Bristol Bath Rd TMD .........HELP NEEDED

[gresh]

Im desperate for a photo view of the main entrance to this depot situated on Bath Road. Im planning on building a OO diaroma of this depot and would really appreciate any help, thanks in advance.

[gresh]

Does anyone know where I can find a picture then?

[Robin Summerhill]

Does anyone know where I can find a picture then?

Probably unfortunately not, otherwise somebody would have come along by now and said something I suppose the problem was that many people stood outside the main entrance or by the railings to the left, but they were either interested in going in to the depot or seeing what was going on on the running lines below.

But, having spent 7 years of my working life there, I can at least describe it.

If you stood on Bath Road looking towards it, there was a small car park to the front that went the entire length of the building, To the left, as I said earlier, there were railings through which you could see the running lines to the south of the station. I seem to remember there was a low wall in front of the car park fronting Bath Road, with an entrance to the car park at either end.

You can probably get an idea of dimensions from the many photographs that have included 82A in the background, especially those taken during the Open Days they used to have. In fact, this one might help: http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:Bat ... epot21.jpg (although Gawd knows what that white stack-like thing is to the right - it wasn't there in my day!)

To the passer by, the building itself looked like a single storey affair, but it was of course the top floor of a three storey building. The building started at the end of the railings on the northern side (ie facing the station), so formed a right angle at the point where the rest of it faced directly out onto the car park. The entire building facing the road was windows, with the exception of the entrance which was at the right angle facing out towards Bath Road.

There were also "shop-style) roller blinds over the windows, which got a lot of use in the summer, because those offices just behind the windows were like ovens in the afternoon on sunny days

As regards offices, there was the doorman's small office right next to the entrance. Behind that, there were two offices (Chief Clerk had a small one next to the doorkeeper and the rest of it was open plan - both of these were accessed from a central corriddoor that ran virtually the length of the building. If I remember rightly, there were three offices looking out onto the shed (housing Terry Henly, Ken Watkins and Basil Edwards when I was there), whilst the Depot Engineer had his own office looking out onto both the station and the shed in the far corner on that side. At each end of the building there were staircases, but these could not be seen from the outside.

I hope that helps, and anybody who has a better memory than me is quite welcome to add their four-pennorth

[jules]

(although Gawd knows what that white stack-like thing is to the right - it wasn't there in my day!)

Probably a serious extractor system to take all the hot air out of a certain gentleman's office!

I might be able to get a photo of the front of the office building given a bit of time ... my memory tells me it was typical 50s/60s steel and glass frontage, styled similarly to my old school nearby (but single storey only of course):



That building also got unbelievably hot during the summer.

[the green mile]

The staircases at either end were there because there was planned to be another floor above but no idea why it was never added. I'm sure the external wall panelling was in a light blue as in the picture above.

To the left of the main door was another small office where the Technical Officers lived and just around the corner to the left of that was the kitchen. In the window at this point was a display board filled up with black and white photos of locos. These could be purchased from the depot engineer's office. I suspect with some confidence that they were all taken by Terry Nicholls who worked in the Divisional Maintenance Engineer's office in Collett House.

Between the left hand end of the building and the railings overlooking the yard and station was a lift. I believe this was installed as a means of moving a potential casualty up to the forecourt to a waiting ambulance as there was originally no road access down to the shop floor level. However it was not big enough to take a stretcher lying down and was generally used for moving stores deliveries which increasingly came in by road when the Enparts service by rail was wound down.

The main entrance door to the building was in two parts. The left hand side was a normal solid hinged door in dark blue. The right hand side was a double folding door giving wider access again for deliveries. If only I had a pound for every time I walked through those doors....

The admin offices occupied the centre portion of the block. The extreme right hand office was a classroom ruled over by a gentleman by the name of George Longley. Now he was a legend!

[stopblock]

I will ask on a couple of facebook groups associated with British Rail lots of pictures so worth a shot.

[the green mile]

Now I've read Robin's reply properly, the white stack at the right hand end of this shot is the lift shaft. Not sure about the grey trunking but it appears to come from the first floor where the mess room was located. It covered the whole of that floor. I don't think it was anything to do with the domestic boiler for the building as that was located at the other end.

The collection of vehicles on the forecourt on any particular day varied but was always a source of conflict between the Depot Engineer and the running side. Generally there would be the workabus, the management's cars, a Bedford HA on call van (yellow), stores pick up truck later replaced with a HGV, and numerous cars belonging to drivers who seemed to assume they had a right to park in any vacant space. This caused conflict on many an occasion when lorries delivering stores could not get in clear off the main road. If we are talking late 60's, pride of place went to the Depot Engineer Len Olver's metallic blue Mark 10 Jaguar registration number 666 TAE. A decade later, we were looking at the Depot Engineer's white Morris Marina and Terry Henley's red Simca 1300.

[Robin Summerhill]

In the window at this point was a display board filled up with black and white photos of locos. These could be purchased from the depot engineer's office. I suspect with some confidence that they were all taken by Terry Nicholls who worked in the Divisional Maintenance Engineer's office in Collett House.

Not all of them - I've got the full set

After all these years I've forgotten the details - was it the Railway Convalescent Homes that got the proceeds?

[Robin Summerhill]

....the first floor where the mess room was located. It covered the whole of that floor.

Except the far southern end where there were at least one, possibly two, other small rooms. I know because I spent the night in one on New Years Eve 1971

What happened was ......

This was in the days before New Year's Day was a Bank Holiday, and I was booked early turn in the Time Office on New Years Day 1972. At the time I lived in a bedsit on George Hill Totterdown with 5 other lads, all of whom were Rolls Royce apprentices. They had gone out for a New Year's Eve bladdering, and got back at about 0100, waking me up in the process. After about 15 minutes it became clear that I was getting no more kip in my bed that night so I went to work about four and a half hours early.

The Running Foreman that night was Jack Hares. On hearing my story, he "put me up" in one of those rooms, complete with a bolster for a pillow, and even came in and woke me up at 0530!

[the green mile]

I believe you are correct about the Convalescent Home. I remember the milkman came in one day and asked for a full set for his son's birthday. Pat Hogan diligently went through the boxes to sort them out only for the milkman to come in next day to say he had changed his mind. Pat wasn't best pleased when he had to put them all back. I think they were 10p each or was it 20p?

Any idea who the other photographers could have been?

The south end of the mess room is where the kitchen area was if I recall. Probably never even noticed the fact that there were extra rooms there.

The area under the stairs by the top floor kitchen was a little Alladin's cave. There were boxes of those Diesel Enginemen's Traction Manuals all brand new. Also a number of black bags full of pornography turned up there at one point. They belonged to a certain Irish foreman who had to find a temporary home for them when his wife's sister was coming to stay, as the story goes.

[jules]

We've still got some relics from Bath Road at Williton. Including yard fencing, the shed road flashing warning arrows and several rather larger items that probably to this day are best to remain shrouded by the mists of time!

[Robin Summerhill]

I think they were 10p each or was it 20p?

Sixpence each when I got mine

The south end of the mess room is where the kitchen area was if I recall. Probably never even noticed the fact that there were extra rooms there.

Yes the kitchen was down there. This thread has turned rather away from the shape of the building for modelling to personal recollections of the place, but it is odd what you do remember and what you don't. Certainly it was easy to walk past those rooms without realising they were there because, of course, you would be going in to make the tea or whatever and the important bit that you were aiming for was right in front of you!

I couldn't remember the layout to the left of the main entrance, and I still can't. There was a reception room outside the Depot Engineer's office where the typists sat, and there was also a small room there somewhere that housed a huge photocopier (it might have been "state of the art" at the time but "the time" was 40+ years ago!). There was also an old fashioned copying machine in there as well, but the memory is blank over whether you accessed that from the corriddor or through the typists office.

Also a number of black bags full of pornography turned up there at one point. They belonged to a certain Irish foreman who had to find a temporary home for them when his wife's sister was coming to stay, as the story goes.

Ah the memories

We did quite well in the Time Office and the Omniprinter Office for that sort of thing, as guards used to go through their terminating trains and "liberate" the stuff that had been left behind on the trains. Presumably the blokes who bought it didn't want to take it home for their wives to see

I've still got some of those "Mayfair" magazines now - those women are now probably grandmothers, and certainly at least in their 60s

And if the "Irish Foreman" is the one I'm thinking of (and we only had one as I recall .....) I'm not sure what he would have wanted the stuff for, as his reputation for "getting the real thing" was legendary

[the green mile]

The gentleman concerned was a relief maintenance foreman. No doubt we can talk about this further on Monday evening.

I have just ferreted around in the loft and found a few old photos from the 60's taken with my dad's Box Brownie between Montpelier and Barrow Road. Poor quality but of historical interest. What I was actually looking for was a photo of Ivatt 2-6-2T no. 41241 on the KWVR which I took in 1972 when I was based in Doncaster Works. This was my one and only trip along the line and I was quite taken aback to see an ex Barrow Road loco 43924 in the museum there. Am I correct in saying that she is now a runner?

[Robin Summerhill]

I was quite taken aback to see an ex Barrow Road loco 43924 in the museum there. Am I correct in saying that she is now a runner?

Yes. And Ralph Ingham and the rest of the 55F men will probably give us chapter and verse on the matter on Monday

[gresh]

Ive been sent some pictures of the depot entrance sited on the A4 Bath Rd by Tim Venton, who has kindly allowed me to use them on here. These may bring back a few memories for those who worked there (robin) and anyone like me who's mad enough to want to build it ! Once again many thanks to Tim ! - see my next post for the pics