Severn Valley Railway Review
A few weeks ago I visited a Vintage Railway in the West Midlands called The Severn Valley Railway with Gina’s friends.
It was an interesting day out - not something I would usually choose to do, as I'm not much of a ‘vintage’ person, but it was still good!
What I was most interested in was their Disabled Access because as an historic attraction the access can be pretty, well historic!
Their website actually had a detailed description of the access available which was a major surprise factor because usually disabled access descriptions go something like this:
DISABLED ACCESS:
The grounds do have disabled access and there are ramps located at the entrance. A disabled toilet can also be found in the cafe.
And as you know we need more information than that! Severn Valley Railway explained how access was supplied for trains, platforms and the local towns at the stations:
Severn Valley Railway, display their disabled access with everything you need to know in a very clear and to the point style. This is the best as it makes it easy to digest and easy to find the information you need to make the decision on whether the trip would be possible or not. Although very clear we did see a few issues with access but by no means anything worth shouting about.
Click on the image to head to their website for more details:
It was very easy to make arrangements with platform staff for ramp access onto the train, and they all knew a lot about the local areas allowing you to ask for advice on what to do and where to go in the local towns. The staff have ramps like any modern day train that can be attached to the doors so you can easily roll up into the carriage.
Their disabled access carriages have a lot of space and even had an on board disabled toilet! Yes really! The toilet was easy to use and just like any other public disabled loo despite being on a vintage train.
When we got off the train staff were quick to help with getting off the platform, sometimes this required going down across the tracks and other times it was simply going out the main or side entrance around the side of the station building.
All together SVR is a great trip and a great day out whether your a manual or electric wheelchair user, as it’s lot more Accessible and accommodating then you may think for something so historic.
For that reason I give it a solid 4 stars for disabled access.
I hope this little blog post helps you and let me know of any other disabled access reviews you would like me to do, as we are always looking to create new content for you guys.
Remember don’t let your wheels stop you.