Severn Railway Bridge - Demolition

[May11th1983]

I think thepublandlord1 could be a plumber.

[MiLLwallpaul231258]

those poor men that built this bridge must be turning in their graves

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Nice video! I went over today to see the remains of the bridge and the two barges that hit it. It's surprising how much you can still see at low tide. I'm descended from John Harker, whose company owned and operated the barges, so I feel partly responsible for the fact that the bridge is no longer there ... :-)

[rockerbsa]

The railways were going to be run down in the 50s with the md of a road building company installed as minister of transport, nothing more to be said.

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@rockerbsa I just found out last night that the only person who can authorise closure of a line is the Secretary of State for Transport, so techincally it's incorrect to say that Beeching closed all these lines! He would've only recommended the closures as Chairman of the British Railways Board.

[MK55A]

To be fair, it was the tory government who all of sudden didn't want the railways (like they did with the pits in the 80's and soon after that it was going to be our turn) If railway people run the railways, not these idiots who have degrees and 'A' levels in other things bar railway work, we wouldn't have been in this position would we.

From a railway man with 40 years service in !

[thepublandlord1]

@MK55A But it weren't t'Consevatives who murdered t'railways - it were t'Labour as right as rain. The state vandalism depicted in this short film as being carried out with unfettered, almost priapic glee happened in the middle of some Labour years, whose pollies and people loved cars more than most care to admit now. To be fair, like.

[MK55A]

@thepublandlord1 - I work on the railways, have done for 40 years, so i think i know what i am talking about. What job do you do and what planet are you from ?

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@thepublandlord1 I believe the Beeching cuts started under a Conservative Government, unless I'm mistaken.

Anyway, the real villain wasn't really Beeching - it was Ernest Marples. Having a Minister of Transport who also owned a road building company was never going to be good news for the railways, regardless of which party he belonged to! That wouldn't even be allowed today for obvious reasons!

[colliecandle]

the narrators attitude say's it all! Sweep away the old [and better] and replace it with the new and modern [crap] That damage was rectifiable, and less costly than the demolition, but of course, railways were 'out of fashion' then, with the god of road transport too ready to fill the gap. And look where that has gotten us now!

[PhilJonesIII]

@colliecandle There still is a railway tunnel in use under the Severn nearby but you are right about the new bridge (there are two now), it was not designed for trains.

I crossed that new bridge every month for nearly 12 years and cant remember a time when it wasn't being repaired for some reason or other.

What they did to the railways in the 60s must go down as one of the biggest acts of vandalism ever.

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@PhilJonesIII To be fair, the railways were losing an awful lot of money which in the aftermath of WWII we simply couldn't afford to be losing!

[mrspivvy]

Thanks for sharing, many people today are unaware of this bridge's existance.

There were actually plans to restore it, but the company involved surveyed the damage and it was too far gone

[Upsilon55]

Oh the memories. Thanks.

[riley886]

Excellent video, mindless vandalism though removing bridge, no expense spared doing that.

[b3nr]

Lovely vid. Thanks for posting.

[headstandking]

Great video! Thanks for adding it.