page_title: Severn Railway Bridge
section_title: 1960 accident
hierarchical_section_title: Severn Railway Bridge / 1960 accident
caption_attribution_description: Wrecks of the Arkendale H (bows, left), and the Wastdale H (stern with portholes, right), the two barges that collided with the Severn Railway Bridge in 1960. Photographed from alongside the bridge tower, near Sharpness, Gloucestershire.
context_page_description: The Severn Railway Bridge was a bridge carrying the railway across the River Severn between Sharpness and Lydney, Gloucestershire. 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; at that time it was the furthest downstream bridge over the Severn. 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.
  The bridge was constructed by Hamilston's Windsor Ironworks Company Limited of Garston, Liverpool. It was approached from the north via a masonry viaduct and had twenty-two spans. The pier columns were formed of circular sections, bolted together and filled with concrete. The twenty-one regular wrought iron spans were then put in place, as well as the southernmost span, the swinging bridge over the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.
context_section_description: On 25 October 1960, in thick fog and a strong tide, two barges (named the Arkendale H and Wastdale H) which had overshot Sharpness Dock, collided with one of the columns of the bridge after being carried upstream. Two bridge spans collapsed into the river. As they fell, parts of the structure hit the barges causing the fuel oil and petroleum they were carrying to catch fire. Five people died in the incident. 
  During the collapse of the bridge the 12-inch (30 cm) diameter gas main that ran alongside the railway line was damaged leaving households across the Forest of Dean without mains gas. Locals who were around at the time talk of people from the gas company banging on the doors early in the morning and being told not to use their gas, and of having to be supplied with bottled gas for weeks and months until the mains could be restored. Gas engineers from across the UK were brought in to help with visiting every house affected before the household could use the mains gas again.
  Local people favoured repairing the bridge as schoolchildren, who had used the bridge daily, now had to be taken on a 40-mile (64 km) detour via Gloucester. An underwater survey in December 1961 found extensive damage to Pier 16. Rebuilding costs were estimated to be £312,000 as against dismantling costs of £250,000. The Western Region of British Railways planned to go ahead with reconstruction but shortly before the work was due to start, a capsized tanker caused further damage to Pier 20, and this same pier was struck again when the contractor's crane broke adrift. These accidents added a further £20,000 to the estimated costs of repair, and in 1965, BR decided that the bridge was damaged beyond economic repair and opted for demolition.
caption: Wreckage of the barges, Arkendale H (bows, left) and Wastdale H (stern right), still visible at low water.
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