The Albert Edward Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at 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 at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shro ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England.

History

Opened on 1 November 1864 and named after the Prince of Wales (later

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

), its design is almost identical to Victoria Bridge which carries the

Severn Valley Railway The Severn Valley Railway is a standard gauge, standard-gauge heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The single-track line runs from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, calling at four intermediate stations and three request stop ...

over the Severn between

Upper Arley Upper Arley () is a village and civil parish near Kidderminster in the Wyre Forest (district), Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, the village had a population of 741 at the 2011 census. Amen ...

and

Bewdley Bewdley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley, and is west of Kidderminster, north of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham. It ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. Designed by John Fowler, its span

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

has four ribs, each of nine parts bolted together. The patterns for the radiused beam castings for the bridge were prepared by Thomas Parker at the Coalbrookdale Iron Company. Originally it was built to carry the Wenlock, Craven Arms and Lightmoor Extension Railway of the

Wellington and Severn Junction Railway The Wellington and Severn Junction Railway was a railway in Shropshire, England. It was built between 1857 and 1861 and formed part of the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway. For much of its working life, it was operated by the Great Western Rail ...

across the river. Until the closure of

Ironbridge power station The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was operated by E.ON ...

it carried coal traffic as part of the line between

Lightmoor Junction Lightmoor Junction was a railway junction between Ironbridge Power Station at Buildwas and Madeley Junction in Shropshire, England. From Lightmoor Junction, a line ran towards Wellington (Shropshire) railway station, Wellington via Doseley and ...

and

Ironbridge Power Station The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was operated by E.ON ...

. The bridge's timber and

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

deck was replaced by a

structural steel Structural steel is steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section (geometry), cross section. Structural steel sha ...

deck in 1933. It may be one of the last large cast iron railway bridges to have been built. Due to its age and the condition of the ironwork, traffic over the bridge is restricted to a speed limit to minimise stress. Although it carries two tracks only the one on the downstream side is still in use. The bridge is a Grade II

Listed Building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, one half by

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council, known between 1980 and 2009 as Shropshire County Council and prior to 1980 as Salop County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire (district), Shropshire in t ...

, the other by Telford and Wrekin District Council as the boundary is mid-span.

Telford Steam Railway The Telford Steam Railway (TSR) is a heritage railway located at Horsehay, Telford in Shropshire, England, formed in 1976. The railway is operated by volunteers on Sundays and Bank holiday, Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of September, an ...

have aspirations to run trains over the bridge using the presently unused track as part of their southern extension to

Buildwas Buildwas is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, on the north bank of the River Severn at . It lies on the B4380 road between Atcham and Ironbridge. The Royal Mail postcodes begin TF6 and TF8. Buildwas Primary Academy is sit ...

References

Bibliography

*Cragg, R., ''Civil Engineering Heritage - Wales & West Central England'', Thomas Telford Publishing, 2nd edn., 1997,

External links

{{Commons category
Telford Steam Railway
Bridges across the River Severn Railway bridges in Shropshire Bridges completed in 1864 Grade II listed buildings in Shropshire Ironbridge Gorge Cast-iron arch bridges in England Coalbrookdale Ironbridge

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links