From an early age, I can clearly remember my dad taking my brother and I, on trips on the Severn Valley Railway, starting in Kidderminster. As this was something I remember enjoying so much as a little girl – I just couldn’t wait for the girls to be at a good age to come along on train journeys with me, too!
*We were very kindly gifted our complimentary tickets
About the Severn Valley Railway
The Severn Valley Railway is a steam railway that runs between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, alongside the River Severn. The journey is 16miles long and takes a total of 70 minutes from start to finish. The “freedom of the line” tickets are very reasonably priced – with a child’s ticket costing as little as £13 and an adults ticket at £19.80 when pre-booked online.
What we got up to at the Severn Valley Railway
After arriving at 9:30, to catch the first train out for the day – we found we should’ve arrived a little sooner as it was a little busy already. This wasn’t a problem at all though, as we shared a carriage with a lovely elderly couple.
Our first stop was Highley, where we had a good look around The Engine House. The girls were so intrigued to look at all of the steam trains – they even had some smoke machines going off, for added “steam” effect!
After completing the tank engine puzzle, the girls then tried their hand at running an engine themselves! At The Engine House, there are plenty of fun activities for children to take part in and plenty of factual information to learn about the railway, too!
We decided to stop for a cup of tea and an early lunch in Highley too, as there is a quaint pub just a short walk from the platform.
With full bellies, we hopped onto the next train en route to Bridgenorth where we walked off our rather large lunch. We hadn’t planned ahead to figure out what we wanted to do in Bridgenorth so a walk down to see the ducks and back was all we did – the weather wasn’t the best and Lilly had fallen over too, so heading back to the station seemed the best idea.
At Bridgnorth Station, there is a gift shop, a small pub and a refreshment room too, so heading back meant we wouldn’t be just waiting around! A look around the gift shop brought back some precious memories of my dads old train-track that he had built in his loft.
The refreshment room had plenty of seats for us all so we enjoyed sharing some cakes and having a hot drink before the train pulled in. We got on the train shortly after it arrived because although it wasn’t due to leave straight away, we wanted to make sure we had seats together for the journey back to Kidderminster.
Lilly and I had fun watching the train being refuelled with coal and water too.
Tips for planning your day
The freedom of the line ticket means that you have exactly that – freedom of the line! You can happily hop on and off at any of the 6 stops in between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth and hop back on when you’ve finished exploring. To hop on and off along the way, you have to make sure you’re sitting in the right carriage for your destination though – some of the platforms aren’t quite as big as the train is, you can find out exactly where you’d need to sit here. Don’t worry if you forget though as when you’re approaching a station that isn’t long enough, the train announcer walks along the train to ask if anyone is getting off – he’ll then advise you of where you need to be to get off.
Planning ahead with the Severn Valley can be a key part of making sure you can experience everything you want to. Using the timetables and arriving at Kidderminster in good time, will help you do just that. If you are travelling by car, there is a good-sized car park to the right-hand side of the Severn Valley Railway train station which costs just £4 for the whole day!
We enjoyed one of the most memorable days out with the girls and we can’t wait to go again next year!
