The Bristol Railway Archive

I have just been browsing R A Cooke's Bristol trackplans and I see that Ashton Containers was served by a trailing connection from the down line of the Portishead branch (Ashton Junction North Ground Frame) and by a trailing connection from the up line (Ashton Junction South Ground Frame) thus ...

Noting the references to British Cellophane's industrial loco, for those that recall the distictive aroma of the industry, I wonder if they have managed to get the smell off it yet!

In response to the posting by 76026 listing industrial railway sites in the Bristol area I can think of one which I saw fairly frequently and which is not listed but which was diesel. This is Ashton Containers in Winterstoke Road. Their premises extended from the rear of the fire station (now the ...

As a new thread has been started it seems only fair to wander off at a tangent again. One aspect which has intrigued me for years relates to what I will call 'transfer trips' by which I mean, if a locomotive is allocated to, say, Penzance and then is called into Swindon for a major overhaul or ...

Thank you for the various comments. The facts remain a mystery. My problem here is that all the people I can think of whom I could ask are no longer with us. For my part I am confident that I was taken to see something unusual on the line going towards Ashton Swing Bridge one Saturday around mid-day ...

Reference to the 13 Arches line reminded me of a railtour which, as well as travelling over that line, went into Canons Marsh and in turn has reminded me of a vivid memory I have of seeing one of the outside cylinder short-wheelbase 15xx 0-6-0 pannier tanks on the line heading towards either Canons ...

As I find is more and more frequently the case these days, when I resort to looking things up, facts are not quite what I remember. I have a Locoshed book from probably around 1956 or 1957 which shows that there are no 82xxx allocated to the Bristol Division at that time, or to Barrow Road. I have a ...

In case it wasn't clear, my post from yesterday was referring to the train in Devonian's picture with the 82xxx and maroon Mk1s on the 13 Arches.

Somewhere I have a folder full of tour itineraries from that era so I must dig them out and see where else the one I was referring to went.

There was ...

Is that RCTS train crossing 13 arches the special which ran one Saturday in 1961 (give or take) and also went to Canons Marsh (give or take as the Mk1s got buffer locked part way in), Avonmouth Dock lines and Sharpness? If so, I was on that.

Someone has just told me that Network Rail have recently quoted the cost of re-opening the Portishead branch as being £200 million.

Is that information correct?

How did they get to that big a figure? Does anyone know what is in it?