The Bristol Railway Archive

This is before my time- by the time I was actively interested in railways only diesels were allocated to Bristol. That said, the rather pleasing shedbash uk, which collates spotting records that volunteers have submitted, does include summaries for Bath Rd, Barrow Rd and St Phillips from the 1940s-1...

I've dug out some old notebooks, which so far have reminded me of a couple more destinations. My list of Mystery Tours is now Chester Margate Southport Somewhere near the Bluebell Railway Norwich- think this was a Mystery Train, but it might have been a Norwich excursion, advertised as such. Speakin...

Yes, I remember Mystery Trains, and travelled on several in the early 1970s. The destinations that come to mind are Southport, Chester, somewhere that was near enough to the Bluebell Railway for us to visit it, and either Broadstairs or Margate (can't remember which).There were often Bristol Railway...

A book to look forward to! Who's the publisher?

Thanks Paul, I wasn’t aware of the British Cellophane loco at Bridgewater. Looks as though it is now at Telford -see https://www.railwayblogger.com/telford-steam-railway/. I hadn't realised that Peckett’s had lost their rail connection so early. Thanks 22A for the youtubes. Nice to see the Bath Gas ...

I posted in the Last BR steam workings in or around Bristol? chat that I don’t recall being interested in industrial steam at the time Imperial Smelting Co no 2 (an Avonside 0-6-0 ST) appeared at Bath Road Open Day. The Bristol Harbour Railway website has a picture of it - albeit on standby- at the ...

I did mention him on here on the old thread and I think somebody had his email address. He did tell me then that whilst he was happy to hear from people, railway discussion forums were not his thing. Apologies, Robin -thought I'd replied this, but the evidence is against me! I had his email address...

Thank you - that does indeed clarify. I guess it means that the combined braking forces of the train loco, the banker and the brake van were considered sufficient to keep trains under control. Does anyone recall what the maximum permitted unfitted train weight was?

A conversation yesterday has spurred me to reopen this topic, with a question I've not considered before: were all freight trains through the tunnel required to be vacuum fitted? My guess would be yes- the idea of descending into the tunnel without brakes pinned down seems adventurous, and the prosp...

Going back to the Imperial Smelting loco- looking back at my photos of that Bath Road Open day, I was surprised to see I'd taken of photo of it. I'd completely forgotten seeing it, and as far as I recall I wasn't that aware of or interested in industrial steam until a year or two later. A pity- wast...