‘History of the Severn Valley Railway’, by Bernie Holland, 4th February 2025
4th February 2025 Meeting.
Bernie Holland presented the ‘History of the Severn Valley Railway’, via a virtual Zoom meeting. 50,000 years ago, a large glacial ice-lake, around 300 square miles in area and up to 500 ft in thickness, covered a large area of the Northwest. Eventually, the glacial debris would cut the course of two rivers, the Dee towards the north and the Severn, towards the south, cutting through limestones and sandstones thus creating the Severn Valley itself. The flood that carved Ironbridge gorge exposed deposits of coal, iron, fireclay and limestone. The existence of these minerals and ore in close proximity contributed to the development of the ironworks that started the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century.
Further history photos and info were followed by maps of the proposed route with the stations to be served.
Many photos of lots of different classes of locos were shown and there were before and after shots including Coalport Station which you can now stay at in an old Mk1 carriage.
We saw unusual locos due to the wartime trains and a great aerial shot of Ironbridge & Broseley Station in 1949 showed the Iron Bridge, a goods train passing through the station, the signal box and across the ravine can be seen the Church of St Luke which was built in 1837. On the west side of the river can be seen the Benthall Edge Brick and Tile Works which produced the firebricks used in the construction of the smelting furnaces at Coalbrookdale, Horsehay and Dawley. Closed in 1963, the station was demolished in 1966 to provide further car parking space within the Severn Gorge.
Many other of the 200 photos shown were equally historically interesting and the attendance of 52 went from their office to lounge very content.
Rob Davidson, Branch Secretary