The Bristol Railway Archive

On another forum a question has been asked about steam loco tenders in departmental use at Bath Road in the 1970s and 1980s.
One a former GCR (ROD) tender, another Collett tender, and one unknown.
I remember from by Bristol TOPS days in the late 1970s there were 'sludge' tanks that worked between ...

On the Portishead Branch the current signalling is only suitable for freight traffic so will need upgrading. I believe the track itself will also need renewal or replacement. If they had got on with this 10 years ago it surely would not have been this expensive!
I had hoped to ride on the branch on ...

Thanks for the comments about the Swansea Docks photos.
Because of the sheer volume of freight traffic in South Wales there were also other quite late unfitted revenue earning traffic in the 1980s.
Coke from Nantgarw to Barry Docks for export in HUO (24t hops) to about 1982/3
Steel coil from ...

The elimination of unfitted trains was a gradual process, with parts of BR becoming unfitted bit by bit. The SR was first I think in around 1975?
The British Steel strike of 1980 rendered many unfitted coal and steel wagons surplus to requirements, many were then scrapped.
The air braked Speedlink ...

One late example of unfitted freight was export coal via Swansea Docks in MDOs (unfitted 21t mins) until early 1987.
They were still used as the wagons were unloaded by coal hoists one at a time,each wagon was uncoupled separately, and any vacuum pipe work would have been in the way.

cheers

Indirectly related to this story, work is currently underway to provide a cycle path along Uphill Road North in Weston-super-Mare.
This will extend the Somerset Coast Path (itself an extension of the SWCP) all the way from Minehead, through Weston to Sand Bay.
The above link, when completed means it ...

There were problems along there back in the 1980s when I worked in the Bristol Area Freight Centre.
Because of a danger of collapse of the bank/wall the daily coal train from Aston Meadows to Wapping Wharf was only permitted to run when the tide was high,

cheers

Are you on Facebook? The Bristol Railway Enthusiasts Group has some photos taken at Filton by Mike Goodfield of class 22s at Filton in the 1960s.
I know Mike posted these elsewhere and they were subsequently lost when the site closed (fotopic possibly)

cheers

Ashley Hill wrote: Sun Dec 01, 2019 8:10 pm Hello. Another box I'm trying to find a photo of is Hutton on the Weston avoider. This seems another camera shy box. Cheers Ashley.

Where was this box, at Old Weston Junction?

cheers

At Yatton you don't mean the ground frame on the down platform do you?
In 'Somerset and Avon Railways in old photographs' collected by Kevin Robertson there is a photo that shows the little ground frame under the footbridge.
I am guessing Yatton East dated from later, after the running loops were ...