Secret Ironbridge: The third railway

As I mentioned in my blog Secret Ironbridge: London & North Western Railway, three railways existed in the Ironbridge Gorge.

We have already seen the London & North Western Railway running into Coalport (East) station and the Great Western Railway running through Coalport (West) station to Ironbridge and Broseley Station.

Here, we come across the Severn Valley Railway, which formed part of the line between Wellington and Craven Arms and was built (in stages) between 1857 and 1863. It had to cross the River Severn and did so via the Albert Edward bridge.

The bridge is named after Queen Victoria’s eldest son (who later became Edward VII). It was designed by Sir John Fowler and cast at the Coalbrookdale Foundries in 1863. It is considered one of the last major cast iron railway bridges built. Unlike the other two railway lines in the Gorge, this one continued to operate until 2015 – carrying coal wagons to the Ironbridge Power Station.

The bridge today – being reclaimed by nature

The centre of the span of the bridge denotes the boundary between Telford & Wrekin Council and Shropshire Council, and it is designated a Grade II Listed building, each Council claiming half.

Building bridges:

You may ask why the railway bridges in the south and east of the Ironbridge Gorge were built out of attractive brick and stone, whilst the railway bridges in the west are generally utilitarian metal girders. The answer is quite simple: building the section of the railway line between Horsehay and Coalbrookdale was a costly exercise, and metal bridges were cheaper and better advertisements for the Coalbrookdale Company than masonry ones.

In the South and East