Difference between revisions of "Bridgnorth Loco Works"

Bridgnorth Loco Works is the home to Severn Valley Railway Engineering Services and is the SVRSevern Valley Railway's main locomotive maintenance, repair and restoration facility. The Loco Works mainly occupies three buildings, the Loco Shed, the Machine Shop and the Boiler Shop. There is also a pattern shop, where patterns for castings are made and stored.

The Loco Works is normally closed to the public, although the Loco Shed and Machine Shop may be open for viewing during Gala events including the Open House Weekend and Peep Behind the Scenes.

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  View of Bridgnorth MPDMotive Power Depot including the loco shed, machine shop and boiler shop

Loco Shed

Construction of the loco shed began in March 1976 using parts of the former Portskewett Shed acquired for that purpose, with the pits being dug the following November and the building completed in April 1977^[1]. The former Heaton Mersey shed was added in 1978 to the rear of the ex-Portskewett Shed, adjacent to the Goods Shed^[2]. That summer also saw an upgrade to the loco shed, including the installation of roller shutter doors, side windows to improve lighting, and an enclosed paint shop.

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  Interior view of the loco shed with 42968 on the wheel drop (Wikimedia Commons)

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  The wheel drop award on display in the Loco Works

Wheel drop

The loco shed includes a wheel drop which was formerly located at the Leicester Midland MPDMotive Power Depot (shed 15C). This was purchased and installed following an appeal for funds launched in summer 2009. Installation involved digging a hole 6m deep, relocating a mains water pipe and pouring 200m³ of concrete.^[3] The wheel drop won the National Railway Heritage Awards FirstGroup Skills Award in 2010^[4]
This series of photos shows the wheel drop in use to remove a tender wheelset from GWR 7802 Bradley Manor

Machine Shop

The Loco Works’ machine shop is located in the former Bridgnorth Goods Shed adjacent to the loco shed.

The machine shop includes a Noble and Lund wheel lathe, acquired from BRBritish Rail or British Railways’s Derby Loco Works in 1972.

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  The Noble and Lund wheel lathe

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  General view of the Machine Shop.

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  General view of the Machine Shop.

Boiler shop

Bridgnorth Boiler Shop

To the rear of the machine Shop and loco Shed is the boiler shop which was opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester in October 1990 - before that time riveting of boilers was carried out in the open air!

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  Test of 43106's boiler outside the boiler works (K. Wilkinson)

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  Test of 7802 Bradley Manor's boiler at the front of Bridgnorth works (R. Westwood)

References

1. ↑ SVRSevern Valley Railway News 44
2. ↑ SVRSevern Valley Railway News 49
3. ↑ Bridgnorth Wheel Drop case study on George Law's web site
4. ↑ [1] NRHA Awards 2010

See also

Bridgnorth
List of Locomotives at Bridgnorth