Ironbridge power station

[matt-b]

Now the towers are gone I have read that starting 2020 they are going to remove sand and gravel from the site.

 

Anyone heard if this will be removed via train?

 

Will they keep the line into there when the new houses/shops/school etc etc are complete?

 

thanks 

[Happy Hippo]

See here:

https://ironbridgeregeneration.co.uk/

 

On the master plan the railway appears extant, although this may be for the proposal to run trains from the TSR along the line which has always been their aim.

Whether rail is used to remove all the waste remains to be seen.

 

The Albert Edward bridge which carries the line down from Coalbrookdale and over the river Severn is a grade 2 listed structure.

 

[Phil Himsworth]

The developers have said they want to use the rail line to remove quarried and demolition related material using the rail line, but it depends on the Albert Edward bridge which needs strengthening work before this can happen, which by the sound of it is still under negotiation. I find this a bit surprising given it wasn't all that long ago the bridge was regularly used by coal trains for the power station. Maybe they didn't know, or knew but just didn't tell anybody as they knew they wouldn't be needing it for long :-)

 

The developers do intend to use the rail line for a new station on the national network. I'm not quite sure how this would work, as the most sensible connections for visitors would be the other Telford stations such as Telford and Wellington but Madeley Junction points the wrong way for this. I think the occasional special has turned round near Cosford, but that doesn't sound practical for a regular service.

 

The Telford Steam Railway have their interesting "Steaming to Ironbridge" plan on their website, which mentions reinstating the second track if Network Rail uses the current track, or taking over the whole thing if they don't.

 

It would be nice to see the line used though, it's a very pretty route sat there doing nothing. The last time I noticed all the signals were still on showing red, even though nothing ever goes that way...

Edited December 21, 2019 by Phil Himsworth

[Phil Himsworth]

A couple of articles from the Shropshire Star that mention the railway;

 

No to McDonald's: Only 'high quality and appropriate' uses allowed at Ironbridge Power Station development - mentions that work to repair the Albert Edward bridge is "hoped" to start this year

 

Power station site railway ‘would make Ironbridge Gorge not just for tourism’ - mentions using the railway to remove demolition materials (but won't that be rather late by the time they've fixed the bridge?), running the Telford Steam Railway into the gorge and the idea of new stations at the industrial estates that didn't exist when the line last carried passengers.

 

The last article has a few quotes from the councillor for "Newport South & East" which on skim reading too quickly makes me think there will be bright blue, red and grey trains from the 90s running up and down the line :-)

[TheSignalEngineer]

The Albert Edward bridge was subject to a 5mph PSR in recent years. I believe there was also a restriction on double heading with large diesels due to the concentration of weight in a short length. I suspect that they didn't want several hundred tonnes of coal dust in the Severn.

[Phil Himsworth]

Thanks for that, since writing that first post I thought I had read something like that somewhere but couldn't find it today!

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

From what my daughter tells me, once you start getting towards the nether regions of Telford, McDonalds would be an up market asset!

 

Mike.

[TheSignalEngineer]

20 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

From what my daughter tells me, once you start getting towards the nether regions of Telford, McDonalds would be an up market asset!

 

Mike.

Reminds me of a girl being interviewed on TV some years ago on an item about the state of the High Street. She said "what we need is a decent shop like Primark" If that's the state of her High Street I'm not surprised it was dying. I understand that she has since had her wish fulfilled but I don't know if it has actually improved Barnsley.

[Phil Himsworth]

57 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

From what my daughter tells me, once you start getting towards the nether regions of Telford, McDonalds would be an up market asset!

 

Telford has its less salubrious areas like everywhere but there are far worse places to live and work. Interestingly one issue with the power station development is that even though it is to all intents and purposes part of Telford it's not actually in the Telford and Wrekin area, that side of the river is Shropshire...

 

[big jim]

3 hours ago, Phil Himsworth said:

Thanks for that, since writing that first post I thought I had read something like that somewhere but couldn't find it today!

I mentioned it in the prototype for everything thread yesterday! 
 

I never understood the double heading restriction as a 66 is approx 120 Ton spread over 6 axles and the wagons directly behind which were subject to heavy axle weight restrictions were loaded to 100 ton with a shorter wheelbase and 4 axles.

 

to top it off the stop board to enter the power station was just over the bridge so most of the time you came to a stop with 3-400 ton of train sat on the bridge too 

[Phil Himsworth]

That does seem nonsensical!

 

Something I'm most curious about is their plan to use the railway to haul materials out; is this likely to be limited by the gradient on that bit of line? The viaduct through Coalbrookedale has always looked really quite steep to me, there's quite a large height difference between the river and the top of Coalbrookedale, which is fine if coal is going down and empties back up, but less so if the load is going up...

[big jim]

When I was with fastline there was a plan to move some coal out of the power station as it was either unsuitable for the plant or there was too much in store.

 

iirc it was due to leave to be used at ratcliffe, we were going to bring loaded trains in then refill them using a digger/grab and then top and tail them out, at the time fastline had just laid their 56s up so I suggested we use those to bank the trains up 

 

it’s a heck of a climb from the bottom of the valley to the top of the line at Madeley Jn, the first bit is the killer as you have the 5mph across the bridge to get over before you can hit the heady heights of 20mph for the rest of the branch 

 

it’s the one line I really miss going along, hopefully if stuff is bought out by train GBRf may be involved and I may get down there again! 

[Enterprisingwestern]

19 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Reminds me of a girl being interviewed on TV some years ago on an item about the state of the High Street. She said "what we need is a decent shop like Primark" If that's the state of her High Street I'm not surprised it was dying. I understand that she has since had her wish fulfilled but I don't know if it has actually improved Barnsley.

 

Being an Escafeldian, I'd say anything would improve Barnsley, but to give it it's due, there is a lot of work going on in the city centre currently, and if nothing else, it's becoming less of an eyesore, although lipstick and pigs springs to mind!

 

Mike.

[cunningduck]

14 hours ago, big jim said:

When I was with fastline there was a plan to move some coal out of the power station as it was either unsuitable for the plant or there was too much in store.

 

iirc it was due to leave to be used at ratcliffe, we were going to bring loaded trains in then refill them using a digger/grab and then top and tail them out, at the time fastline had just laid their 56s up so I suggested we use those to bank the trains up 

 

it’s a heck of a climb from the bottom of the valley to the top of the line at Madeley Jn, the first bit is the killer as you have the 5mph across the bridge to get over before you can hit the heady heights of 20mph for the rest of the branch 

 

it’s the one line I really miss going along, hopefully if stuff is bought out by train GBRf may be involved and I may get down there again! 

When rowing on the river Severn you could always hear a departing train most of the way up the valley!

[The Johnster]

I suspect the heady heights of 20mph are a bit aspirational even with empties; the loco is a trainlength up the branch and half way through Coalbrookvale before the last wagon's off the bridge and you can open up!  It is a railway with a huge amount of heritage potential, though the proximity of the Severn Valley might hamper it customer-wise.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

I suspect the heady heights of 20mph are a bit aspirational even with empties; the loco is a trainlength up the branch and half way through Coalbrookvale before the last wagon's off the bridge and you can open up!  It is a railway with a huge amount of heritage potential, though the proximity of the Severn Valley might hamper it customer-wise.

 

Bridgnorth is only a short distance down the valley, can't be too difficult to connect them together?

 

Mike.

[Phil Himsworth]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Bridgnorth is only a short distance down the valley, can't be too difficult to connect them together?

 

Mike.

Interestingly Bridgnorth tunnel is disused but still maintained, presumably because half the town would end up in the tunnel if it ever fell in. That said, it would be a phenomenal amount of work and expense to connect the two due to developments since the line was closed.

 

While an extension of the Telford Steam Railway to Ironbridge wouldn't have the main line attraction that the SVR does I think steam trains over the Coalbrookdale viaduct, and being able to take a steam train to Ironbridge, would be enough in itself.

[The Johnster]

The trackbed north of Bridgnorth Tunnel has been redeveloped as a housing estate AFAIK, so extending the SVR from Bridgnorth to Ironbridge or connecting with the power station branch is sadly unlikely. 

 

[Trog]

On ‎16‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 16:14, big jim said:

...............

I never understood the double heading restriction as a 66 is approx 120 Ton spread over 6 axles and the wagons directly behind which were subject to heavy axle weight restrictions were loaded to 100 ton with a shorter wheelbase and 4 axles.

...............

 

I was involved years ago with replacing an original L&B bridge in Wolverton Works that was banned to mainline diesels and electrics, as that nice Mr Stephenson in a sad lack of foresight had used cast iron girders that were not up to the job. However this restriction did not stop the works double heading trains with their 08 shunters