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Add more early preservation stuff
The '''Exchange Line''' is a short length of track just outside [[Kidderminster]] terminus allows the through running of trains between the SVR and Network Rail (NR).
==Early preservation history==From its opening in 1987, In the earliest days of preservation the boundary of the SVR's Kidderminster signal box worked to section of the railway was at [[Kidderminster Junction signal boxAlveley Sidings]], 'over the fence' and operated successively by BR, RailTrack and finally NR. The method where a length of connection between the SVR and national rail was cumbersomenormally removed to ensure no unauthorised movements took place. When [[Railcar 22]] was delivered in 1967, requiring staff on the track for any movement between example, platelayers had to temporarily replace the two railways. Under this arrangement missing rail before it could be propelled onto the SVR's exchange line was designated as a sidingsection.<ref> A G Cleaver, "The Early Days Of The 'Severn Valley'", ''SVR News'' 190 (2015) p24. </ref><ref name=SVR6>SVR News 6</ref>
In the 1973-1984 period prior to the extension to Kidderminster, the BR/SVR boundary was the [[Ground Frames at Foley Park|trap points at Foley Park]]. When the SVR initially [[The development of Kidderminster Town Station | took possession of the former BR Kidderminster goods yard]] in 1984 there were four connections to BR at various points. Three redundant connections were soon recovered, retaining only the exchange line connection. At its opening in 1987, the SVR's Kidderminster signal box worked to [[Kidderminster Junction signal box]], 'over the fence' and operated successively by BR, RailTrack and finally NR. The operating method was cumbersome, requiring staff on the track for any movement between the two railways. Under this arrangement the SVR's exchange line was designated as a siding. ==2012 upgradeand current arrangement==
In 2012 NR upgraded signalling on the adjacent main line, which included the closure of its Kidderminster Junction box and transfer of control to West Midlands Signalling Centre (WMSC) at Saltley.
The SVR took the opportunity to extensively upgrade the connection, with many hundreds of hours of work by NR and SVR S&T technicians. Commissioned in August 2012, to coincide with the mainline resignalling, it installed one of the most a comprehensive connections between connection with the national rail network and a private heritage railway in existence. The alterations allow allowing access for passenger- and non-passenger trains coming onto or leaving from the SVR.
As part of the resignalling of the network connection, the exchange line was upgraded from a siding to a running line. Movements can be made from the SVR exchange line onto the NR Down Main, and from the NR Up & Down Mains onto the SVR exchange line. In addition, an incoming or outgoing train may be held on the exchange line awaiting a path, without it affecting trains on the SVR or NR main lines. All such movements are now locked and signalled, controlled by the WMSC in conjunction with the SVR's Kidderminster signal box, which is now a fringe box of the WMSC. Movements do, therefore, require the SVR's signal box to be manned and open.
==See also==
*[[The Severn Valley Railway on the main line]]*[[The development of Kidderminster Town Station]]*[[Kidderminster Station signal box (1987 onwards)|Kidderminster station signal box]]*[[Kidderminster Junction signal box| Kidderminster Junction mainline signal box]] ==References== <references/>
==Links==
[http://www.svrsig.org.uk/svr/Iss180.htm SVR S&T website]
