Donations continue to flood in to help stricken heritage railway get back on track

Donations to help the Severn Valley Railway continue to flood in, the heritage line has said, with supporters digging deep and raising nearly £82,000.

By Richard Williams

Published Feb 18

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At the end of January, SVR staff discovered that a large landslip had occurred, leaving the line impassable.

It has affected a 30-metre section of embankment in Shropshire, between the SVR’s northernmost station Bridgnorth and the smaller station at Hampton Loade.

The situation means trains cannot run between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade. Picture: Steve Leath — The landslide on the Severn Valley Railway, near to the Astbury Gold Course and Bridgnorth. Half of the edging stones on a bridge have gone aswel as the land. On some pics is local worker: Alex Stevens, he saw the landslide and was the one that called it in to the railway.

Investigations began immediately and are ongoing.

A spokesperson for SVR said they have now received almost £82,000 in donations from many hundreds of supporters, as well as practical offers of help from a number of sources.

“It’s a huge boost to us to know how much people care about the Severn Valley Railway, and how they’re prepared to dig deep to help us repair the damage, and get our line fully up and running again. We are incredibly grateful to every single person who’s rallied round,” Managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster said earlier this month when donations started to arrive.

You can donate to help the railway repair the line via the Resilience Fund page.