Tenbury and Bewdley Railway

There were two immediate problems, gathering enough money to pay the parliamentary deposit, and heading off the suspected hostility of the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway.

[9] In September 1862 the Shareholders were informed that arrangements had been made to lease the line to the West Midland Railway, giving a dividend of 4% after the first three years.

[12] Captain Tyler of the Board of Trade visited the line on 9 August 1864 and gave his consent to opening for passenger trains.

[15] The junction with the Severn Valley Railway at Bewdley connected southwards, towards Droitwich Spa, and now much energy was expended in creating a shorter route to Birmingham.

[7] A year earlier, from 1 January 1869, the lease of the Tenbury Railway was converted to outright ownership by the LNWR and GWR, under an agreement of 1 December 1868.

[20] For some years the Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Railway was simply a rural branch line; its passenger service ceased in 1938.

The increasing international tension following the Munich crisis of 1938 resulted, among other things, in a search for sites for the storage of naval ordnance.

[21] The site eventually extended over a very considerable area, and the development brought much goods traffic to the CM&DPR and also the Tenbury and Bewdley line.

[22] In 1960 the railway line was finally closed but the Royal Navy continued to use the depot as a non-rail-connected base until 1965.

[23][24][25][26][27] The rural nature of the Tenbury and Bewdley main line resulted in a steep decline in business as reliable road transport, both passenger and goods, developed.

One passenger train each way daily would run from Kidderminster via Bewdley to Tenbury Wells for a trial period of one year, at times suitable for the schools.

[30][14] With lifting of the track completed, the spans of Dowles Bridge were dismantled in March 1966 leaving only the supports standing in the river.