Last steam from Coalbrookdale

Or was it Ironbridge?

Geoff’s Rail Diaries

9 June 2019

It was billed as the “Last steam from Ironbridge” - but it’s over 50 years since the last train left Ironbridge and Broseley station. The line on which these trips ran served Ironbridge power station, until it closed a few years ago. These trains - two return trips, two hours apart, would run down the branch from Madeley Junction, through south-east Telford and down Coalbrookdale - as far as the old Coalbrookdale station. Let’s not quibble - it was great to see 7029 Clun Castle working hard on the steep gradient. I wasn’t the only one who thought so - the area around the viaduct, crossing the old furnace pool, was packed. Hardly surprising - not only is it a

highly photogenic spot, it’s also just about the only place where the line can be seen through the linear forest. It’s Cosford Air Show today - the train had run from Dorridge, through Birmingham, bringing visitors to the show. It would necessarily have to hang around for several hours until the return working - the trips down the branch would be a great way to pass the time, and were very quickly sold out at £25 a head. Over the next few years, the power station will be demolished - there is a suggestion that demolition rubble will be brought out by rail. The nearby Telford Steam Railway people have their eyes on the line too - they hope to extend their operations at Horsehay down the dale to the power station site. Maybe this wasn’t the last steam from Coalbrookdale?