Bewdley railway station

Bewdley station originally opened in 1862 as one of the main intermediate stations on the {{convert|40+3/4|mi|adj=on}} line between Hartlebury and Shrewsbury. It was operated by the West Midland Railway, before that company was absorbed into the Great Western Railway (GWR).{{cite book|author=Marshall, John|title=The Severn Valley Railway|year=1989|publisher=David St John Thomas|location=Newton Abbot|isbn=0-946537-45-3|author-link=John Marshall (railway historian)}}

The Tenbury & Bewdley Railway opened in 1864, with its route through the Wyre Forest branching off the SVR {{convert|1|mi}} north of Bewdley station, before crossing the River Severn over the now partially-dismantled Dowles Bridge. Thus, Bewdley became a junction station.

The GWR opened a "loop-line" to the original Kidderminster railway station in 1878, as this was before the SVR built their Kidderminster Town railway station in 1974, which meant that Bewdley had a direct link with the town and became a double junction. As a legacy of its former junction status, Bewdley station is unique on the SVR in that it has two signal boxes, Bewdley North and Bewdley South.

Bewdley station was at its busiest at weekends and local holiday periods, but traffic declined with the increasing use of cars in the 1950s. As a consequence, rationalisation resulted in the end of through passenger traffic — firstly on the Wyre Forest line in 1962, followed by the Severn Valley line in 1963. Although thought by some to have been a result of the Beeching Axe, those closures pre-dated Beeching's report.

Until January 1970, British Rail continued to serve the last remaining stations of Stourport-on-Severn, Burlish Halt, Bewdley, Foley Park Halt and Kidderminster.

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• Thomas Appleton 1862 – 1897
• George Smith 1898 – 1909{{cite news |author= |title=Presentation to the Stationmaster |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002304/19100209/030/0004 |newspaper=Oxfordshire Weekly News |location=England |date=9 February 1910 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} (afterward station master at Chipping Norton)
• Frederick Hallett 1909 – 1914{{cite news |author= |title=The funeral took place…. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000033/19140729/116/0006 |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |location=England |date=29 July 1914 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}
• Alfred W. Cooke 1923 – 1937{{cite news |author= |title=G.W.R. Staff. Changes in Worcestershire |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002560/19370515/029/0002 |newspaper=Evesham Standard & West Midlands Observer |location=England |date=15 May 1937 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} (formerly station master at Cleobury Mortimer)
• E.T. Rose 1939 – 1942{{cite news |author= |title=Broadway's New Stationmaster |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000320/19420316/048/0004 |newspaper=Gloucestershire Echo |location=England |date=16 March 1942 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} (afterward station master at Broadway)
• William H. Needle until 1956{{cite news |author= |title=Retirement of Totnes Stationmaster |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001329/19660228/106/0005 |newspaper=Torbay Express and South Devon Echo |location=England |date=28 February 1966 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} (afterward station master at Totnes)
• H.E. Ray 1956 – 1960{{cite news |author= |title=Mr. H.E. Ray |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002134/19600702/224/0007 |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |location=England |date=2 July 1960 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} (afterward station master at Bridgnorth)

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Bewdley was disused for only four years before preservationists from the new SVR Company bought the land, track and buildings in 1974, enabling the SVR to extend from Bridgnorth–Hampton Loade to Highley and eventually Bewdley that same year.

From 1980 onwards, occasional bank holiday services were operated to Bewdley, originally from Kidderminster and later from Birmingham New Street. The SVR's own services to/from Kidderminster could not commence until sugar beet traffic to Foley Park ceased in 1982, and its own station, Kidderminster Town, was opened, which occurred two years later.

During and after preservation:

• The station clock on platforms 2 and 3 was brought from Stourbridge Junction railway station.
• The longer valancing pieces on the east side of the island platform canopy came from Birmingham Snow Hill station. That is marked on the canopy. The canopy itself was constructed for the opening of the line to Kidderminster and was later extended. It was not brought in from elsewhere, as has been reported.

Just to the East of the station lies the {{convert|480|yd|adj=on}}-long Bewdley Tunnel.

Due to heavy congestion in the Wyre Forest, there have been calls for Bewdley station to be returned to the National Rail network. The idea of Kidderminster to Bewdley trains has been discussed at meetings with Central Trains, its successors London Midland, West Midlands Trains{{cite web |title=West Midlands rail re-openings studied |url=https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/54668/west-midlands-rail-re-openings-studied |website=TransportXtra |publisher=Landor LINKS Ltd |access-date=2019-01-25}} and Chiltern Railways. The obstacle was always the question of who would provide the infrastructure and staff. New services could run further than Kidderminster, to Birmingham, Dudley or London.[http://www.stourbridgelineusergroup.info/news.htm SLUG] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927022550/http://www.stourbridgelineusergroup.info/news.htm |date=27 September 2012 }} West Midlands Trains says it plans to operate extensions of services from Kidderminster to the station by December 2019, though this has never occurred as of December 2024.{{cite web |title=News Archive 2017 |url=http://www.stourbridgelineusergroup.info/files/News-Archive---2017.pdf|publisher=Stourbridge Line User Group |access-date=2019-01-25}}

Bewdley Railway Station has been used as a location for a number of television and cinema productions. These include the 1992 film Howards End, the 2007 film Woes of the Departed, and, as "Musborough Junction" station, the opening scenes of the 1984 BBC Television adaptation of the John Masefield novel The Box of Delights (keen-eyed viewers will spot the Bewdley station sign reflected in a window).{{cite web |title=Filming Location Matching "Bewdley Station, Worcestershire, England, UK" |url=https://www.imdb.com/search/title?locations=Bewdley%20Station,%20Worcestershire,%20England,%20UK |website=IMDb |access-date=2019-01-25}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|title=Branch Lines around Cleobury Mortimer|first1=Vic|last1=Mitchell|first2=Keith|last2=Smith|at=figs. 66-75|publisher=Middleton Press|year=2007|isbn=9781906008185|oclc=176923876}}
• {{cite book|title=Kidderminster to Shrewsbury|first1=Vic|last1=Mitchell|first2=Keith|last2=Smith|at=figs. 26-36|publisher=Middleton Press|year=2007|isbn=9781906008109|oclc=154801530}}

{{Worcestershire Lines|collapse=yes}}

{{commons category|Bewdley railway station}}

• [http://www.bewdleystation.co.uk Official Station Web Site]

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{{rail line|previous=Northwood Halt|next=Kidderminster Town|route=Severn Valley Railway |col={{heritage rail colour|line=Severn Valley Railway}} }}

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{{rail line one to two|previous={{rws|Northwood Halt}}
Line and station open|route=Great Western Railway
Severn Valley Railway|next1={{rws|Rifle Range Halt}}
Line open, station closed|next2={{rws|Burlish Halt}}
Line and station closed|col={{GWR colour}} }}

{{rail line|previous={{rws|Wyre Forest}}
Line and station closed|route=Great Western Railway
Tenbury and Bewdley Railway|col={{GWR colour}} }}

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{{Transport in Worcestershire}}

{{Worcestershire railway stations}}

Category:Heritage railway stations in Worcestershire

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1974

Category:Former Great Western Railway stations

Category:Severn Valley Railway

Railway station

Category:1862 establishments in England