Hello 28DL!
I've been a long-time lurker, but this is the first time I've done anything worth posting.
Severn Bridge station was on the eastern edge of the former railway bridge across the River Severn; its other end was at Sharpness. Originally opened in the 1870s, the bridge was damaged in 1960 when a couple of barges collided with one of the columns and was eventually demolished by the end of the 60s. The station was pretty much left to rot and is now used by a farmer. Lydney tunnel is just to the west.
Visited June 2017 with a non-member, on probably the hottest day of the year! Took a couple of hours fighting through brambles & nettles, probably sweating enough to flood the Severn itself, before we got onto the trackbed, but worth it nonetheless. Photos were taken using a cheap point-&-shoot camera, and lighting courtesy of my 500 lumen cycle light, so I'm afraid my photos won't be up to the standards of you chaps. (Not to mention that I was determined to do this in spite of claustrophobia, so once in the tunnel I was going to spend as little time as possible not moving!)
Before we got to the tunnel, noticed some strange collapsed pipework in the embankment. No idea what it was for, but looked interesting...
Our first thought on seeing the tunnel mouth in the distance was "Damn, it looks like they've blocked it off..."
...but it was actually just an insane amount of mist!
One of the refuges:
It appears some of the brick lining has collapsed at some point, and been crudely patched up:
The obligatory pile of tyres near the east entrance. Time spent on these forums tells me this is apparently quite a common find in old tunnels...
One of the refuges look in pretty poor shape; the brick lining was falling away and we could see bare rock and empty space behind it (sorry, this one's a particularly poor photo!)
And out the other end! The first thing I noticed, literally the moment I crossed the threshold, was the heat and humidity of the outside world hit me like a sledgehammer to the face. (Also, somewhat strangely, I suddenly found myself short of breath and remained so for most of the day - is this normal when exploring tunnels??)
Outside the runnel, the trackbed itself quickly became impassable for a hundred yards or so...
Looking west (no idea why the farmer appears to have a stinging nettle enclosure!):
And looking east:
Underneath that pile of unassailable junk & nettles, however, was a rather nicely cut occupation bridge:
And then we found our way into the station site itself:
Westbound platform:
And eastbound:
Found this on one of the platforms. Kinda looks like a fishplate, but what it's attached to doesn't look like rail. Any clues would be appreciated!
The station was pretty much the end of the embankment; beyond it was a short section of impenetrable nettles leading to a long drop and a sudden stop, but looking across the river, you can just make out the supports for the opposite end of the bridge:
Extreme zoom is helpful but grainy:
Thanks for looking, and hope you enjoyed it!
Jimmenstein
I've been a long-time lurker, but this is the first time I've done anything worth posting.
Severn Bridge station was on the eastern edge of the former railway bridge across the River Severn; its other end was at Sharpness. Originally opened in the 1870s, the bridge was damaged in 1960 when a couple of barges collided with one of the columns and was eventually demolished by the end of the 60s. The station was pretty much left to rot and is now used by a farmer. Lydney tunnel is just to the west.
Visited June 2017 with a non-member, on probably the hottest day of the year! Took a couple of hours fighting through brambles & nettles, probably sweating enough to flood the Severn itself, before we got onto the trackbed, but worth it nonetheless. Photos were taken using a cheap point-&-shoot camera, and lighting courtesy of my 500 lumen cycle light, so I'm afraid my photos won't be up to the standards of you chaps. (Not to mention that I was determined to do this in spite of claustrophobia, so once in the tunnel I was going to spend as little time as possible not moving!)
Before we got to the tunnel, noticed some strange collapsed pipework in the embankment. No idea what it was for, but looked interesting...
Our first thought on seeing the tunnel mouth in the distance was "Damn, it looks like they've blocked it off..."
...but it was actually just an insane amount of mist!
One of the refuges:
It appears some of the brick lining has collapsed at some point, and been crudely patched up:
The obligatory pile of tyres near the east entrance. Time spent on these forums tells me this is apparently quite a common find in old tunnels...
One of the refuges look in pretty poor shape; the brick lining was falling away and we could see bare rock and empty space behind it (sorry, this one's a particularly poor photo!)
And out the other end! The first thing I noticed, literally the moment I crossed the threshold, was the heat and humidity of the outside world hit me like a sledgehammer to the face. (Also, somewhat strangely, I suddenly found myself short of breath and remained so for most of the day - is this normal when exploring tunnels??)
Outside the runnel, the trackbed itself quickly became impassable for a hundred yards or so...
Looking west (no idea why the farmer appears to have a stinging nettle enclosure!):
And looking east:
Underneath that pile of unassailable junk & nettles, however, was a rather nicely cut occupation bridge:
And then we found our way into the station site itself:
Westbound platform:
And eastbound:
Found this on one of the platforms. Kinda looks like a fishplate, but what it's attached to doesn't look like rail. Any clues would be appreciated!
The station was pretty much the end of the embankment; beyond it was a short section of impenetrable nettles leading to a long drop and a sudden stop, but looking across the river, you can just make out the supports for the opposite end of the bridge:
Extreme zoom is helpful but grainy:
Thanks for looking, and hope you enjoyed it!
Jimmenstein