 An Ordnance Survey map of the Severn Railway Bridge from 1946 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1879–1893 |
| Successor | Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Severn Bridge Railway was a railway company which constructed a railway from Lydney to Sharpness in Gloucestershire, England. It was intended chiefly to give access for minerals in the Forest of Dean to Sharpness Docks, and the company built a long bridge, 1,387 yards (1,268 m) in length, over the River Severn. The line opened in 1879.
On opening the company entered a partnership with the Severn and Wye Railway; the Sharpness branch of the Midland Railway was transferred into the group, the combined network forming the Severn & Wye and Severn Bridge Railway. The Severn Bridge Railway and the former Midland Railway branch formed the "Bridge" section of the S&WJR; the former Severn and Wye Railway formed the "Forest" section.
The line was never profitable, being dependent on the colliery activity in the Forest of Dean, and the huge construction cost of the bridge meant that there were heavy, and unaffordable, interest charges, and the S&W&SBR Company went into receivership. It was purchased by the Midland Railway and the Great Western Railway jointly, and became known as the Severn and Wye Joint Railway. When the Great Western Railway constructed the Badminton line, shortening its route from London to South Wales. a south-to-west connection was made, the Berkeley Road Loop, giving direct access from the south to Sharpness from 1908.
In 1960 two out-of-control petrol barges in the Severn struck a pier of the Severn Bridge and brought it down, severing the line. After much deliberation the decision was taken to close the line permanently and to demolish the Severn Bridge. The stub from Berkeley Road to Sharpness remains in occasional use in connection with nuclear traffic.