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.
Further to my earlier post on this thread about the 1430 Paddington to Bristol via Devizes in 1959, I've just checked that timetable and found that I lied - it left at 1435 and went through to Weston
For anybody interested in this example of how the railway used to be just over 50 years ago, here are the public times from the 1959 timetable, plus info from the working time table from the same time west of Bedwyn:
The train was shown in the WTT as being "4 star" between Newbury and Bristol which probably suggested that a "Castle" would have been used on it.
So there you are - it was once possible to get a through train from Woodborough to Puxton & Worle and have a "Castle" on the sharp end as far as Bristol
It's true that XC would take a share of the revenue generated between Bath and Bristol, but with just the one train a day, that amount would be miniscule. It's more likely that XC saw the potential for through passengers from Bath to the north and would keep all the revenue from Advance tickets sold for that train.
Quite by chance yesterday at Reading, whilst waiting to take 1O22 on down to Bournemouth, I noticed that FGW run a Paddington - Bradford On Avon train, leaving Reading at 17.38 and calling at most B&H stations to Pewsey, then Trowbridge and BOA. Presumably this continues on to Bristol, but of course would not be advertised as such at Reading.
That will be 1C90 the 1706 ex Paddington using a HST and calling at:-
Twyford, Reading, Theale, Thatcham, Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon, Bath Spa and Bristol TM arriving at 1937. It was introduced last year.
It misses out Westbury to avoid reversing which would then necessitate a further reversal via Parkway to put it right way round on the Marsh.
