The Butts Spur was a freight railway line constructed around 1860 with the aim of linking Worcester
Foregate Street railway station to
Diglis where the
Worcester and Birmingham canal
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long.
There ar ...
joined the
river Severn. From around 1892 the line was worked by a small wheeled
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...
saddle tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank loc ...
No. 2007 constructed in
Wolverhampton. It was hoped that goods arriving at Diglis from the river Severn would be transhipped to the railway. The line was used by Dent's factory and Stallards's distillery and brought cattle to the cattle market
It descended from Foregate street station on a
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
to the north side of the Worcester to Hereford rail line into a
headshunt where the locomotive would reverse direction. The train continued its journey under the Worcester to Hereford railway viaduct via the east bank of the river Severn under Worcester bridge, at the time referred to as Gwynne's bridge, towards
Worcester cathedral.
The line's construction did not achieve its aim of reaching Diglis, instead finishing adjacent to
Dent's factory and Stallard's Distillery which at the time were located on South Quay. This was due Worcester cathedral authorities objecting to a railway running between the cathedral and River Severn. With the rebuilding of the Worcester road bridge in 1931, the track was truncated to the north side of the bridge. The line was closed and the track removed in 1957.
Traces of the line remain visible in the descending gradient of the viaduct arches which are currently used as commercial and storage units.
External links
Former Route of the Butts Spur Railway in 1930Historic photographs of the Butts Spur RailwayHistoric photographs of the Butts Spur Railway in an article on Worcester Skywalk bridge
References
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Worcester, England
Rail transport in Worcestershire
Closed railway lines