SVR’s "Visitor and Education Centre" at Highley
The Engine House
31 May 2008
The Severn Valley Railway's new
"Engine House", designed as a
"Visitor and Education Centre",
should have opened last year. We
all know what happened in June
2007 - suffice it to say that the
line reopened on Good Friday this year - and with it the
Engine House.
The need for a visit (it's not far to Highley) had thus been in the
back of my mind for some time. A darkroom clearout and some
general household rationalisation had created several bags of old
videos, maps and magazines - a little outing to the SVR seemed
in order...
...the sales van at Hampton Loade usually has a good selection
of second hand bits and pieces - they seemed grateful for the
bags and boxes...
...and so to Highley. We could, of course, have gone on the
train, but the aforementioned delivery would have been
tricky, so we drove on to the Country Park at Highley
(site of the former mine) and walked down the route its
coal would once have followed to this fine new facility,
built on the site of the colliery exchange sidings. The
signal was off as we approached - "We'd better see what
it is". A familiar English Electric whistling sound told me
it wasn't steam - nor was it the advertised Warship - and
moments later D8188 arrived with a train for Bridgnorth.
The photos may well be worth a
good number of words; I'll add that
the exhibits are well-explained, and
that there is much more to look at
than just the locomotives. My wife
was well impressed by the "Come in,
come in" as she entered the LMS
brake van - a nice little cameo of brake van life captured
in a movement-activated (I'm guessing now) audio
playback.
The Royal Mail coach is interesting (don't think I've been in one
before) - especially given that it was involved in 1963's "Great
Train Robbery". The conference facilities look wonderful - hard
to imagine a better place, with real peace and tranquility
outside, punctuated by the occasional passing steam train -of
which there's a great view from the balcony outside the
cafeteria! Well done SVR!
Link:
SVR Engine House
Geoff’s Rail Diaries
