Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway

Last updated

Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway
Malvern Railway 3 1714729 38f74939.jpg
Overview
Locale Tewkesbury and Malvern
Dates of operation16 May 186414 August 1961
Successor Midland Railway
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Length13.5 miles (21.7 kilometres)
Tewkesbury & Malvern Railway
BSicon CONTg.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
Great Malvern
BSicon CONTgq.svg
BSicon xABZgr.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Malvern Hanley Road
BSicon exHST.svg
Upton-on-Severn
BSicon exhbKRZWae.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Ripple
BSicon exTUNNEL1.svg
BSicon exhbKRZWae.svg
BSicon exhbKRZWae.svg
BSicon exBHF.svg
Tewkesbury
BSicon exKDSTaq.svg
BSicon exABZg+r.svg
Tewkesbury Docks
BSicon exSTR.svg
BSicon CONTg.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon exCONTg.svg
BSicon ex3ABZg2.svg
BSicon e-3KRZ.svg
BSicon ex3ABZg3.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon KDSTxa.svg
Ashchurch MoD depot
BSicon exXBHF-L.svg
BSicon XBHF-M.svg
BSicon eXBHF-R.svg
Ashchurch
BSicon exKRWl.svg
BSicon KRWg+lxr.svg
BSicon KRWr.svg
BSicon CONTf.svg

The Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway was a branch of the Midland Railway which ran from Ashchurch via Tewkesbury to Great Malvern in the United Kingdom. It was opened on 16 May 1864. At grouping in 1923 it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway.

Contents

Connections

It connected with the Worcester & Hereford Railway and the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway.

Structures

There were two significant bridges when first constructed – over the River Avon at Tewkesbury (62 yards or 57 metres) and over the River Severn at Saxons Lode (145 yards or 133 metres) with five spans and a sliding centre section to allow tall masted ships to pass). There was also a 420-yard (380-metre) tunnel and a long embankment and viaduct over a floodplain at The Mythe near Tewkesbury. The embankment, viaducts and remaining bridges were demolished in 2013 as part of the Tewkesbury area flooding improvement works with the bricks being reused in the reconstruction of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Broadway station. In 1961 a bridge over the M50 motorway was erected – as of 2012 this bridge has been removed & moved to the Bluebell Railway.

Closure

The section of line from Malvern to Upton-upon-Severn was closed in December 1952. The remainder closed to passengers on 14 August 1961. Freight continued to operate to Upton until July 1963 as far as Tewkesbury until December 1964. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Severn</span> River in the United Kingdom

The River Severn, at 220 miles (354 km) long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of 107 m3/s (3,800 cu ft/s) at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in the Cambrian Mountains in mid Wales, at an altitude of 2,001 feet (610 m), on the Plynlimon massif, which lies close to the Ceredigion/Powys border near Llanidloes. The river then flows through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The county towns of Shrewsbury, Gloucester and Worcester lie on its course.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severn Valley Railway</span> Heritage railway in England

The Severn Valley Railway is a standard gauge heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England, named after the company that originally built the railway over which it now operates. The 16-mile (26 km) heritage line runs from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn along the Severn Valley for much of its route, and crossing the river on the historic Victoria Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tewkesbury</span> Town and civil parish in England

Tewkesbury is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and thus became an important trading point, which continued as railways and, later, the M5 and M50 motorway connections were established. The town gives its name to the Borough of Tewkesbury, a local government district of Gloucestershire. The town lies on the border with Worcestershire, marked largely by the Carrant Brook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upton-upon-Severn</span> Human settlement in England

Upton-upon-Severn is a town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Lying on the A4104, the 2021 census recorded a population of 2,903 for the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malvern Wells</span> Human settlement in England

Malvern Wells is a village and civil parish south of Great Malvern in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, England. The parish, once known as South Malvern, was formed in 1894 from parts of the civil parishes of Hanley Castle, Welland, and the former parish of Great Malvern, and owes its development to the 19th-century boom years of Malvern as a spa town. Malvern Wells is a centre of commercial bottling of Malvern water. The population of the parishes of Malvern Wells and Little Malvern was recorded in 2011 as 3,196.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severn Railway Bridge</span> Former bridge in United Kingdom

The Severn Railway Bridge was a bridge carrying the railway across the River Severn between Sharpness and Lydney in Gloucestershire, England. It was built in the 1870s by the Severn Bridge Railway Company, primarily to carry coal from the Forest of Dean to the docks at Sharpness; it was the furthest-downstream bridge over the Severn until the opening of the Severn road bridge in 1966. When the company got into financial difficulties in 1893, it was taken over jointly by the Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway companies. The bridge continued to be used for freight and passenger services until 1960, and saw temporary extra traffic on the occasions that the Severn Tunnel was closed for engineering work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotswold Line</span> Railway line between Oxford and Hereford

The Cotswold Line is an 86+12-mile (139.2 km) railway line between Oxford and Hereford in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashchurch for Tewkesbury railway station</span> Railway station in Gloucestershire, England

Ashchurch for Tewkesbury is a railway station serves the market town of Tewkesbury and the village of Ashchurch in Gloucestershire, England. The station is located less than 14 mile (400 m) from junction 9 of the M5 motorway and located on the main Bristol–Birmingham main line 7+14 miles (11.7 km) north of Cheltenham Spa and was opened on 1 June 1997 by Railtrack. There are regular bus connections from the station to Tewkesbury town centre, Gloucester Transport Hub and Cheltenham.

The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was a railway company opened in 1844 to run services between Bristol and Gloucester. It was built on the 7 ftBrunel gauge, but it was acquired in 1845 by the 4 ft 8+12 instandard gauge Midland Railway, which also acquired the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashchurch</span> Village in Gloucestershire, England

Ashchurch is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ashchurch Rural, in the Tewkesbury district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the town of Tewkesbury, 11 mi (18 km) southwest of Evesham, 10 mi (16 km) north of Cheltenham, 13 mi (21 km) north-north-east of Gloucester and 10 mi (16 km) south of Pershore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upton-on-Severn railway station</span> Former railway station in Worcestershire, England

Upton-on-Severn railway station was a railway station serving Upton-on-Severn in the English county of Worcestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tewkesbury railway station</span> Former railway station in Gloucestershire, England

Tewkesbury railway station was a station on the Midland Railway between Great Malvern and Evesham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wye Valley Railway</span> Disused railway in England and Wales

The Wye Valley Railway was a standard gauge railway that ran for nearly 15 miles (24 km) along the Lower Wye Valley between the towns of Chepstow and Monmouth, crossing several times between Wales and England. Opened on 1 November 1876, it was leased to, and worked by, the Great Western Railway (GWR), before being fully absorbed by the GWR in 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ripple, Worcestershire</span> Human settlement in England

Ripple is a village and civil parish in the county of Worcestershire, England. Ripple is one of the most southerly parishes in the county and is situated on the A38 road with the River Severn as its western boundary. Besides Ripple, the parish contains the settlements of Holly Green, The Grove, Naunton, Ryall, Saxon's Lode, and Uckinghall. It had a combined population of 1,799 at the 2011 census.

The Coleford Railway was a railway company that constructed a short railway from near Monmouth to Coleford, close to the Forest of Dean. The company was sponsored by the Great Western Railway. It was built on part of the course of the Monmouth Railway, a horse-operated plateway, and it was intended that its primary business would be the conveyance of minerals and forest products from the Forest of Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severn Bridge Railway</span>

The Severn Bridge Railway was a railway company which constructed a railway from Lydney to Sharpness in Gloucestershire, England. It was intended chiefly to give access for minerals in the Forest of Dean to Sharpness Docks, and the company built a long bridge, 1,387 yards (1,268 m) in length, over the River Severn. The line opened in 1879.

The Worcester and Hereford Railway started the construction of a standard gauge railway between the two cities in 1858. It had needed the financial assistance of larger concerns, chiefly the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, and the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway. It opened its line progressively from 1859 to 1861, delayed by exceptionally difficult tunnelling at Colwall and Ledbury. The company was purchased by the West Midland Railway in 1860, and that company amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1863.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythe Railway Nature Reserve</span>

Mythe Railway Nature Reserve is a 2.8-hectare (6.9-acre) nature reserve in Gloucestershire. The site is listed in the ‘Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011’, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation',' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

Boythorpe Viaduct was a railway viaduct in Chesterfield, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brotheridge Green Nature Reserve</span>

Brotheridge Green Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust at Brotheridge Green, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Upton-upon-Severn, in Worcestershire, England. It is on a section of a former railway line.

References

  1. "Upton's Railway Station" Welcome to Upton on Severn; Retrieved 28 September 2016