50 YEARS AGO... MAY 1970

■ BRITANNIA BRIDGE CLOSED BY FIRE:

Fire badly damaged the Britannia tubular bridge over the Menai Strait on the night of May 23/24, causing its indefinite closure to all traffic. The structure had been built with a roof of asbestos sheets on a timber frame to protect it from the weather, and it was this that caught fire. Fanned by a fierce wind and fed by dry timbers painted with pitch and tar, the fire spread quickly until the bridge was ablaze from end to end. The heat of the fire distorted girders at both ends of the bridge, and caused the centre span to sag in the middle. It took until January 1972 for rail services to start running again, while rebuilding continued until a road deck opened above the railway in 1980.

■ SEVERN VALLEY REOPENED:

A light railway order was signed by the Minister of Transport on May 20, transferring powers to operate the Severn Valley Railway between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade from British Railways to the Severn Valley Railway Co Ltd, enabling a public train service to be inaugurated on

May 23. The initial timetable saw three trains each way on Saturday afternoons and four each way on Sundays and bank holidays. Return fares fromBridgnorth to Hampton Loade were 9s (45p) First Class: and 6s (30p) Second Class.