The Victoria Bridge is a 200 ft single span railway bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

 crossing the River Severn

River Severn

The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...

 between Arley

Arley railway station

Arley railway station is a station on the Severn Valley Railway heritage line in Worcestershire, situated just over the River Severn from the village of Upper Arley; a footbridge crosses the river to link the station to the village...

 and Bewdley

Bewdley railway station

Bewdley railway station serves the town of Bewdley in Worcestershire, England. It is the administrative headquarters of the Severn Valley Railway, and is the principal intermediate station on the line.-History:...

 in Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

. Opened for traffic on 31 January 1861, the original railway line was closed in 1963. The bridge now carries the operational heritage Severn Valley Railway

Severn Valley Railway

The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route...

. Its design is almost identical to Albert Edward Bridge

Albert Edward Bridge

The Albert Edward Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the River Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England.-History:Opened on 1 November 1864, its design is almost identical to Victoria Bridge which carries the Severn Valley Railway over the Severn between Arley and Bewdley in Worcestershire...

 which also spans the Severn at Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...

 in Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, England, both having been designed by John Fowler

John Fowler (engineer)

Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet KCMG LLD was an English civil engineer specialising in the construction of railways and railway infrastructure. In the 1850s and 1860s, he was engineer for the world's first underground railway, London's Metropolitan Railway, built by the "cut-and-cover" method under...

.

Victoria Bridge is a cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 arch bridge

Arch bridge

An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side...

, 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

Thomas Brassey

Thomas Brassey was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one...

, Samuel Morton Peto

Samuel Morton Peto

Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet was an English entrepreneur and civil engineer in the 19th century. A partner in Grissell and Peto, he managed construction firms that built many major buildings and monuments in London...

 and Edward Betts

Edward Betts

Edward Ladd Betts was an English civil engineering contractor who was mainly involved in the building of railways.-Early life:...

.

Maintenance

The bridge, being very old, requires a considerable investment for its upkeep it to maintain it for train operations. In 2004, the bridge was closed for six weeks during which it received a significant overhaul, including installation of a new steel deck, and repainting. The deck had previously consisted of secondhand timber sleepers, which were rotting away. The refurbishment work was commended in the 2005 Historic Bridge and Infrastructure Awards by the Institution of Civil Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...

. To preserve the structure the SVR's engineers have placed a 15 mph speed limit over it.

Trivia

• The bridge was used for filming during sequences of the 1978 film The 39 Steps
  The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978 film)
  The Thirty Nine Steps is a 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.This version of Buchan's tale starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder, and a host of other well-known British actors in...
  
  .
• According to the Severn Valley News, when bridge was reopened after its 2004 overhaul, the celebratory ribbon was cut by a lady by the name of Victoria Bridge.