pickup / wagonload freight around Bristol

[76026]

Somewhat late in the day, I've become curious about how much pickup / wagonload freight remained in Bristol after the nationwide freight facility cuts of 1965, e.g. examples of

-regular freight services coming into Bristol area, delivering what sorts of goods, and from where

-regular freight services originating from the Bristol area, carrying what sorts of goods, and to where

-what the last few survivingBristol Area pickup / wagonload freight services were, and when they ceased.

I'm not doing a survey, nor am I planning to write a an article- I'd just like to increase my knowledge from it's current level of zero.

[22A]

Thanks for starting a new thread to keep this site alive.
Slightly related to this topic, when were the Scammel "mechanical horse" & trailer combos get taken out of service.
They were a common site during my childhood seeing one of these with a box on the trailer delivering around town.
https://www.google.com/search?q=scammel ... e&ie=UTF-8

[the green mile]

If my memory serves me correctly, there was a more modern version of the 3-wheeler and it would have been during the era that road motor vehicles were painted yellow.

Regarding freight, the focus in the mid 60s was purely on loco numbers so rolling stock and traffic flows weren't really recorded. However, the main one I remember was a trip working which ended up in Lawrence Hill yard early evening. I think it came from the yard above Stapleton road and carried crushed cars from the scrap yard there (Birds?) in mineral wagons. It arrived into the down relief platform with a pannier tank at the head. It was propelled through the trailing crossover onto the up relief then proceeded into the yard via the connection just to the north of Easton Road bridge. While still on the move, the shunter would uncouple the loco which would be accelerated out of the way. The hand points would be pulled allowing the wagons to carry on into the yard under their own momentum. That would be followed shortly by a clash of buffers as they were brought to rest by wagons already there. That's how I learnt the practice of fly shunting.

A few years later, the pannier was replaced with the class 03 diesel-mechanical shunter. A facing crossover was installed over one weekend by the bottom of my garden to allow the yard, and later the connection to Barrow Road waste transfer station, to be accessed directly from the down relief cutting out the propelling move. Possibly that was in connection with the MAS scheme. Somewhere around that time, I recall Presflo cement wagons became regular traffic into Lawrence Hill yard. Arriving home from Bath Road depot one afternoon, there was a minor derailment on the crossover with a couple of Presflos in the dirt, swiftly dealt with using jacks by the Bath Road breakdown gang.

The main freight flows I recall from the early 70s were fly ash passing through from Aberthaw to Puxton and later Highbridge. That was in connection with construction of the M5. Also, imported wood pulp by the trainload which came up from Portbury to be offloaded at Marsh Ponds for St Annes Board Mills. A covered storage area had been built where the piles of pulp was stacked before being roaded into the mill.

Going back in time a few years, I heard a story of a freight train derailment somewhere in the Bristol area, possibly in the Staple Hill or Mangotsfield area. I understand the locals were helping themselves to boxes of Licquorice Allsorts from the damaged box vans. I wonder if that was tied up with the Carson's sweet factory.

Roy

[22A]

Thanks for our post Roy;
Your description of fly shunting works in real life, but not so well in HO scale.

I also remember late 60s and poss early 70s,there was a sign over Lawrence Hill goods shed "Stem Locomotives must not pass this point".

I wonder who ended up with that in their attic?

[the green mile]

Ah yes, I remember that sign!

Fly shunting was a very skilled art with driver and shunter working in unison. The elf and safety brigade would have kittens if they saw it these days with the risk of tripping and falling as the shunter ran alongside. Our favourite place for spotting was the piece of waste ground on Russell Town Avenue opposite the north end of Lawrence Hill platforms. That afforded a good overall view of the process while waiting for movements on the main lines where the Midland crossed the Western. Apart from Temple Meads itself, could that spot have ben considered to be the best location for spotting in the Bristol area? It has to be a contender.

I suspect it won't be too long before somebody adapts DCC control to simulate fly shunting if one of the wagons could be powered and controlled separately to the loco in collaboration with automatic uncoupling. It might work better in the larger scales with heavier wagons having a bit more momentum. I've seen separate loco control used to represent banking before now so this could be a natural next step.

Roy

[the green mile]

Deviating a bit from the title of this thread, a late freight flow from the Bristol area was the 'Bin Liner' service which transported domestic waste in containers to landfill at Calvert in Buckinghamshire. I believe the loading gantry still exists in Barton Hill alongside the recycling centre in Folly Lane. Similar facilities were built at Bath Goods and Westerleigh. I cannot quote dates, but when this service ran, the former Midland line had been closed for quite a few years. As this was on the site of the former extensive St Philips goods yard, realignment of the track was necessary to access Lawrence Hill goods yard and onto the Bristol to South Wales main line. The last time I visited the area, the now disused track was still in evidence where it passed under the Lawrence Hill overbridge alongside the Bristol to Bath cycle track. I believe a similar service ran from Brentford in West London.

Looking back at our Archive photo collection from the 1980s, cement does seem to have been a significant flow into Lawrence Hill yard, both in bulk and bagged in box vans. There is a reference to a 'brick siding' which does ring a bell with bricks being carried in open Shoc wagons. There is also a shot of a long rake of molasses tanks destined for Avonside Wharf which would have used the new alignment. Where were they destined for? The only major facility I can remember in that area was the foul smelling yeast factory in Avon Street.

Mentioning molasses takes me back to the 1950s when as a child I lived in St Pauls. I recall seeing maroon or green (memory failing) road tankers of the stuff outside a factory by Portland Square. The name Dutson & Knights springs to mind as does a sweet sickly smell which was always in the air.

Roy

[76026]

Thank you for sharing the above memories, Roy - they make me wish I'd paid more attention to local freight movements and destinations back in the day! The only freight -related photo I can recall taking in Bristol was of an 03 on the Avonside branch in the1970s.

[the green mile]

I expect that would have been 03121 0r 03382.

Back in the 1960s, Bristol had an allocation of the D95xx type 1 0-6-0 diesel hydraulics built at Swindon. Although not a very successful design, the concept was sound being able to be used for shunting as well as local trip workings. The central cab gave the crew good all round visibility. Extra power (650hp) and a higher top speed (40mph) meant they had the advantage over the EE 350hp diesel electric shunter which was restricted to 15mph. The downside was the sort of work they were designed for, which is where this thread started out, was in decline so they arrived on the scene too late. They had all disappeared from the Bristol area when I started my apprenticeship in 1969.

I'm thinking that the number of goods yards and depots in and around the Bristol area must have been in double figures, largely killed off by the transfer of freight to road. Anyone care to start a list?

Roy

[22A]

2' 40" and 3' 14" show Lawrence Hill goods yard and shed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2XAtOnGdJg

[76026]

An invitation to start a list? How could I decline!

Please feel free to correct my attempt below- some locations ( e.g. Netham siding and Union Cold Storage Co siding might too small / not busy enough to count as a goods yard or goods depot.

Westerleigh
Stoke Gifford
Avonmouth Docks
Ashley Hill Mileage Depot
Stapleton Road Mileage Siding
Lawrence Hill
Union Cold Storage Co siding ( perhaps not a depot, although it did serve a handful of local companies)
Avonside Wharf
St Phillips Marsh
Temple Meads Goods Depot
East Depot
Kingsland Road (inc Ashton Meadows Sidings)
Netham Siding
KingÔÇÖs Wharf & Redcliffe Wharf: Redcliffe Street
Wapping Wharf
CanonÔÇÖs Marsh
Pylle Hill
West Depot