Wilden Sand Siding

OS Map Hartlebury to Stourport 1960

OS Map Wilden 1951, with the Sand Sidings north of the line

A sand quarry was located at Wilden, between Hartlebury and Stourport, served by a siding on the Severn Valley Railway.

Contents

Early history

The Severn Valley Railway ran through a sandstone ridge at Wilden Top, around ¾ mile from Stourport. The railway could have passed through this via a tunnel as elsewhere on the line, but a large amount of spoil was required for a nearby embankment. As a result one of the largest cuttings on the line was constructed, around a third of a mile long and up to 60 ft deep. Unusually, a tunnel was first driven and laid with rails, then the ground above was dug away and dropped down shafts into wagons.

Sand Quarry siding

A large sand quarry was situated north of the cutting. A ground frame, locked by the section token, controlled access to the siding. After the quarry closed, the siding was used to store coal wagons waiting to enter Stourport Power Station .

See also

List of historical Signal Boxes and Ground Frames
H. Whitehouse's Sand Siding