This is the original forum of the Bristol Railway Archive that existed between 2003 and 2013. I finally rescued it after it seemed unrecoverable after a large crash. I have made it available for viewing. It is locked, all posts to the new version please!
Use this forum to talk about the railways in and around Bristol, or for any off-topic stuff you want to share. Also request photos and information that you are missing.
Robin Summerhill wrote:
There was a "Lowbridge" version of the Bristol K which had a sunken footwell on the right hand side upstairs and bench seats seating 4, but they were never particularly popular for some reason. There were small numbers of them working out of Stroud and Bath depots, and I don't ever remember seeing one in Bristol
On the contrary Robin not sad just a font of knowledge, at the risk of going off subject, I do remember my grandfather who was a BOC country services driver telling me that the crew's nickname for the "K" with a four seats across was a "Skittle Alley" Now at the time we lived in Wells and I can remember travelling on these buses on the Service 27. Whether these were garaged at Wells or Bristol I would not know but they would have gone into Prince Street. But to get back on subject, I suspect the reason for using this type of bus on that service, was because of the Railway Bridge on the A37 as you started the descent into Pensford (Pensford Station was off to your right) which was also quite low on the Bristol side at least and possibly a girder bridge. I dont recall whether the bridge at the bottom of Hursley Hill was low but in the back of my mind this might have been a stone structure. Any one else got a better memory than me?
Surprisingly, since I posted that I had an email from an ex Bristol bus driver who confirmed that nickname! He told me they were unpopular with passengers because of the bench seats and it was not easy to get out of a window seat and fight your way past three other passengers on a full bus.
Whilst I knew that Princes Street was the terminus for many country services prior to Bristol Bus Station opening in 1958, I was only six at that time so I have no recollection of what buses were being used. But, as you say, before the introduction of the Lodekkas then the choice was either a Lowbridge or a single decker, so it would be reasonable to conclude that they were used on the 27s because of the low bridges on the North Somerset line. If that was the case, then some must have been based in Bristol at the time because the workings were shared between Bristol and Wells garages.
PS - I've mentioned the North Somerset line in the paragraph above, and the 27 bus served (amongst other places) Whitchurch, Pensford, Clutton and Faringdon Gurney, so I feel that this discussion is on-topic!!!!
Totally off the original topic here, but in-line with where it has been heading ....
I remember older versions of BOC single decker Bristol buses (MW) in service during the early '70's being used on the CCC (City Centre Circle) and No 19 Bristol City service (Ashton - Fishponds if I recall correctly).
As school kids, we called these buses "Spaceships". No idea where we got that name from, but perhaps our former Bristol bus driver can confirm or deny it as a true nickname ....
When I first worked the 6-10pm m Yatton to Bristol via Frome I remember seeing old private wagons stabled on the closed Camerton jct,this was in1950.ah those were the days!
I have heard the nickname "Spaceships" from my Grandfather, but can't remember if they referred to the "MW" or the earlier "LS". But didnt the Bristol "L" type, like the "K" just look like the smartest bus ever built.
StrawberryLine wrote:I have heard the nickname "Spaceships" from my Grandfather, but can't remember if they referred to the "MW" or the earlier "LS". But didnt the Bristol "L" type, like the "K" just look like the smartest bus ever built.
Just a thought - the more rounded (streamlined) appearance of the Ms would, I suspect, be more likely to attract the nickname of "Spaceship."
I have a difficulty in imagining Captain Kirk exploring the universe in something that looked like a half cab Bristol K or L
Robin Summerhill wrote: I lived in Stockwood from 1964 to 1970. The bridge over West Town Lane was not a small stone archway
Thats interesting, If you saw it then of course you know what it was like but the pic I found in a book in the old Industrial museum, I cant remember what it was called but it wasnt a specific railway book, more like Bristol in the 50's type book, it showed it looking similar to the bridge on Manston Close (pic on here) only it was larger.
Robin Summerhill wrote: I lived in Stockwood from 1964 to 1970. The bridge over West Town Lane was not a small stone archway
Thats interesting, If you saw it then of course you know what it was like but the pic I found in a book in the old Industrial museum, I cant remember what it was called but it wasnt a specific railway book, more like Bristol in the 50's type book, it showed it looking similar to the bridge on Manston Close (pic on here) only it was larger.
We need a photo!
And I've been trawling the internet all weekend trying to find one, without success because, to be 100% honest, I took a bit of a flyer by saying it was a girder bridge!
What is certain, however, was that it was not a small stone archway. A Lodekka bus could get under it but a "full" size Bristol K couldn't. In addition, it was wide enough for two vehicles to pass underneath it.
So in truth it could have been a girder bridge, or a wide stone arch bridge. It is always a problem with things like this - you take no particular notice of them when they are there and then you can't remember for certain exactly what they looked like after they've gone!
Regarding the course of the Railway around the North Somerset Junction, Colin Maggs book "Rail Centres Bristol" published 1981, has a schematic map of the Bristol Temple Meads area and it shows that the North Somerset Line came off at Marsh Junction but it also shows an earlier alignment presumably which would have come off at the aptly named North Somerset Junction. The contents page also shows a picture of Brislington Station with a prairie tank and two coaches in the platform.
Robin Summerhill wrote: I lived in Stockwood from 1964 to 1970. The bridge over West Town Lane was not a small stone archway
Thats interesting, If you saw it then of course you know what it was like but the pic I found in a book in the old Industrial museum, I cant remember what it was called but it wasnt a specific railway book, more like Bristol in the 50's type book, it showed it looking similar to the bridge on Manston Close (pic on here) only it was larger.
We need a photo!
And I've been trawling the internet all weekend trying to find one, without success because, to be 100% honest, I took a bit of a flyer by saying it was a girder bridge!
What is certain, however, was that it was not a small stone archway. A Lodekka bus could get under it but a "full" size Bristol K couldn't. In addition, it was wide enough for two vehicles to pass underneath it.
So in truth it could have been a girder bridge, or a wide stone arch bridge. It is always a problem with things like this - you take no particular notice of them when they are there and then you can't remember for certain exactly what they looked like after they've gone!
Just a bit more on this - I said that two vehicles could pass underneath the bridge and, although traffic along West Town Lane was perhaps quieter then than it is now, I do not recall ever being on a bus that had to wait for something to come the other way before it could pass through.
If it was a stone arch bridge, then double decker buses would have to go under it fairly centrally, so there would be times when they would have to wait for other vehicles to clear the road.
This thought now takes my confidence rating that it was in fact a girder bridge up a little!
Talking of MWs, one of the Lawrence Hill allocated specimens that I used to travel home from Rodway School on used to have "What a Conker Box" scrawled in the cab...
Just one final point - Hallatrow was of course the junction for the Limpley Stoke branch. Perhaps somebody knows when it was lifted between Hallatrow and Camerton, but it was certainly before my time, as the remaining Camerton to Limpley Stoke section was lifted just after they filmned "The Titfield Thunderbolt" on it in 1952
From memory Hallatrow to Camerton closed 1932 and although Camerton to Limpley Stoke closed 1951 after Camerton Colliery shut I dont think track lifting was done until 1958.
There are two excellent books on the Frome to Bristol Line "Through Countryside and Coalfield (OPC) by MIke Vincent which goes into tremendous detail and has a fantastic selection of photographs and the Middleton Press Country Railway Routes Book Frome to Bristol which traces the route very well with maps and photos but in common with all their books is light on factual written content.
I used to live close to West Town Lane bridge in THe late 50s & early 60s.I remember it as a stone arch bridge, with just room for two cars to pass. There was a white marker board in the centre of the arch directing busses & high vehicules to the centre of the road. I didn't take much notice of the trains in thoes days, was more interested in collecting slow worms that lived on the embankment.
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