During the weekend of July 27th and 28th, Kidderminster Town station will commemorate 40 years since its opening in 1984.

A special ceremony marking the event will be held at 12 noon on Saturday 27th July, and it will culminate with the departure of the ‘Kidderminster Venturer’, which will recreate the first train to leave Kidderminster Town in 1984.

The train is to be formed of the same rolling stock from 1984 and it will be hauled by the same engine that pulled the first public train out of the station 40 years ago, No.4930 ‘Hagley Hall’.

The locomotive is suitably named as the stately home it is named after, is just a few miles away from the SVR. The Locomotive is also considered by some to be the railways flagship engine.

No.4930 saw much use in the Severn Valley Railways early years, and has been in service for two years, having spent the best part of the last three decades out of traffic awaiting restoration.

The special recreation of the first train will also run on Sunday 28th July departing Kidderminster Town at 12:30pm.

A display of classic cars that were commonly seen on the road around the station in the mid 1980s will be featured as part of the other attractions across the weekend.

There will be chances to visit the Carriage Works and the signal box at Kidderminster, plus brake van rides will also be running.

While the launch of a new exhibition telling the story of the history, Kidderminster Town station will be available to view in the Kidderminster Railway Museum.

Sitting within a few yards of Kidderminster mainline station, the Severn Valley Railway‘s plan to extend and re-open the line from Bewdley back to the Worcestershire major town was a vital and important part of the heritage lines’ success.

Not only did it have a potential connection to the national rail network, it also could attract customers and day trippers coming in by train from Birmingham, London and from across the borders and the midlands .

Opening up the SVR to Kidderminster was a massive boon to us 40 years ago. It meant our line gave the full experience of heritage rail travel along a 16-mile route to Bridgnorth in Shropshire, and that we were accessible to a huge market of visitors coming from Birmingham, the Black Country and the wider Midlands area.

Severn Valley Railway’s managing director, Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster

Since its inception in 1965, the Severn Valley Railway’s goal had been to reopen the line back to Kidderminster. Originally running between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade, an application for a Light Railway Order was granted in 1970 to reopen the line back to Bewdley, this was achieved in 1974. Though it took another 10 years before trains could run the full 16 miles back to a new station at Kidderminster.

Since then, the GWR style-building has been built to give ‘Town’ station a more authentic and accurate representation of what the station would have looked like had it been built by the GWR. This fits within keeping with all the other preserved stations on the line.

Next year the Severn Valley Railway will be celebrating 60 years of preservation with plans already underfoot to mark the occasion.

To book tickets for Kidderminster Town’s 40th anniversary weekend visit svr.co.uk