Last Saturday the Severn Valley Railway held an open day where by paying a small supplement of £5 the visitor got to have a look at what was happening behind the scenes.  This was very much a busman’s holiday for me, but nonetheless very interesting!  The first port of call was Bewdley where Mrs Locoyard and I were staying.  Unfortunately our time here was limited by a busy schedule of planned trains to catch and hop off throughout the day to take in Bridgnorth, Highley and Kidderminster.  The highlight for me at Bewdley was seeing how the 4150 fund were getting on.  So after eating what most have been the biggest breakfast I’ve ever had (and trust me, this was quite an undertaking) we arrived at the 4150 stand first thing.The first thing to note was that progress with this large Great Western Railway prairie tank engine is impressive, particularly when you consider that much has been done since 2007. The locomotive frames and boiler were sat in a purpose made tunnel.  The boiler is thought to be in good condition and there is a hope that it will be a fairly rapid job when it gets sent to Bridgnorth.  Other mechanical work has been completed ahead of sending the boiler to be completed such as pipework and cab fittings with new bunkers and tanks constructed.

Hopefully 4150 will be restored back to steam in the next couple of years.  The guys manning the stand were very friendly and happy to show what they were doing.  For more information about the fund and to find out how you can help, please check out www.4150.org.uk

Thanks for reading.