Deep into the Winter Woods

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81/365: Tesco Express, Bewdley
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Nothing much to report today, so have a picture of a shop! This is the Tesco Express (as you can see) in Bewdley town centre, very close to the river bridge. You may be wondering why it looks like this, and the reason is that it used to be a pub! The Angel was open until 2014 when the building was (slightly controversially) sold by the owners to Tesco. It's proved to be a very successful small supermarket, though, and it does use the rather cramped inside space quite well. I prefer Sainsbury's elsewhere in the centre, but the Tesco does make a good backup option.

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79/365: 6880 Betton Grange on a goods train
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I was at the SVR gala yet again today! The novelty of doing something like this on Easter Sunday itself was irresistible, and as I'm not religious there was no clash with any sense of obligation. The weather was vastly better than the first two days of the event (and than tomorrow is likely to be) and the place was pretty well attended. Here you see GWR no. 6880 Betton Grange hauling a goods¹ train north out of Arley station, a place many of you will have seen on screen at one time or another.² Betton Grange looks old, but in fact it's nearly brand new! It's a new-build that went into service just last year, and so far on its first visit to the SVR it has performed very well and been a popular engine. I really did have an excellent day.
¹ Traditional British word for freight, now largely confined to preserved settings like this.
² Enola Holmes, The Box of Delights, Candleshoe, The Singing Detective, Goodnight Mister Tom etc.

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78/365: A busy scene at Bridgnorth station
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I had other things to do for most of today, but in the morning I went by bus to Bridgnorth, the northern terminus of the SVR in normal times but now separated from the rest of the line by a serious landslip a few miles south. However, the station was still participating in the weekend's steam gala. Here's the scene from the station footbridge. In fact, only the train neares the camera, GWR no. 1450, was actually running today, taking a single carriage (actually part of a diesel multiple unit!) up and down a short distance within station limits. Both loco and carriage had superb new paintwork (applied at Bridgnorth paintshop) and both truly gleamed in a way the photo doesn't quite convey.

The red flag is there because of the unusual nature of the moves: normally trains on the SVR do not propel (push) carriages containing passengers, but for this very unusual situation it was approved. (The locomotive seen here is pulling the carriage as normal, but it stayed at that end going the other way, rather than the normal "running round" to the new front end.) Normal signalling has also been suspended. Further out along the route a signalman stood with a yellow flag to warn the driver that it was time to stop and reverse course. The loco in the other platform is the SVR's flagship engine, GWR no. 4030 Hagley Hall. This was not in steam today, but those able to make the steep climb into the cab could visit the footplate.

Apologies to those of you not interested in heritage railways, since this Easter period is a very "train-y" one for me this year! I'll be back to other subjects in a few days' time, though.