Glory days of branch line trains - Gloucestershire

[AJR]

Ref: thisisthesouthcotswolds.co.uk

http://www.thisisthesouthcotswolds.co.uk/dursley/features/FEATURES34.html

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Glory days of branch line trains

by Ian Thomas

GLOUCESTERSHIRE once boasted having an extensive railway system, serving the Cotswolds, Severn Vale and Forest of Dean.

From the mid-19th century until the 1950s things remained much the same. However, the first closures began and the Beeching report was announced in March, 1963.

The Berkeley Road-to-Sharpness line was the final branch line in the county to lose its passenger trains just 40 years ago.

The line opened on August 1, 1876, as part of the Severn and Wye Railway and the Severn railway bridge opened a little over three years later on October 17, 1879, thereby completing the rail link between the Midland railway at Berkeley Road and the Great Western at Lydney.

A further chord was added from Berkley Road South junction and Berkeley loop junction for diversionary purposes when the Severn Tunnel was closed for engineering work.

The line was built double track from Berkeley Road to Sharpness but this was singled as an economy measure in 1931. Things carried on with little change until 1960.

On the night of October 25, 1960, two barges laden with petroleum collided with the bridge in thick fog, causing one stanchion and two spans to collapse into the river.

There was an explosion and fire and added to that was a severed gas main carried by the bridge. An fire spread across the river and about one mile upstream so intense that the glow could be seen as far away as Coaley Peak. Five people died in the accident.

With the link severed, passenger trains continued running but to Sharpness only. The bridge stood for a while longer but demolition began in 1967 and was completed in 1970, though some parts of the structure still remain today.

The branch passenger service was worked by the Great Western, using its 0-6-0 pannier tank and 0-4-2 tank locomotives. 0-4-2T No 1401 was one such engine and it has a claim to fame. It featured in the Ealing comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt, made in 1952.

Passenger trains continued for a further five years but fell victim to the Beeching axe and the last day of service was on Saturday, October 31, 1964. The final train departed from Berkeley Road at 6.40 that evening.

Just for the record, two other passenger services were withdrawn on October 31, 1964. The Gloucester Central-to-Hereford and Gloucester Central-to-Chalford auto trains made their final journeys.

However, the line established a role that the GWR and MR could have never foreseen! And that is for the conveyance of nuclear waste from Berkley and Oldbury Power Stations, loaded into special flasks at Berkeley and conveyed to Sellafield in Cumbria for processing. This began in 1962.

The line is also quite popular for railway enthusiast tours and I traversed the branch 25 years ago aboard the Severnsider branch line tour.