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The railway towns of [[Shrewsbury]] and [[Worcester]] are both situated on the river, so it was natural that a railway intended to link the two would follow the course of the [[Severn Valley]]. At the southern end the Severn Valley Railway began north of [[Hartlebury]], around 2 miles east of the river. It rapidly approached the river at Stourport and from there it hugged the east bank, coming within a few yards at [[Folly Point]], before crossing the river for the only time at [[Victoria Bridge]]. Thereafter the railway closely followed the west bank of the Severn past [[Bridgnorth]], and through the Ironbridge Gorge. Once onto the flatter ground beyond [[Berrington]] the railway maintained a straighter course towards Shrewsbury while the river meandered, but even then they were rarely more than a mile apart.
Before the building of the Severn Valley Railway, a large proportion of the goods traffic created by the iron and pottery industries of the Ironbridge Gorge was transported by river barge. In the mid-1750s there were more than 85 barge owners in the area, [[Bowers Yard Lime Kilns Siding | Bowers Yard]] being one of the riverside wharves at which they were based. The coming of the railway had a significant impact on this traffic. By 1871, less than 10 years after the opening of the Severn Valley Railway, there were just 5 barge owners operating. Barge traffic ended altogether in on 25 January 1895 after the last barge ''Harry'' loaded with firebricks from Ironbridge collided with the bridge at Bridgnorthand sank.<ref>Information board on the Trow ‘Spry’ at Ironbridge Gorge Museum Victorian Town.</ref> <ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Trinder (2005)]] pp. 136.</ref>
==See also==
