Villagers' lost battle to save line of beauty
In the wilds of south Shropshire, villagers fought a great battle. Which they lost, obviously, this being a battle to keep their railway service.
The "Woofferton Flyer" was a little diesel railcar which plied the attractive 20 miles of single track between Woofferton, near Ludlow, and Bewdley, taking in Tenbury Wells and Cleobury Mortimer, along with some tiny rural stations along the way.
And when it came under threat in 1961 the people of the isolated farmhouses and small villages of the Wyre Forest and Teme valley sought the help of Jasper More, the Ludlow MP, to try to defeat the British Railways move to close the line and cut an annual loss of £15,648.
At a public inquiry they persuaded the Transport Consultative Committee to recommend a part reprieve, cutting services to two trains a day for a trial period of a year.
Jasper More – he ultimately became Sir Jasper – was drafted in after a call to arms from a parish meeting in the Shropshire village of Neen Sollars and he decided to make a factfinding tour of the line, which cut through the counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire, to which he invited a Star representative to accompany him.
So, Monday, March 27, 1961, saw him join the Flyer for its teatime run from Woofferton to Bewdley.
At Tenbury Wells a deputation awaited him, making their points to save the line.
A little further on, at Neen Sollars station, one of the smallest and most remote railway stations in England, he chatted to local residents and passengers. Mrs E M Farmer, who lived in the old stationmaster's house on what by then was an unmanned station, showed him the water-filled milk churn which arrived from Bewdley daily on the diesel. It was her family's only water supply.
Among others he met was Jennifer Fox, a schoolgirl who used the train. Sadly she was one of only a few passengers to use it, which was the underlying problem.
Mr P W Hughes, a Neen Sollars farmer who was a councillor on Ludlow Rural Council, told him the village was virtually isolated.
"We farmers cannot get young men to bring their families to such places, no matter how beautiful they are. Their wives want to be able to get to town for shopping. While this little line keeps going we are connected with several towns," he said.
The MP talked to the guard, one D H Hemingway, and heard about the busy "moms" who relied on the Flyer to carry their prams to town, something they could not do by bus.
After his little trip down the line, Mr More said that he would not make any rash promises, but added: "It really is one of the most delightful railway journeys I have ever made."
It was all to no avail. The western part of the line, between Woofferton and Tenbury Wells, closed to passengers on July 31, 1961. Passenger services on the eastern stretch, from Tenbury Wells to Bewdley – Neen Sollars was on this section – were reduced to a weekday morning train and an evening return, before ending on August 1, 1962. Goods services survived a little longer.
Also surviving at Neen Sollars was the Railway Tavern, which was renowned for its duck suppers. The last licensees were Kenneth Cheetham and his wife Gillian, but by January 1995 they were selling up after seven years at the helm as it had become unviable.
"We are working ourselves to death here for nothing," said Mr Cheetham at the time.
After a year of fruitlessly trying to sell it as a pub, they were forced to sell it as a house.
