Sharpness Branch Line

The Sharpness branch line was a railway in Gloucestershire, England, built by the Midland Railway (MR) to connect the port of Sharpness to the main Bristol and Gloucester Railway. The line opened for goods traffic in 1875 and to passenger traffic a year later.

The branch line opened on 1 August 1876, and was four miles long and ran from Berkeley Road station, which was the junction with the main line, to Sharpness, with an intervening station to serve the town of Berkeley.

The line's status as a branch was short-lived. In 1879, the Severn Bridge Railway (SBR) opened to connect Sharpness across the Severn Railway Bridge to Lydney and the Forest of Dean on the north bank of the river Severn. Passenger through-services were run between Lydney and Berkeley Road, and the through-line's freight capacity contributed to the further development of Sharpness docks. Sharpness station was re-sited as a through station.

Upon the opening of the SBR on 17 October 1879, it amalgamated with the Severn and Wye Railway to form the Severn and Wye and Severn Bridge Railway. This railway got into financial difficulties in 1883, and on 1 July 1894 was sold to the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the MR, becoming a joint line. The Sharpness branch (totalling 4 miles 54 chains (7.5 km)) was transferred from the MR to the joint committee on the same day.

On 9 March 1908, together with the opening of new connections between the MR and GWR to the south of Yate, a second junction of the Sharpness branch with the main line was provided south of Berkeley Road to enable freight trains from Sharpness Docks to go south towards Bristol; this line, 1 mile 22 chains (2.1 km) in length and known as the Berkeley loop, was always GWR property.

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