Bridgnorth railway station

Bridgnorth railway station is a station on the Severn Valley Railway heritage line, serving the Shropshire town of Bridgnorth, England. It is currently the northern terminus of the SVR, home to the main engine shed and a large gift shop amongst other facilities.

History

Bridgnorth station was not the northern terminus when built, but the main intermediate station of the Severn Valley line being 18¼ miles from Hartlebury and 22½ miles from Shrewsbury. Bridgnorth station was opened to the public on 1 February 1862, prompting great celebrations in the town. Originally under SVR Company ownership, it was passed to Great Western Railway (GWR), and eventually British Railways in 1948. It closed to passengers after 101 years on 8 September 1963, and to freight traffic on 30 November 1963. Although thought by some people to have been closed as part of the Beeching axe its planned closure pre-dated his report.

The neo-Jacobean station is the only listed station on the Severn Valley Railway. Any future plans to enhance visitor facilities will need to be carefully designed to be in keeping with the station's architecture and historic character.

The line now ends just after the modern-day station, where the line formerly bridged Hollybush Road and passed through Bridgnorth Tunnel and on to the next station on the line, Linley. There exists an ongoing debate whether the railway should extend beyond its current limits north of Bridgnorth (See Severn Valley Railway#Extensions to the railway & http://forum.svra.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=214.)

The Railwayman's Arms pub is situated at the SVR station. It opened before the original Severn Valley Line and never closed, and has thus became popular with preservationists.

Preservation

After only two years of closure preservationists had plans for Bridgnorth, resulting in the formation of the Severn Valley Railway Society. Vegetation was cleared, railway bric-a-brac was collected and the station buildings were refurbished. Although the original signal box was substantially demolished Bridgnorth station was never damaged through this demolition activity. From then on preservation gained momentum until the present day. Bridgnorth became the engineering centre of the new SVR because of the need to repair the growing numbers of rolling stock items and locomotives after opening to the public when the first train steamed from Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade in May 1970.

The station is reached from High Town via a footbridge over a main road and a valley, the present bridge having opened in 1994. This replacement tubular steel bridge occupies the site of a lattice bridge closed and demolished several years previously.

At present, Mr.C. Walton is the station master and Mr.A. Booth is the assistant station master.

Locomotive works

The main locomotive works for the SVR are located at Bridgnorth. It is not normally open to the public because of health and safety regulations but conducted tours and open days are arranged from time to time. Major features of the locomotive works include the Boiler Shop, the machine shop equipped with a Noble and Lunn wheel lathe and ex-LT lifting jacks along with other equipment in the general fitting area.

External links

* [http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/bridgnorth_(svr).php Bridgnorth station]

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