The Avonmouth Line E-Book

P D Rendall

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 467

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

The Avonmouth Line - History and Working describes the railway built between the northern suburbs of Bristol and the docks constructed at the mouth of the River Avon, from its inception in 1865. It describes how a short passenger line was first constructed, running from a station in the Avon Gorge at Hotwells to the new Docks. The Midland Railway and then the Great Western Railway took advantage of the rising popularity of the Avonmouth docks, and additional routes were constructed at Kingswood Junction on the Bristol-Gloucester line, and from a junction with the Great Western at Pilning. Contents include the beginnings of the line as the 'Bristol Port Railway and Pier'; the docks lines at their height of use and during wartime; post 1950s run-downs and attempts to close the line; the line in 2018 and finally, duties and memories of the staff who worked the line.

Leseprobe

The Avonmouth Line

History and Working

P.D. RENDALL

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2018 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2018

© P.D. Rendell 2018

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of thistext may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 438 4

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my parents, Reg and Jean, who passed away within three months of each other during the writing of the manuscript.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Beginnings

Chapter 2 Avonmouth via Pilning

Chapter 3 Avonmouth via Henbury

Chapter 4 Avonmouth via Clifton

Chapter 5 The Avonmouth Line at War, 1914–18

Chapter 6 People

Chapter 7 Signal Boxes

Chapter 8 Bridges, Viaducts and Tunnels

Chapter 9 Level Crossings

Chapter 10 Goods Yards and Sidings

Chapter 11 Avonmouth at War, 1939–45

Chapter 12 The Passenger Service

Chapter 13 Goods Traffic

Chapter 14 Motive Power

Chapter 15 Accidents and Incidents

Chapter 16 Run-Down and Closures

Chapter 17 Development of the Line

References

Index

Introduction

To many people, the history of the Avonmouth area of Bristol conjures up images of mass industrialization, belching chimneys, docks and trains. All reasonably accurate, but not on such a scale as might be imagined. The Avonmouth of 2017 is far more industrialized than it was when I worked there in the 1980s. True, the factory chimneys of Fisons and ICI have now gone, along with the factories themselves, but there are far more warehouses and industrial units along the riverbank today than ever before, stretching all the way to Severn Beach.

Most of the additional development has happened during the twenty-first century. Until then, even at its height, the industry covered a more limited area, along a strip just inland of the riverbank. Between there and the docks was the railway; the goods yards, sidings and stations of the London, Midland and Scottish and Great Western Railway companies almost dwarfed in size by the huge network belonging to the Bristol Corporation and the Port of Bristol Authority. Even so, there were plenty of green spaces and views across the factories to open fields. Driving to Avonmouth via Hallen village was still a country-lane experience until one or two fields short of the Philblack (later Sevalco) complex, where grass, hedges and streams began to turn black with carbon dust. The railway from Filton via Henbury ran through open fields nearly all the way to Hallen Marsh junction, with a few houses around Henbury.

Major change occurred with the advent of the Second Severn Crossing in the 1990s, which opened up the area and added another motorway to the Avonmouth junction. The Port of Bristol Authority sidings, lines and engines have long gone. The main railways have shrunk and changed, but they are still there and have a future, both in passenger and freight.

This book is mostly about the working and history of the Avonmouth lines after the ‘Grouping’ of the private railway companies into the ‘Big Four’ in 1923. In order to understand that history, however, it will be necessary to lay the foundations as it were, by giving a short account of how the area developed. This account will set the scene, by taking a look at the birth of the lines and then recounting the history and working of them, from the 1923 Grouping up to the present day.

The book will cover only the ‘main line’ railway; dealing with the subject of the docks complex and all its changes would take a whole book in itself, and I shall refer to the docks railway only where it comes into contact with the main lines. Splendid coverage of the docks internal railway system can be found in the late Mike Vincent’s book Lines to Avonmouth.

As ever, I am indebted to my ex-work colleagues past and present for their memories and photos of the line. Every effort has been made to credit photos to the people who took them, even if, after every endeavour has been made to track them down, that person can no longer be traced. Many of the photographs and diagrams are over fifty years old and the photos in particular were taken by ordinary working railwaymen during the course of their duties. The quality of the pictures may not be as good as those taken by photographers with access to more expensive cameras, but they are included here as they are an invaluable record of the railway. Indeed, some of them were taken from places where other photographers were not allowed to go.

Thanks are due to Wilf Stanley for use of his photos; Mary Gibbs for the use of John Gibbs’ photo and Tim and Wendy Worrall for the use of the late Leonard Worrall’s photos. Many of the diagrams are copied/adapted from diagrams once held by the Bristol District Signalling Inspectors and given to me some thirty years ago. Other information comes from my personal collection. I am also grateful to Valerie Lyons and her aunt, Mary Sheppard, for information about Alfred Allen, and the Wiltshire Records Office for their help.

P.D. Rendall

South Gloucestershire

CHAPTER 1

The Beginnings

The story of the Avonmouth, Bristol line begins in the 1860s, at the height of Victorian engineering and the Empire. The Bristol City Docks were proving inadequate in servicing the needs of the rapidly developing shipping industry, and solutions had to be found. After a minor start with a riverside branch along the Avon Gorge to the mouth of the Avon, the railways expanded in tandem with the expansion of the docks. What is now usually referred to as the ‘Avonmouth branch’ became an important and busy complex of lines, both within and outside the docks themselves.

The River Avon flows through the City of Bristol and for around eight miles winds its muddy way out through a rocky gorge to the River Severn. Bristol has been a centre of trading for centuries and in the days when it boasted a castle, there were quays below the walls of that castle where ships could tie up to discharge and load their cargoes. By the time of Henry III, trade had grown so much that extra facilities were required. Commencing in 1239, the course of the River Frome was diverted where it met the Avon, and changed and straightened to form a deeper water channel known as St Augustine’s Trench. After eight years’ work, a new quay had also been built to replace the old Avon wharfs.

However, the Avon is tidal and over the following centuries, whilst the docks flourished, ships grew in size and captains were kept waiting for high tide, either in the docks or out in the Severn. Furthermore, because the ships were getting bigger, it was becoming more difficult for them to negotiate the sharp bends in the Avon Gorge and they often grounded on the narrow Horseshoe bend. They could also end up grounded when the tide went out; they were usually lost in this situation, breaking their backs, but even if they were in a fit state to be refloated, with assistance, a ship stranded on the mud inevitably caused delays to other shipping. Furthermore, ships were unable to load or unload at Bristol docks when the tide was out and were left grounded on the mud at the dockside until high tide.

In order to alleviate the problem, new docks were constructed a little way down the Avon, at Sea Mills. These failed to find favour with anyone as they were far away from the city with no means of transporting goods onwards. Another dock at Hotwells was equally unsuccessful, for similar reasons.

The tidal problem was solved by the construction of the ‘Floating Harbour’, which, by means of diverting the Avon through a new channel known (to this day) as the New Cut, and providing locks at each end of the docks, enabled water to be kept in the docks area all the time. Ships would enter and leave via the locks. The idea had originally been put forward in 1767 by one William Champion, a Quaker industrialist, but the ‘powers that be’ at the time thought it impracticable so it made no progress.

Bristol’s Avon Gorge is a tourist attraction today. If the Victorian idea had been taken seriously, this view would have included an area of commercial docks. The (now-singled) Bristol–Avonmouth railway can be seen.

By the 1840s, ships had grown even more, and the larger, ocean-going ‘iron-clad’ ships found that they were unable to manoeuvre through the sharp bends. The debacle of the newly built SS Great Britain getting jammed in the locks, when an attempt was made to move it from the city docks where it had been built, prompted calls for a new dock. It was more than a little embarrassing when it was found that, once out of Bristol City Docks and along the Avon to the Severn, the ship was unable to return to Bristol City Docks. In fact, it spent a large portion of its working life going to and from Liverpool docks instead – and Liverpool was one of Bristol’s great rivals in the shipping trade. It was not just a lack of space in the city docks; the age-old problem of ships getting stranded in the mud and on the sharp bends in the Avon was ever present. Something needed to be done. Trade was beginning to suffer, with Bristol losing out to other British ports. In 1861 a plan was approved to build a deep-water pier at the mouth of the Avon. The idea was that large vessels could unload part of their cargo and then proceed upstream to the city docks, without the need to wait for the tide.

The plan, promoted by a company named the ‘Bristol Port Railway and Pier Co.’, also incorporated a railway line to run from Bristol to the area where the new pier would be built. Opened in March 1865, and named the Port Railway and Pier Line, it started at what is now Hotwells on the riverbank, at a spot just underneath the Gloucestershire pier of the yet-to-be-completed Clifton Suspension Bridge. A single line of rails would run for 5 miles 52 chains to the Avon estuary at Avonmouth. The new line thus did not connect with the Port of Bristol nor was there yet a completed pier at Avonmouth for it to use. There were stations at Sea Mills, Shirehampton (‘for Pill’), Dock station (Gloucester Road) and the line’s terminus, ‘Avonmouth Station’. The latter had a run-round loop but was effectively in the middle of nowhere.

Avon Mouth, as the area was then known, had very little to attract people. There was a scattering of small farms and a few cottages, along with an artillery range, but that was about it. There was no specific reason at that stage for people in any numbers to want to travel to Avonmouth. Despite this, another enterprising company came into being and, in April 1865, opened a hotel complete with ‘pleasure garden’ on land adjacent to the terminus station. According to the records, the proprietor in 1881 was one Annie Woodrow, an Irish woman. Annie employed a Scot, Mary Wilson, as a barmaid and Jane Parsley from Almondsbury in Gloucestershire as a waitress. Sarah Foster from Winterbourne in Gloucestershire fulfilled the role of domestic servant, whilst Henry House from Somerset was the ostler.

It was hardly surprising that the hotel failed to make any money. Passengers were the initial cargo for the new railway line but a day trip to what was a muddy, grassy area at the mouth of the Avon hardly drew in the crowds, even if there was, for the more morbid members of the public, the site of a gibbet pole on the marshy area known as ‘Dunball Island’, to the north of the estuary. It did not help that the ‘Port and Pier’ line, as it was popularly known, was not connected to the national railway system and was thus without the prospect of excursion traffic to and from the area.

The Victorians were nothing if not keen to seize on an opportunity however remote from its goal. Not far from the Bristol terminus of the Port and Pier line was another railway – one that was not visible to the public. The Clifton Rocks funicular railway commenced at a station near to Sion Hill, in Clifton, and ran in a tunnel through what was known as St Vincent’s Rock down to the lower terminus adjacent to the river and a few hundred yards from the Port and Pier station. Opened in 1873, it was hugely popular for its first year and supplied to the Port and Pier curious passengers wishing to make a day out of travelling ‘down’ from the heights of Clifton to the Avon estuary. However, two white elephants do not add up to a going concern and, after the novelty of the first year, the Rocks Railway began to lose passengers in droves; by default, so did the Port and Pier. The Rocks Railway was a financial failure and by 1905 was in receivership.

Although the demise of the Rocks Railway was not the main reason for the lack of passengers wishing to travel to Avonmouth, it was perhaps not a surprise that the Bristol Port Railway and Pier Co. was also soon in financial difficulty. The directors recognized that, rather than standing alone, the Port and Pier would need to get connected to the growing national railway network. In 1867, the company applied for and received, by an Act of Parliament, permission to construct a railway from a junction on the Midland Railway’s Bristol–Gloucester line near Royate Hill, Bristol. The junction with the Bristol–Gloucester line was, rather inappropriately, named Kingswood junction, although it was located nowhere near the district of Kingswood.

From Kingswood junction the line would run through Eastville to Narroways Hill, where it was to cross the GWR Bristol and South Wales Union line via a bridge, and onwards through Ashley Hill (where it would connect with a short branch from Narroways junction on the Bristol and South Wales Union line).

Continuing onwards through a short tunnel under Ashley Hill, the line passed through the suburb of Montpelier and through Redland to Clifton Down, where it would tunnel under the Durdham Downs to eventually meet the Port and Pier between Hotwells and Sea Mills. The junction was reasonably close to the nearby posh suburb of Sneyd Park, after which it was named.

As the Bristol and Gloucester was built to the broad gauge, so the line to Avonmouth was to be broad gauge. It would also be double-track from Kingswood and Narroways junctions through to the Sneyd Park junction; from there it would be single-track to Avonmouth.

Work commenced and staggered on for two years, after which the contractor failed and construction stopped. Meanwhile, a new dock had been planned by the newly incorporated Bristol Port and Channel Dock Company, at the mouth of the River Avon. To all intents and purposes, this new site for docks was the way forward – it would be easier for the increasingly bigger ships to dock there – yet, in spite of this, another scheme was put forward to build a dam across the River Avon near its estuary with the Severn and create one long floating harbour all the way downstream to the city docks. This somewhat novel idea was another that did not come to fruition. The city docks continued in use for smaller craft, but the focus shifted to building the new dock at Avonmouth.

Seeing a chance to gain control of what could be lucrative future docks traffic, both the Midland Railway and Great Western Railway companies stepped in and took over the work on the new railway. Now standard gauge (4 feet 8 and a half inches), the Clifton Extension line was completed in 1875 but trains were unable to run because the signalling at Sneyd Park junction did not meet Board of Trade standards when inspected. It was not until 1885 that the line was opened for traffic throughout, from Hotwells and Kingswood junctions to Avonmouth station. The delays were mainly due to the Port and Pier’s permanent way being found to be unfit for the extra traffic expected. Eventually, the pier itself was completed and the railway, being laid into the dock area, gained a Pier station.

Bristol City Docks in the 1960s before Avonmouth finally took all the shipping. (Len Worrall)

The line opened for freight traffic on 24 February 1877 and for passenger traffic on 1 September 1885. The new Avonmouth Dock also opened on the same date as the Clifton Extension, in February 1877.

The joint line opened with three new stations: Montpelier, Redland and Clifton Down, in addition to the existing Port Railway and Pier stations at Sea Mills, and the Shirehampton and Avonmouth Dock station. All the new stations were sited to attract passenger and freight traffic from the new Bristol suburbs. Clifton Down in particular was but a short walk from the zoological gardens and the open spaces of Durdham Downs. Sidings were provided, mainly for coal traffic, at Montpelier and Clifton Down stations. There were signal boxes at Ashley Hill junction, Montpelier, Clifton Down and Sneyd Park junction (where the PR&P joined the Clifton Extension). Signal boxes at Shirehampton, Avonmouth Dock junction and Avonmouth Dock – where a small signal box was built adjacent to the level crossing where the line crossed Gloucester Road on its way to the terminus station – were already in use.

Another 1960s view of Bristol City Docks. (Len Worrall)

Avonmouth’s first dock and pier (1901 OS map). ‘Avonmouth Dock Sidings’ became Old Yard.

Signal boxes later opened at Horseshoe Point (1904) and Crown Brickyard level crossing (Avonmouth) (1892). The latter controlled a level crossing and also the sidings connection into the small brickworks, from which it got its name.

With the arrival of the MR/GWR Joint Clifton Extension in Avonmouth, the Great Western gained a share of both freight and passenger traffic into the docks from the south. Forward thinking was one of the Great Western’s great attributes and it was already planning ahead. The company recognized that the new docks would inevitably expand and attract more traffic than the existing railway could handle, and that the area would also attract other industries. Not content to share access to the new docks with the Midland Railway, GWR was anxious to cash in on the traffic generated by the opening of its Severn Tunnel in 1886. It was clear that there was potential in a new line connecting South Wales to Avonmouth Docks, and GWR set its sights on its own links into the docks area. The question was, which route should it take?

North of the Avonmouth area, at Pilning, there were still the remains of the section of the Bristol and South Wales Union line to New Passage pier on the banks of the River Severn, which had been abandoned after the opening of the Severn Tunnel. The existing stub of the Bristol and South Wales Union line’s original formation from a junction with the new line to the Severn Tunnel at Pilning was still in use as a siding, as far as the Severn Tunnel pumping station at Sea Walls. This could be extended to Avonmouth. The plan was therefore to use this formation for the new line and continue southwards, hugging the coastline.

To this end, the Great Western sought permission via an Act of Parliament to build a line direct from Avonmouth to New Passage, on the banks of the Severn, where it would connect with the existing section of the old route. The resulting GWR Act of 1890 authorized the company to construct the line between the junction with the BSWU line at Pilning and a junction with the Clifton Extension sidings at the Bristol end of Avonmouth. Known as the Avonmouth and Severn Tunnel Railway, it was single throughout.

It was to be a comparatively easy route, being more or less level all the way, and would run from Pilning straight towards the coast before turning 90 degrees south to Sea Walls, where the siding remained. The new route was to curve inland again before straightening and passing through the village of Severn Beach. From Severn Beach, it would run along the coast as far as Hallen Marsh, where, as the coast curved outwards, the railway would stay more or less straight for almost a mile before moving coast-wards to pass a matter of yards to the west of the Port and Pier terminus station at Avonmouth. It would then cross Gloucester Road on the level a hundred yards or so away from the Port and Pier Avonmouth Dock station crossing. The line was to be freight only.

The line was opened on 5 February 1900. There was no connection or interchange between the two lines, except through the dock sidings, until 1902, when a temporary connection was laid between them, south of the Port and Pier’s terminus station.

The new century saw a continued rapid expansion of the facilities at Avonmouth. In 1897, it had featured so low down in importance on the list of places in the local Street Directory that it had been doubled up with nearby Shirehampton. All this was soon to change, however. The newly opened docks were attracting business at breakneck speed and new housing was springing up around the waterside. The need for further docks expansion soon became evident and by 1900 the docks committee had recommended to the council the building of an extension at the mouth of the Avon. A new dock would be built to the north of the existing dock, involving the requisition of the land upon which the GWR Pilning line ran and where the Avonmouth terminus station of the BPR&P stood. As the construction work commenced, a temporary connection would be laid, to enable traffic from the Pilning line to continue to run into the sidings at Avonmouth. Meanwhile, the GWR line from Pilning would be diverted from that company’s Gloucester Road crossing to a new course further inland, rejoining its existing formation near what would later become Holesmouth junction.

Work on the new dock started in 1902, with the first sod being cut by the Prince of Wales. As work on the new dock progressed so the temporary connection between the two lines was closed and lifted by 1903. The Port and Pier line’s terminus station was closed and demolished, the line being severed a few chains north of Avonmouth Dock station; its old formation beyond there was crossed by the Pilning line’s new course inland. In effect, Dock station now became a terminus, with a headshunt running northwards over the level crossing.

As work on the new dock proceeded and the existing docks continued to attract trade, so the railway traffic became heavier. Avonmouth Dock station expanded. A new signal box was built at the Bristol end of the platform and opened on 17 May 1903; the old one at the level crossing was closed, being replaced by a ground frame. The Down platform (then the only platform) was signalled for trains to both arrive and depart from here. In December 1904, a run-round loop was laid in and the platform extended to allow a bay line to be laid. This became an additional platform, known as the ‘back platform’. A small loco shed was built and opened in January 1905, along with a turntable. A further storage siding was laid next to the bay line in July 1905. Down Midland passenger trains now terminated here, engines being able to run round and turn on the turntable before rejoining their train and restarting from the same platform. All this new work required new signalling and the signal box was equipped with a new lever frame in December 1904 to handle the extra burden.

The first Avonmouth station and the hotel (1901 OS map).

Rail traffic increased further still and the single line between Sneyd Park junction and Dock station was doubled in 1906, coming into use on 6 January 1907. Such was the continued modification that Dock Station signal box was fitted with another new, longer lever frame for the opening of the double track. At the same time, the station was described as the ‘GW and Midland Joint station’. A bay platform and run-round siding were provided on the down or arrival side of the main platform. Trains could arrive and depart back to Bristol from Avonmouth Dock, the loco shed which had opened in 1905 being equipped with a turntable.

The sidings at the southern end of the facility had already expanded and more was to come. Perhaps in anticipation of this, Avonmouth Dock Junction signal box had been replaced, in August 1903, by a new box a few chains nearer to Avonmouth. By 1907, the area of land between Dock station and the docks themselves was filled by a marshalling yard, the entrance to which was controlled by Dock Junction signal box. The marshalling yards at Dock junction comprised a group of six sidings owned by the Midland Railway Company between the dockside ‘M’ shed (which had its own three sidings adjacent to the shed) and a further four exchange sidings used by the GWR. There was then a further group of six sidings, again operated by the MR Co.

Avonmouth Dock junction was the junction for not only the docks sidings but also the Avonmouth Light Railway. This left its junction with the ‘Down’ main line and turned inland, passing through several exchange sidings before crossing Port View road and turning north, serving the new Kingsweston industrial estate. Originally, this freight-only light railway had been intended to run all the way along the inland side of St Andrews Road and rejoin the GW line near Holesmouth, but this extension never happened and the line terminated after about a mile. It was eventually taken over by the LMSR and GWR in 1927 and closed by 1938, latterly being shortened to a small section at the Port View road end, which served as a coal yard and was shunted by horses.

At the north end of the yard, connections ran into the docks complex from most of these sidings, before the line again became single and, joining with the GWR, continued over Gloucester Road crossing on its way to Pilning.

When completed, the new facility was the most up-to-date dock in the Avonmouth complex – all the sheds and warehouses were connected to the dock’s internal railway system and the pier railway station was able to deal with both ocean passengers and mail. It was declared open by HRH Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, in a ceremony on 9 July 1908, and named the ‘Royal Edward Dock’.

Avonmouth was now firmly established as a major port. As housing and industry sprang up around the docks area, further expansion of the railway facilities became vital and, as the docks internal railway system expanded, so Bristol Corporation Docks committee laid extra lines between the Crown Brickyard level crossing at the Shirehampton end of the older dock, to Gloucester Road. The signal box at Crown Brickyard, which had been replaced in 1906 by a new, MR-style box and downgraded to a crossing box, was now given a new lever frame and upgraded again to a Block Post. A rather complex junction was laid in and two new tracks laid from here, through the marshalling yard to Gloucester Road. These lines, known as the ‘Joint Goods’ lines, opened in September 1911; Crown Brickyard level-crossing box, which controlled the new junction, was renamed as Avonmouth Dock junction.

At the old Avonmouth Dock junction, the signal box, which had been replaced in 1903 by an MR-style box, was again replaced, this time by a larger MR box. New ‘ladder’ connections were laid in between the Joint Goods lines and new exchange sidings. The box was renamed ‘Avonmouth Dock Sidings’. The sidings here served timber sheds, fuel storage tanks and warehouses.

Round at Gloucester Road, the signal box was given a new lever frame in connection with the doubling of the GWR line as far as Holesmouth, and with the opening of a new, single-platform GW station on the north side of Gloucester Road crossing. This platform was known as ‘Avonmouth Dock’ and opened in May 1910.

The Joint Goods lines were extended to Holesmouth junction; owned by the Bristol Corporation, these became known as the ‘Corporation’ lines. They opened between the new Avonmouth Dock junction and Holesmouth junction in June 1911, necessitating a new junction between the GW lines and the Corporation lines at Gloucester Road. The level crossing here had been controlled by a small signal box, which was removed, as the land on which it stood was required for the formation of the new goods lines. A new box opened on 9 May 1910 but, with the continued expansion of railway facilities in Avonmouth, there was soon a need to replace this with a larger box on a site to the river side of the new junction. This third Gloucester Road box opened just a year after the establishment of the second one.

From here, the four lines, two GW and two Corporation, turned through almost 90 degrees and headed inland. The line beyond the Joint Dock station had existed as a headshunt beyond the level crossing since 1903. It was not until 9 May 1910 that the short connection was made as a single line to join the GW at a new junction near the dock access road known as King Road, enabling the through running of Midland freight trains. The crossing ground frame at Dock station was opened at the same time. Initially freight only, this short section was doubled in August 1910. To the north of the Dock stations, the four tracks from Gloucester Road (GW/MR joint and Corporation) came together with the lines from Dock station, where there was a new double junction. Continuing as four lines, they passed over King Road, where a new level crossing was installed and a signal box known as ‘St Andrews Road Junction’ was constructed. Here, a further double junction between the main and Corporation lines permitted traffic to cross from Up and Down GW lines and Up and Down Corporation lines.

Half a mile further north towards Holesmouth, the GW and Corporation lines ran slightly inland from the Royal Edward Dock, where there were connections with the main GW lines. These were controlled from a Great Western-style signal box that also controlled connections to a small depot – the ‘Avonmouth Town Goods Depot’ – on the Down side between there and St Andrews junction. The signal box was named ‘Avonmouth Goods Yard Signal Box’, but was thereafter known by all as ‘Town Goods’.

A junction on the Corporation lines at Goods Yard led to a group of half a dozen marshalling and exchange sidings for the Midland Railway. Whilst the Corporation lines now turned westwards, the GW lines continued straight on. A junction in the GW lines followed the Corporation lines and led into further sidings, where exchange of wagons took place between Port of Bristol and the Great Western. These sidings, known collectively as the Royal Edward Yard, were opened in 1911. In addition to the six Midland Railway marshalling and exchange sidings, there were twenty-three operated by the Port, and further sidings operated by the GWR.

The main GW lines carried straight on towards Holesmouth and, in 1917, St Andrews Road station was opened between the Royal Edward Yard and the main line.

At Holesmouth junction, all the docks and Corporation lines came together in a junction with the remains of the original GW line, which now served the huge complex of docks lines around the Royal Edward Dock itself. This junction was another odd one, with a shunting spur running through it. This spur was the scene of several collisions over the years, until eventually the layout was altered to be more conventional. After the junction the line, now double, then joined the main GW line. A short distance north of Holesmouth junction the line became single and then proceeded on its way to Pilning as a goods-only line.

CHAPTER 2

Avonmouth via Pilning

The GWR Avonmouth and Severn Tunnel branch to Avonmouth started at Pilning junction, on the main line to South Wales, at the point where a facing crossover in the main lines led to a connection in the Up main line. From the Up main there was a connection leading to a single line, which descended sharply westwards at a gradient of 1 in 100, crossing the lane known as Pilning Street by means of a level crossing. The signal box here was officially named Pilning Branch Signal Box, but always known as ‘Low Level’ to railwaymen. Up until 1928, the single line between the junction and branch boxes, being goods only, had been worked by means of a wooden train staff, but on Friday 22 June 1928, the branch became open for passenger trains as well. This working was withdrawn and superseded, with the single line henceforth being worked by special ‘disc’ Lock and Block instruments and the line being track-circuited. Beyond the branch signal box was a small, one-platform halt, officially known as ‘Pilning Low Level’, along with three loops. At the far end of these loops stood a ground frame, released by means of a key from the signal box.

Plan of Pilning Branch signal box and platform, showing its relation to Pilning High Level (main-line) station. (Wiltshire History Centre)

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CIRCULAR 4077, PADDINGTON STATION, 21 MAY 1924

OPENING OF NEW STATION AT SEVERN BEACH

On Monday May 26th 1924, a new station will be opened on the Pilning and Avonmouth Branch at SEVERN BEACH, in place of Severn Beach Platform.

Accommodation will be provided for passengers, parcels, coal and other minerals and general merchandise traffic.

The distances from adjacent stations to Severn Beach are:

From

Miles

Chains

Avonmouth Dock Passenger Station

4

42

Avonmouth Town Goods Station

3

77

Pilning Low Level

2

20

Passengers, parcels and miscellaneous traffic by passenger train will be conveyed to and from Severn Beach via Avonmouth Dock only. Coal, other minerals and general merchandise will be conveyed via Pilning Low Level or Avonmouth. There will be no Goods shed, carriage shoot, crane, weigh-bridge or accommodation for livestock at present.

The company will not undertake Cartage to or from the station.

To ascertain the distance to Severn Beach for raising charges on passenger train traffic on a mileage basis, 4 and ½ miles must be added to the distance from your station to Avonmouth Dock Passenger Station.

Traffic from your station to Severn Beach must be treated as ‘Local’ and abstracted accordingly. Application for Passenger Fares and Rates for traffic by passenger train, must be made to your Divisional Superintendent, and for Goods Rates to your District Goods Manager.

R.H. Nicholls Superintendent of the Line

E. Ford Chief Goods Manager

A Description of the Line

The train slows down as it approaches the large Hallen Marsh signal box where the driver collects the single-line token – the train’s authority to be on the single line – from the post on which it has been placed, in a carrier hoop, by the signalman. Sometimes the signalman has not had time to place the hoop on the post and appears from the bottom door holding the token up for the driver. The driver snatches the token and, after checking that it is the correct one, hangs it on a hook in his cab. This done, the train steams off over the junction and on to the single line.

Pilning Branch signal box. (Wilf Stanley)

Once the junction is left behind, the line runs northwards, with the coast on the left and marshy ground on the right. On the right and slightly lower than the line is the site of the shell-filling munitions factory. Some low-level buildings still remain. In spite of the Severn being a tidal river, the scenery is quite pleasant. The Welsh coast can be seen on a clear day and ships steam up and down the river to and from Sharpness Docks. If you are lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the Severn rail bridge way in the distance.

Soon, the Severn Beach ‘Fixed at Caution’ Distant signal is seen and the driver begins applying the brakes. Approaching the wooden signal box and sidings, the driver leans from his cab to hang the token on the post there and snatch the new one for the section ‘Severn Beach–Pilning Low Level’ as the train passes the signal box and runs into the long platform at Severn Beach. The train stops in the platform for a few minutes. There is no passing loop at Severn Beach; trains needing to be ‘put away’ for another train to pass are signalled into the bay platform, backing out again when they are ready to leave and the line is clear.

The level crossing, known as Ableton Lane crossing, is operated from a ground frame in a small cabin as it is too far away from the signal box. Once the crossing gates are closed to road traffic by a porter, the signals are cleared and the train can move off once again. Passing over Ableton Lane crossing, with its adjacent crossing keeper’s cottage, the line now swings to the right in a long curve. About a quarter of a mile later the train passes over another level crossing, which takes a small lane over the railway. This is Green Lane crossing and it also has a crossing keeper’s cottage next to the line. Soon after Green Lane crossing the line passes over the Severn Tunnel, but it is not possible to see the tunnel lines, even though the approach cutting to the tunnel is a matter of yards away from the line.

1974 plan of Chittening Trading Estate (site of the 1914 munitions depot) and Rockingham bridge. Top right on the line to Filton, Chittening platform is just seen.

Just after crossing the tunnel and still on a long curve, we pass a siding on the left. It has a ground frame. A short siding leads towards the coast and a brick building. This is Sea Walls Pump House siding, which serves the English shore pumps that keep the water out of the Severn Tunnel; without these, and the Welsh side pumps at Sudbrook, the tunnel would soon flood. The pumps are still steam operated and a trip is made with a loco, coal wagons and brake van from Pilning to keep the pumps supplied with coal.

Still on a curve, the train arrives at New Passage halt. Nobody gets on or off, so the train moves onwards and shortly afterwards the line straightens and we slow down to stop at Cross Hands halt. No larger than New Passage, it serves the local community of Redwick, with the Cross Hands Inn close by.

Leaving Cross Hands, the line runs alongside a narrow country road and, approaching Pilning Low Level, an embankment can be seen on the right and soon a station. This is Pilning station, better known as ‘High Level’. At Low Level there are three sidings, the points at the Severn Beach end being worked by a ground frame. Low Level has a small wooden platform and the brick signal box stands guard over yet another level crossing.

Here we will leave the branch line and resume the journey again at Hallen Marsh junction.

The Stations

St Andrews Road

St Andrews Road platform was initially opened as a workmen’s platform on 1 March 1917. It closed in November 1922, but reopened again two years later, on 30 June 1924. The station buildings consisted of wooden shelters equipped with wooden, deep-valanced canopies. The station master at Avonmouth Dock station supervised St Andrews Road. Charlie Maycock and Bert Davis were porters here in the 1950s, before Maycock moved to Dock station as the ‘ticket snapper’.

Severn Beach

The GWR Avonmouth and Severn Tunnel single line was originally freight only. What became ‘Severn Beach’ did not exist beyond a farm and a few isolated houses until the opening of the railway in 1900, which encouraged a certain level of development. Following the decision to develop the village of Severn Beach as a recreational resort, the GWR opened a platform here in June 1922. It was in use only during the summer season, with a seasonal train service for excursions being provided. In April 1924 a new signal box was opened, and from 26 May in the same year a passenger service was provided all year as far as the platform, with the line onwards to Pilning Low Level remaining as goods use only. In the mid-1920s the popularity of Severn Beach as a resort for the working-class people of east Bristol grew, with crowds flocking by train to the resident funfair. A new GWR station at Severn Beach opened in May 1924, consisting of a long platform to take the longest excursion trains and a new station building. This handsome building was unusual in that it was not on the platform but at right-angles to it, facing a track which was to become Station Road. There was a canopy provided on the front of the building; this canopy was of ‘train-shed’ proportions and covered the station concourse.

The odd thing about Severn Beach was that there was no beach there at all, just a shingle area on the coast. The cluster of dwellings is indeed on the banks of the River Severn, so that part of the name is correct, but many an unwary traveller has been caught out, hoping to find golden sands at the end of the line. After the Second World War, with the development of the nearby Severnside industrial area, the name ‘Severn Beach’ became even more of a joke. The nearby ICI chemical plant and Philblack’s carbon black factory put this ‘beach’ into quite a different category from other holiday resorts. Railway staff would see hopeful holidaymakers arriving with their suitcases, then jumping straight back on one of the next trains out of there once they had seen what the place was really like.

The station master in the 1950s was Mr J.W. Hankey. He was a successor to a Mr Pew, who was remembered as a quiet, modest man. Mr Pew moved to Witham, Somerset, on the GWR West of England main line, where, after seeing a train off one day, he sat down in his chair and passed away. Mike (Hank) Michel was one porter here; his wife was the crossing keeper at Green Lane, where they lived in the keeper’s house. Colin Hopes was a relief porter and Tom Neall was a regular porter.

New Passage and Cross Hands Halts

With the upgrading to passenger status of the Pilning Low Level to Severn Beach line, two new single-platform halts were provided for local inhabitants, at New Passage and Cross Hands. The former got its name from the old jetty and hotel on the coast near by and the latter from a local inn. Both halts opened on 9 July 1928. The facilities covered just the ‘bare necessities’, consisting of a metal building similar to the corrugated metal lamp huts provided at signal boxes on the GWR, which served as shelters. New Passage halt came under the supervision of the Severn Beach station master, whilst Cross Hands was supervised from Pilning. No staff were employed at either halt; tickets were issued by ‘agents’ who lived close by.

Cross Hands halt in 1960. (Wilf Stanley)

Pilning (Low Level)

The original platform at Pilning opened with the Broad Gauge Bristol and South Wales Union line to the coastal ferry at New Passage on the banks of the River Severn. When the line closed, in December 1886, with the advent of the Severn Railway tunnel opening for passenger traffic, so did Pilning Platform. The Avonmouth and Severn Tunnel Railway single line from Pilning to Avonmouth opened in 1900 as a goods-only line, so there was no station required, but when the line was upgraded to passenger status in July 1928 a new platform was provided on the site of the old one. The new platform, with a small wooden shelter, was named Pilning Low Level and opened on 9 July 1928. There was a female porter at Low Level in the 1940s.

Plining Branch (Low Level) platform in 1960. (Wilf Stanley)

The duties of supervising Pilning Low Level fell to the station master of Pilning station.

CHAPTER 3

Avonmouth via Henbury

With the advent in May 1903 of the new direct line from Wootton Bassett to a new junction with the BSWUR at Patchway, and a further new junction at Filton, the GWR finally put an end to the delays inevitably caused to trains to and from Avonmouth using the bottleneck at Pilning Low Level. The company constructed a new line to Avonmouth from the junctions at Stoke Gifford and Filton. From both Stoke Gifford and Filton junction, the new line was double track to a further new junction known as Filton West. Just a short distance towards Avonmouth the line became single. This new line was opened as a single line from Filton West to Holesmouth in 1910. These new junctions allowed direct through running from the new Badminton line to Avonmouth, whilst the new junction at Filton junction enabled GWR traffic to run to and from Bristol without using the Clifton Extension. The odd thing about this new work that there was no direct connection to enable traffic to run to and from the South Wales direction, to Avonmouth, until 1971.

Running from Filton, the new line passed through a short, 302-yard tunnel near the small village of Charlton (which was destroyed in the 1940s when Filton airfield was expanded for the development of the giant Brabazon prototype airliner) and the village of Henbury, before descending on an embankment across the flat, marshy ground towards Avonmouth. Arriving at Avonmouth, the single line ran parallel with the line from Pilning for a short distance before making a junction with it at Holesmouth.

The signal box at Holesmouth, originally opened in 1903 and closed in 1908, opened again in May 1910, controlling the junction between the new GW line from Filton and the existing GW line from Pilning.

The First World War brought extra traffic to Avonmouth and this in turn led to further expansion of the railway network at Avonmouth.

A Description of the Line

This time we leave Hallen Marsh on the double line to Henbury and Filton. The line climbs away from Hallen on a long right-hand curve before straightening and heading out across the moor on an embankment towards the distant hills. The line approaches a bridge and it is here, just before the embankment ends, that a signal box and fuel depot will be built in 1940 almost at the same place as the short-lived Hallen signal box, which opened and closed with the munitions factory in 1917. As we pass under Ison Hill bridge, we run into a cutting from which we emerge, pass under a road bridge and run into Henbury station. This is a pleasant, typical GWR country station with a couple of sidings.

Leaving Henbury, the line is still climbing gently and passes under another road bridge. Half a mile further on, the line runs into a cutting again and a tunnel looms ahead. Just before the tunnel was Charlton halt, which served the nearby small, scattered village of Charlton for five years, before its closure. It. Now we pass into Charlton tunnel – 302 yards of darkness – before emerging into a shallow cutting.

The line is not in the cutting for long and now runs between the grassy runway of Filton Airfield on the left, where a few biplanes stand, and a golf course on the right. The line has been dead straight for two and a quarter miles now and passes the site of Filton halt, then goes under the main Bristol to Gloucester road, before arriving at Filton West junction. Here we have the choice of going straight on to Stoke Gifford and the Badminton line, or sharp right to Filton junction and Bristol.

Trains from Avonmouth to the Midlands will go up to Stoke Gifford and take the Badminton line as far as Westerleigh West junction. There, they will turn off to the left and descend to Yate South, where they will gain LMSR metals.

The Stations

A short platform was constructed to the west of Filton West junction to create Filton halt, which was opened in May 1910. At the west end of Charlton tunnel a similar platform was built for Charlton Halt, and opened on the same date. Both halts closed in March 1915. Facilities at both were sparse, consisting in each case of a metal GWR pagoda-style shelter.

North Filton Platform

After the closure of the halt at Filton, a new ‘station’ was opened on the same site adjacent to the main A38 Gloucester Road, on 12 July 1928. This was important for workers using the nearby Bristol Aeroplane Company’s factory and airfield. Two long platforms were built but there were no station buildings other than a solid brick structure, which resembled an air-raid shelter. The duties of station master here were covered from Filton junction. In 1958, this role was fulfilled by Mr T.L. Powell, who also covered Horfield station. Reg Watts was a porter there in the 1950s.

Henbury

Henbury station opened on 9 May 1910 as a single platform against the single line. Wartime exigencies saw the station temporarily closed in March 1915 but the advent of the munitions factory developments in 1917 led to the doubling of the line between Filton West and Hallen Marsh. During the time the station was closed, it was used for unadvertised workmen’s trains. When Henbury reopened, in July 1922, it was as a double-track, two-platform station. On the Down side was a brick station building served by an approach road. The building contained the ticket office and waiting room. A brick-built waiting room stood on the Up platform and a solid brick signal box of typical GWR design stood at the Filton end of the Up platform. There were sidings on the Down side which served a coal yard.

An unidentified class 46 hauls a mixed freight up from Avonmouth and approaches the site of Henbury station. 1982. (Author’s collection).

According to the archives, a young lad from New Zealand got a porter’s job at Henbury in the early 1960s. He told the signalman one day that he was fed up with the UK and wanted to return to his home country, but feared he would never have the means to do it, as the porter’s pay was poor.

‘What’ll you do, then?’ asked the signalman.

‘I’m planning to get a job over there,’ said the lad, waving a hand at the coal yard of Rudrum and Co. ‘The pay is much better.’

Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, the lad resigned and started work in the coal yard, shovelling house coal into sacks for delivery. He and the signalman met again a month or two later. The heavy snows of winter 1962 to 1963 lay all around. ‘How’s the new job going?’ enquired the signalman.

The lad admitted that it was not going at all well. The snow, ice and freezing temperatures meant that the coal was frozen and had to be broken up with a pickaxe before it could be shovelled into the sacks, which were also frozen.

‘It’s far harder than I bargained for,’ admitted the lad, ‘and because of the weather, we aren’t working that many hours.’ History does not relate whether the lad ever managed to return to New Zealand.

Mr L.H. Mogridge was station master here in the 1950s. He wrote in Gothic script and staff joked that it would take him 5 minutes to write his name! Frank Hughes was Grade 2 porter, as were Derek Eggleton and Ken Farmiloe. A Grade 2 porter earned £4 12 shillings and 6 pence per week before stoppages, and £4-7-7 after stoppages (around £4.62 before and £4.37 after). Albert Herbert was ganger here in the 1950s with Jim Steer as his sub-ganger. J.L. Steer was promoted to sub-ganger at Henbury in May 1957.

Chittening Platform

These long platforms were built in connection with the munitions factory development in 1917, and used for unadvertised workers’ trains for the factory and the smelting works. Chittening closed in 1923 but reopened for unadvertised workers’ trains again in October 1941, then to workmen only on 25 August 1947 and to ordinary passengers in May 1948. Platform accommodation on each side was a long corrugated iron ‘fence’ with a corrugated iron canopy. There were no goods facilities here. The platforms closed on 23 November 1964.

CHAPTER 4

Avonmouth via Clifton

A Description of the Line

Leaving Kingswood junction, the line turned sharply away from the Midland main line and crossed the Coombe Brook valley and Royate Hill by means of a long, seven-arch viaduct, passing close to the expansive Victorian Greenbank cemetery. It then ran on embankment through the expanding suburb of Easton, parallel with the back gardens of Gloucester Street before crossing Fishponds Road by means of an iron bridge. After Fishponds Road, the line ran on embankment again for a short distance before entering on to another lofty viaduct known locally as ‘Thirteen Arches’. After leaving Thirteen Arches viaduct and still on high embankment, the first Block Post was reached; this was Stapleton Road Gas Sidings signal box, opened in 1895. Both the Midland and Great Western railway companies had access to the large gasworks at Eastville, which opened in 1878 as the ‘Bristol United Gas Light Company’, and consumed huge quantities of coal.

Stapleton Road Gas Sidings box, which stood on the top of the embankment, was a small Midland Railway box, similar in size and looks to the one at Warmley on the Mangotsfield to Bath line (which has now been preserved). It was equipped with a twelve-lever MR frame and was provided with a Block switch. Access to the box was via a set of steps that led up the bank from a field, which in turn was crossed by a footpath from the little track then known as ‘Wee Lane’; nowadays, it is the busy commuter route of Glenfrome Road. There were several sidings on the south Down side of the lines and a connection into the gasworks.

Map of Kingswood Junction (1901 OS). The lines curving up to the left are the Clifton Extension; the line curving off to the lower right is the branch to Deep Pit and the Atlas Locomotive Works of the Peckett company.