Could commuting by steam train be the future?

A unique trial that saw Severn Valley Railway steam and diesel trains help people travel was used by 1,000 passengers - leading to calls to make it a permanent service.

For the last two months heritage trains have been used to carry commuters from Bewdley to Kidderminster, where they can then access mainline services to Birmingham and beyond.

John Dutton, a special needs teacher, said: "It's brilliant - I think it would be good for tourists as well as workers if they made it a permanent thing."

Gus Dunster, Severn Valley Railway's managing director, said talks would be held to decide what happens next.

The service, known as the 'Bewdley Express', has been running three days a week between Tuesday and Thursday during the 8-week period in September and October.

Passengers were able to use two early morning connections from Bewdley to Kidderminster, and then two evening return services.

Commuters using it on the final day of the trial this past week said it had transformed their ability to travel.

Lisa Rawlings, 39, who works in Birmingham for a bank, said: "I live in Bewdley and before this I'd been cycling to Kidderminster four days a week to get on the train to Brum.

"Yes it's kept me fit, but doing it in the winter can be horrendous. I can't work from home so I'd love to see this service come back."

Peter Bassett, a train enthusiast, said: "It's useful for people who are commuting - but it's also useful for people like me who live in Kidderminster and like to pop over to Bewdley to the pub.

"It means I can easily pop into Bewdley for an evening and then maybe get a bus or Uber back.

"It definitely fills a gap in the market, I'd like it to be permanent."

Jack Summerfield, another rail user, said: "It's the first time I've tried it actually - I thought I'd give it a spin to go to Kidderminster and I like it a lot.

"It's great having this heritage stop doing it - I definitely think it should become permanent."

Sarah Hunt, 51, who works in HR, said: "It's great living in Bewdley but it's a pain getting to Birmingham because I've got to drive to Kidderminster station first.

"This has changed all that. It's amazing it wasn't tried before now."

Bosses at the Severn Valley Railway said they have had passengers using the special commuter service travel onwards as far as Plymouth, Glasgow and Cornwall.

Talks will now take place with the West Midlands Railway Executive which will factor in passenger popularity, train driver availability, logistics and budgets.

Gus Dunster, Severn Valley Railway managing director, told the BBC he felt the chances of it becoming permanent were "more than 50/50", but a lot of things need to fall into place first.

"We know the roads between Kidderminster and Bewdley are quite congested, so that was one of the reasons for doing this," he said.

"We also know there's a close proximity between our (heritage) station and the main network rail station, so in theory everything was stacked up for this to work.

"We've been really pleased and encouraged by how positively it's been received.

"I hope we've seen sufficient demand for this operation to be continued - if it can be established as a regular thing and demand continues to increase, there's no reason ultimately why through-trains from Bewdley onto the national rail network couldn't be considered.

"That's obviously quite a few steps into the future, but let's hope we can explore further."

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