - but Bewdley station’s mobile ‘adventure
centre’ and Wizard’s (bouncy) Castle will be a tempting lure too, while at Bridgnorth, magician and ‘bendy balloon man’ Dave Oakley, with the help of glove puppet Dennis the Dog, will enthral younger visitors with the contents of his ‘box of magic tricks’.
At Kidderminster children will be able to ‘dig for fossils’ in the sand - and once they’ve found one, will be able to paint it and take it home. There’s also a coconut shy and tombola, and, just as there used to be at many seaside resorts, a miniature steam railway which both adults and children can climb on board.
The 7¼-inch gauge Coalyard line, almost a third of a mile long, will be fully up and running with its quaint mixture of ‘sit in’ and ‘sit-astride’ coaches.
Free donkey rides can be found at Highley station, where Highley Assistant Station Master Tony Clifton will proudly show off his own very impressive model railway layout, while at Highley’s Engine House Visitor Centre, where admission will be free to train ticket holders, there will be fairground rides. Like almost everything else at Seaside Special Weekend, they will be free too!
Says SVR General Manager Nick Ralls: “We’ve all know about visitor attractions where the public is expected to pay, pay and pay again, and apart from adding up to an expensive day out, it also tends to leave a bit of a sour taste.
“We want ‘Seaside Special’ weekend to be an event which families will thoroughly enjoy and will want to come back to again next year - so all the attractions directly associated with the event are included in the cost of a normal priced rail ticket.
“One other nice thing about ‘Seaside Special’ weekend, is that the kids won’t be asking from the back of the car: ‘Are we there yet, dad?’. Our seaside is right on everyone’s doorstep!”
The SVR’s busiest timetable gives visitors a choice of 10 departures from both the Kidderminster and Bridgnorth ends of the line on all three days, and in keeping with the 1950s/1960s theme, vintage ‘heritage’ diesels will haul the first train from Kidderminster at 09.55, and also the first from Bridgnorth at 11.10.
Later, the 1.30pm from Kidderminster and 3.40pm from Bridgnorth will also be diesel – otherwise, it’s ‘steam all the way’.
‘Freedom of the Line’ tickets which allow unlimited travel on the Severn Valley line and also give free admission to the Engine House Visitor Centre at Highley cost £43 for families (valid for two adults and up to four children), while individual tickets cost £16 adult, £14.50 seniors, and just £8 for children aged 4 -15.
The number for enquiries: 01299-403816, or go online at www.svr.co.uk/SpecialEvents/aspx.
