The original Portishead Station opened on the 18th April 1867. It closed on the 4th of January 1954 when Portishead Power Station was extended by building on railway land.
The second Portishead station, which opened on the day the first one closed, was designed by H E Cavenagh and cost £250,000 to build. It closed to passengers on the 7th September 1964. The new station was the Western Region's first since the war. Freight continued to use the line until the 30th march 1981 although the occasional Freightliner train used the line beyond that date.
I never visited this location when it was operational and find it difficult to caption the following pictures accurately.. When taking them I intended to capture the atmosphere of the area rather than truly archiving what's left of the railways around Portishead.
|
As the line enters Portishead the track has been cut to allow a new road to be built. This is the view towards Bristol.
|
|
And this is the view towards Portishead.
|
|
Abandoned bridges and a stream that stinks. A facemask would have come in handy exploring here..
|
|
General dereliction. Lighting poles and rotten wooden sleepers.
|
|
The end of the run round loop. This is looking back towards Bristol.
|
|
More bridges across the brook. I think this one carried a line to a cement terminal.
|
|
A third bridge. I think this one carried the main line into Portishead proper. Don't quote me on that though..
|
|
Standing on a huge pile of dirt aimed at keeping travellers off-site, this is the view back towards Bristol and shows the bridges across the brook. The lighting poles (a previous pic) are just visible. (far left and in front of one of the warehouses)
|
|
Past the bridges is this chunk of land. I believe it's been reserved for a possible, albiet unlikely future station.
|
|
A Waitrose supermarket has been built on ex-railway land.
|
|
Housing now occupies the site of the original Portishead terminus, replacing a powerstation which stood here. At one time the powerstation kept a steady supply of coal trains running between Portishead and Radstock.
|
|
A couple of pics taken on 5.1.05 that show the last remains of the once quite extensive Portishead Docks railway system. The building behind is the Coastgaurd.
|
|
Beyond this spot everything had been bulldozed down several feet and all track lifted.
|
