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{{short description|Station in Shropshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{refimprovemore citations needed|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox UK heritage station
| name= = Bridgnorth
| type = Station on [[heritage railway]]
|image_name image = Bridgnorth railway station MMB 09.jpg
|locale=[[Bridgnorth]]
| borough = [[Bridgnorth]], [[Shropshire unitary authority|Shropshire]]
| country = England
|platforms= 2▼
| coordinates = {{coord|52.5305|-2.4208|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
|latitude = 52.5305
| grid_name = [[Ordnance Survey National Grid|Grid reference]]
|longitude = -2.4208
|gridref grid_position = {{gbmapscaled|SO715926|25|SO715926}}
|original operator = [[West Midland Railway|Severn Valley Railway]]
▲| platforms = 2
|pregroup = [[Great Western Railway]]▼
|postgroup original = Great[[West Midland Railway|Severn WesternValley Railway]]
|preservation pregroup = [[SevernGreat ValleyWestern Railway]]
▲ |pregroup postgroup = [[Great Western Railway]]
| years = {{start date|1862|02|01|df=y}}
| events = Station opened
| years1 = 9 September 1963
|events1 = Closed
|years2 events1 = 23 May 1970 = Closed
| years2 = 23 May 1970
| events2 = Reopened as preserved station 2016.
Beware, although not shown on website or signage in station car park, this place is not open Mondays and Tuesdays for visitors.
}}
[[File:Bridgnorth Station 1901291 3efa8154.jpg|thumb|right|The station in 1962]]
'''Bridgnorth railway station''' is a station on the [[Severn Valley Railway]] heritage line, serving the [[Shropshire]] town of [[Bridgnorth]], [[England]]. It is currently the northern terminus of the SVR, home to the main engine shed and has a gift shop, station buffet and licensed refreshment room amongst other facilities.
 
==History==
Bridgnorth station was not the northern terminus when built, but the main intermediate station of the Severn Valley line being {{frac|18|1|4}} miles from [[Hartlebury]] and {{frac|22|1|2}} miles from [[Shrewsbury]]. Bridgnorth station was opened to the public on 1 February 1862,<ref name=Butt>{{cite book |last=Butt |first=R.V.J. |title=The Directory of Railway Stations |year=1995 |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |location=Yeovil |isbn=1-85260-508-1 |id=R508 |page=44 |ref=harv }}</ref> prompting great celebrations in the town. Originally under SVR Company ownership, it was passed to [[Great Western Railway]] (GWR), and eventually [[British Railways]] in 1948. It closed to passengers after 101 years on 9 September 1963,<ref name=Butt /> and to freight traffic on 30 November 1963.
 
The neo-Jacobean station is the only listed station on the [[Severn Valley Railway]] and is in process of restoration work by a team of dedicated volunteers.{{cn|date=December 2022}}
 
The licensed refreshment room, these days known as The Railwaymans Arms, is situated on platform 1. It opened in 1861 and never closed, being extended twice by the SVR, and now needing further extension due to its unique character and deserved popularity.{{cn|date=December 2022}}
 
===Stationmasters===
The first station master, William Doughty was convicted by Bridgnorth County Magistrates of an assault on Mr. C.H. Witherington, schoolmaster, cutting his lip and knocking out a tooth. He was fined £5 ({{Inflation|UK|5|1866|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}){{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} and costs.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=An Angry Station Master | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000252/18660901/126/0005 |newspaper=Staffordshire Advertiser |location=England |date=1 September 1866 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
{{div col}}
*William Doughty 1863–1866<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=1835 |title=1835-1910 Clerks Vol.3 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1728/images/32167_626640_0027-00339?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=138917 |journal=Great Western Railway Operating Traffic Coaching Depts |volume= |issue= |pages=315 |doi= |access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref>
*Samuel Martin 1866<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Testimonial to the late Station Master | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000408/18650330/002/0003?browse=true |newspaper=Dorset County Chronicle |location=England |date=30 March 1865 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> – 1872 (formerly station master at [[Weymouth railway station|Weymouth]], afterwards station master at Westbury)
*Frederick Corran Barrett from 1874<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=1835 |title=1835-1910 Clerks Vol.5 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1728/images/32167_626640_0068-00117?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=340287 |journal=Great Western Railway |volume= |issue= |pages=113 |doi= |access-date=3 July 2021}}</ref> (formerly station master at [[Abergavenny railway station|Abergavenny]])
*William G. Bowerman 1879–1897<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Presentation to Great Western Railway Station-Masters | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000320/18970828/038/0003 |newspaper=Gloucestershire Echo |location=England |date=28 August 1897 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
*John Samuel Collett 1897–1905<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Bridgnorth. Funeral of the Stationmaster | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000405/19050909/213/0011 |newspaper=Wellington Journal |location=England |date=9 September 1905 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
*William James Cowan 1905<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=1835 |title=1835-1910 Clerks Vol.5 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1728/images/32167_626640_0068-00706?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=345398 |journal=Great Western Railway Operating Traffic Coaching Depts |volume= |issue= |pages=701 |doi= |access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref> – ca. 1911
*George Smith 1914–1928 (formerly station master at [[Chipping Norton railway station|Chipping Norton]])
*D.B. Davis 1930–1940<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Little Despatches | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000671/19401026/151/0005 |newspaper=Evening Despatch |location=England |date=26 October 1940 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (formerly station master at Chipping Norton)
*George Noble from 1940
*W.L. Mann 1952–1960<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Mr. W.L. Mann | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002134/19600423/675/0028 |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |location=England |date=23 April 1960 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (afterwards station master at [[Redditch railway station|Redditch]])
*H.E. Ray from 1960<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Mr. H.E. Ray | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002134/19600702/224/0007 |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |location=England |date=2 July 1960 |access-date=20 June 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (formerly station master at [[Bewdley railway station|Bewdley]])
{{div col end}}
 
==Preservation==
{{unreferenced| section|date=October 2012}}
[[File:BR Standard Class 4 4-6-0 75069 Locomotive Severn Valley Railway (1).jpg|thumb|right|The opposite end of Bridgnorth facing south, October 2022.]]
After only two years of closure preservationists had plans for Bridgnorth, resulting in the formation of the Severn Valley Railway Society. Vegetation was cleared, railway bric-a-brac was collected and the station buildings were refurbished. Although the original signal box was substantially demolished (only three sides of the bottom brick part and interlocking are original, the brick base was originally somewhat longer), Bridgnorth station was never damaged through this demolition activity. From then on preservation gained momentum until the present day. Bridgnorth became the engineering centre of the new SVR because of the need to repair the growing numbers of rolling stock items and locomotives after opening to the public when the first train steamed from Bridgnorth to [[Hampton Loade railway station|Hampton Loade]] in May 1970.
 
Sir [[Gerald Nabarro]], chairman of the revived SVR, planned to sell the Bridgnorth station site for hotel and housing development; when SVR volunteers discovered his plans, it led to a threatened strike by the railway's volunteer staff and his proposals were thrown out at a heated AGM in 1973, following which he resigned his chairmanship.<ref name=shropstar4>{{cite news|title=Santa and the Abominable Showman|work=Shropshire Star|date=19 March 2015|page=26}}Severn Valley Railway Golden Jubilee Souvenir Supplement. "Abominable Showman" being Nabarro's nickname by opponents.</ref>
 
The station is reached from High Town via a modern footbridge over a main road and a valley, the present bridge having opened in 1994. This replacement tubular steel bridge occupies the site of a lattice bridge closed and demolished several years previously. A section of the original footbridge adorns the centre island of one of the road traffic [[roundabout]]s.
 
Plans for a significant redevelopment of Bridgnorth station were approved by Shropshire Council in August 2016. The first phase of the project will involveinvolving the construction of a new single-storey building in GWR circa 1900-style, situated to the south of the existing station building, which will provide a tea/refreshment room and new toilet facilities. was Thecompleted existingat stationthe buildingend housingof the2018, bookingas hall,was stationthe shopcreation andof Railwayman’san Armsadditional publiccar housepark.<ref>Severn willValley alsoRailway beNews, renovated.Issue Subject205, toSpring funding2019, furtherpp. 6–10.</ref> Further phases will include the creationinstallation of ana additionalturntable carin park,the locomotive yard and the installationrenovation of athe turntableexisting instation building housing the locomotivebooking yardhall, station shop and Railwayman's Arms public house. Additional funding will be required in due course for the construction of a new volunteer accommodation building.<ref>[http://www.svr.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?a=742 SVR Website news item] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823002004/http://www.svr.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?a=742 |date=23 August 2016 }} Retrieved 22 August 2016</ref>
 
==Locomotive works==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2024}}
The main locomotive works for the SVR are located at Bridgnorth. They are not normally open to the public because of health and safety regulations but conducted tours and open days are arranged from time to time. Major features of the locomotive works include the Boiler Shop, the machine shop equipped with a Noble and Lunn [[wheel lathe]] and ex-LT lifting jacks along with other equipment in the general fitting area.▼
[[File:Severn Valley Railway Bridgnorth Engine Shed.jpg|thumb|right|The Shed from the outside in August 2023.]]
▲The main locomotive works for the SVR are located at Bridgnorth. They are not normally open to the public because of health and safety regulations but conducted tours and open days are arranged from time to time. Major features of the locomotive works include the Boiler Shop, the machine shop equipped with a Noble and LunnLund [[wheel lathe]] and ex-LT lifting jacks along with other equipment in the general fitting area.
 
Installation of a locomotive [[wheel drop]] that was recovered from Leicestershire was completed during 2010.
Line 48 ⟶ 72:
*[[Bridgnorth Cliff Railway]]
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=Kidderminster to Shrewsbury|first1=Vic|last1=Mitchell|first2=Keith|last2=Smith|pages=65–79|publisher=Middleton Press|year=2007|isbn=9781906008109|oclc=154801530}}
 
==External links==
{{commonscatcommons category|Bridgnorth railway station}}
* [http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/bridgnorth_(svr).php Bridgnorth station]
 
{{heritage rail start}}
{{rail line |next={{stnlnk|HamptonEardington LoadeHalt}} |route=[[Severn Valley Railway]] |col={{heritage rail colour|line=Severn Valley Railway}} }}
{{Disused Rail Insert}}
{{rail line|next={{stnlnk|Eardington Halt}}<br /><small>Line open,and station closedopen</small> |previous=[[Linley Halt railway station|Linley Halt]]<br /><small>Line and station closed</small> |route=[[Great Western Railway]]<br /><small>[[West Midland Railway|Severn Valley Railway]]</small> |col={{GWR colour}} }}
{{end box}}
 
Line 66 ⟶ 93:
[[Category:Heritage railway stations in Shropshire]]
[[Category:Former Great Western Railway stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1963]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1970]]
[[Category:Railway workshops in Great Britain]]
[[Category:Severn Valley Railway]]
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