Vow after fire destroys rail car

Managers at the Severn Valley Railway have insisted it is still full steam ahead for its summer evening service following the latest calamity at the beleaguered tourist attraction.

Officials say the Land Cruises service will still carry passengers between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster, despite the pride of the fleet being ruined in a fire. A diesel rail car was destroyed in a blaze on Wednesday night.

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The rail car was used to pull the service and included a dining area. The multiple diesel unit was being worked on in the inspection pit at Kidderminster Station when the fire broke out. The fixtures and bodywork were destroyed in the fire.

Firefighters said it had been smouldering away for hours before the alarm was raised by a member of the public.

It is the latest blow for the railway, which is still reeling from the effects of last summer's devastating floods.

Last June's deluge severed part of the line between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster.

A month's worth of rain fell in just two hours during the downpour, which left 12 miles of track out of action.

The line was closed north of Arley when embankments were washed away, leaving rails suspended in mid-air.

Trains could run only between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade and between Kidderminster and Bewdley.

The railway's marketing manager John Leach said that the evening service would start up again for the summer months on May 10.

"Somebody was saying yesterday that we've had the flood, we've had the fire and now we're just waiting for the plague of locusts," he said.

"The car will be out of action for a considerable time. It was gutted in the fire. It looks as though it was an electrical fault.

"The service will still go ahead, but it doesn't look as though there will be a dining service.

"These things happen in business and we've just got to pick ourselves up and get on with it."

The destroyed interior of the rail car after a huge blaze took hold.

Marketing manager John Leach next to the Diesel Multiple Unit

which suffered internal damage in the fire.

Another view of the fire damage.