£2m revamp for Severn Valley Railway’s Bridgnorth station
Severn Valley Railway’s Bridgnorth station is to undergo a £2 million pound remodelling and expansion revamp.
Built exactly 150 years ago, the station has served as the northern terminus of the SVR since steam enthusiasts re-opened the line in 1970, the station handles up to a quarter of a million visitors each year.
Following a brief drawn up over the last 18 months by the SVR’s Bridgnorth Development Team, Kidderminster architects Howl Associates Ltd have been commissioned to draw up new plans for the station, and bring it into line with 21st century needs.
Visual ‘artists impressions’ are expected to be ready in April, representing four of a total of 11 projects proposed by the SVR for Bridgnorth station, many of them inter-connected, which will be phased over a ten-year period, and financed chiefly by a new £4 million share appeal which is to be launched in September.
In a vision statement describing the new Bridgnorth station and how it will fit into its surroundings, the SVR Development Team said: “Bridgnorth is an outstanding destination on Britain’s most highly rated preserved line. Imaginatively conserved as a 1950s branch line station, it is a UK focus for steam engine restoration, construction and interpretation.
SVR General Manager Nick Ralls said: “The development projects present a design challenge, in order to meet our ambition to present the new Bridgnorth in an agreeable style, and also to meet the requirements of Shropshire County Council’s Planning and Conservation officers.
“In so far as the Severn Valley Railway preservation plan was started at
Bridgnorth in the 1960s, the natural focus of the line’s development until now has been away from the town, southwards to Kidderminster, and to a large extent it’s true that Bridgnorth station hasn’t kept pace with the remarkable growth of the SVR within the leisure and tourism industry.
“Now we’ve set out our stall to realise the station’s enormous potential as an outstanding general visitor and enthusiast destination. Bridgnorth is a wonderful, enchanting place, and we’re set on making sure that it has in future a wonderful and enchanting steam-age railway station to match it.”
