Victoria Bridge, Worcestershire

The Victoria Bridge is a 200 ft single span railway bridge crossing the River Severn between Arley and Bewdley in Worcestershire, England. At the time of its construction, the structure was the longest single-span cast iron bridge in Britain.

Victoria Bridge is a cast-iron arch bridge, with four arch ribs each of nine parts bolted together. The arch elements were cast by the Coalbrookdale Company, and the bridge built by the company of Thomas Brassey, Samuel Morton Peto and Edward Betts. Its design is almost identical to Albert Edward Bridge which also spans the Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, both having been designed by John Fowler.

Opened for traffic on 31 January 1861, the original railway line was closed to traffic during 1963. It survied the threat of demolition and the structure entered into use again, this time to carry the operational heritage line of the Severn Valley Railway. During May 1974, heritage passenger services were re-introduced between Alveley Colliery and Bewdley, a route which involved the regular crossing of the Victoria Bridge. It has been subject to an expensive restoration during 2004 so that it may continue to be used for further decades. The bridge has appeared in several movies, including the 1978 film The Thirty-Nine Steps.

The Victoria Bridge was constructed for the purpose of conveying the tracks of the Severn Valley Railway over the River Severn at a site just south of Upper Arley. As built, the line formed a 64km route running from Hartlebury in Worcestershire to Shrewsbury in Shropshire, passing through several towns in between, including Stourport-on-Severn, Bridgnorth, and Ironbridge. Between 1858 and 1862, construction of the line took place; it was opened for through traffic on 31 January 1862, while regular services on the route commenced during the following day.

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