Bewdley Bypass Bridge

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Bewdley Bypass Bridge from the south west
Bewdley Bypass Bridge from below. The bridge was built and jacked into place from near the photographer's location

[Bewdley Bypass Bridge (Bridge 8) is located between Bewdley and Kidderminster, around ⅓ mile south east of Bewdley Station. The bridge was built in 1986, allowing the new A456 Bewdley southern bypass to go through the embankment adjacent to Sandbourne Viaduct.

The SVRSevern Valley Railway already owned and used this section of the line[note 1] and so, unlike the Bridgnorth Bypass Bridge, the construction was at no cost to the Railway.

Construction

The SVRSevern Valley Railway line would have to be severed while the bridge was installed. By May 1986 the SVRSevern Valley Railway had agreed that in order not to jeopardise the Railway's Christmas services, this would be scheduled for late October and November of that year.[1] Services would terminate at Bewdley for the last weekend in October to allow the contractors an extra week, to help ensure that the railway would reopen for the operation of Santa Steam Specials from Kidderminster to Arley, commencing on Saturday 29 November.[2]

To minimise disruption to the SVRSevern Valley Railway, the contractors A. Monk & Co Ltd. built the bridge between May and October 1986 on a concrete track south of the embankment, approximately 150ft from its final position. Preparatory work carried out by the SVRSevern Valley Railway while services were still running included "cutting away the ivy from Bewdley South Viaduct in order to make quite sure that the structure is returned to us in the condition in which it was last seen" and shortening the Stourport line siding.[3]

Immediately after the last train on Sunday 19 October, SVRSevern Valley Railway staff and volunteers working under floodlights lifted the track and disconnected the signal wires on the embankment. By 1.00am in the morning of Monday 20 October the contractors' excavators had begun removing the embankment, which was completed the following day. Construction of the foundations and north wing walls took place over the next two weeks.[4]

On 6 November, large hydraulic rams were used to slew all 2,500 tons of the new bridge into place; a process which began at 7.30am and was completed without incident by 10.40am.[4]

By 26 November the south wing wall was complete and the remaining embankment had been reinstated. A final effort by the SVRSevern Valley Railway PWPermanent Way and S&TSignals & Telegraph staff saw the bridge re-ballasted, the track laid and signalling equipment re-connected in time for the first Santa Special services on Saturday 29 November.[4]

The bypass itself was opened on 21 May 1987.[4]

Both Sandbourne Viaduct and the Bypass Bridge are crossed by the 'Stourport siding' on the Stourport Branch (the route of the original Severn Valley Railway) as well as the present day railway which runs to Kidderminster via the Kidderminster Loop Line. The siding is regularly used to store P-Way and other rolling stock.

See also

Towards Kidderminster
List of infrastructure
Towards Bridgnorth

Notes

  1. The section of the line in which the bridge is located was purchased by the SVRSevern Valley Railway in 1973 as part of the 'southern section' between Alveley Sidings and Foley Park. The line to Kidderminster was fully re-opened for passenger services in 1984.

References

  1. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 80, Boardroom Notes
  2. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 81, General Manager's Notes
  3. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 81
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Marshall (1989) p. 100.