Former railway bridge over the M50 (C) Philip Halling

SO8737 : Former railway bridge over the M50

taken 6 years ago, near to Ripple, Worcestershire, Great Britain

This is 1 of 5 images, with title Former railway bridge over the M50 in this square

Former railway bridge over the M50

The M50 motorway was planned in the 1950s, before the widespread closure of the many railway branch lines throughout Britain. The M50 opened in 1960 but the Ashchurch to Upton upon Severn railway line closed to passengers pre-Beeching on 14th August 1961 and two years later to freight (the line between Upton-upon-Severn and Malvern had already closed in 1954). The railway bridge is parallel with a bridge carrying Bow Lane from which it is viewed here, a country road. Now after around fifty years of redundancy the railway bridge is to be removed in the coming months. Ben Brooksbank captured an historic photograph of a steam train crossing this bridge in 1961. SO8737 : M50 Motorway under construction: railway overbridge.

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Grid Square: SO8737, 160 images (more nearby )
Photographer: Philip Halling (find more nearby)
Date Taken: Sunday, 29 January, 2012 (more nearby)
Submitted: Monday, 6 February, 2012
Geographical Context: Railways
Subject Location: OSGB36: SO 8747 3712 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:1.9406N 2:11.0434W
Camera Location: OSGB36: SO 8747 3710
View Direction: NORTH (about 0 degrees)

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Railway Bridge (Disused)

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Image classification(about): Geograph

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This photo is linked from:

Automatic Clusters

· Line was Closed [14]

· Bow Lane [30]

· Bridge Carrying Bow Lane [15]

Discussion on SO8737

Taken from the road bridge. I thought that the Malvern to Ashchurch railway was no longer in use well before the motorway was built. why then build an expensive railway bridge?

According to a letter from K Marsh to This is Worcestershire all passenger services between Upton and Tewkesbury were withdrawn in August, 1961.

According to the Motorway Database the section from J1-4 (Brokeridge Common - Ross on Wye) was opened in 1960. So the motorway does predate the railway closure (just).

Just prior to the railway bridge (coming from the west) the motorway crosses the river Severn. Had they delayed opening the section J2 to J1 to await the railway closure, then motorway traffic would have to have negotiated minor road and either crossed the river at Upton-on-Severn or Tewkesbury - presumably the avoidance of such being one of the reasons to build the motorway. On the other hand, the may be no rational reason, simply poor communications between BR and the DoT.

I think the 18th photo at Pathetic Motorways might be the same bridge taken from the motorway.

Posted by Alan on Sun, 10 Jul 2005 (7 comments)

Geograph - photograph every grid square

SO8737 : Former railway bridge over the M50

taken 6 years ago, near to Ripple, Worcestershire, Great Britain

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Discussion on SO8737