Seeing as this is my local disused railway, I thought I could do a small research project on it!
The Portishead Railway: A Brief History
The line opened on 12 July 1867 and was extended to the docks on 5 July 1879. In 1876 Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway (GWR) took over the Bristol and Exeter Railway and operated the Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway for 40 percent of the receipts.
On 1 July 1885 the GWR bought the Portishead Railway and it became a branch line of the GWR to serve the pier and dock at Portishead, from which Brunel's steamships sailed to North America. In 1880 it was converted from the GWR's 7 ft 0â• in (2140 mm) broad gauge to standard gauge.
Below: Photograph showing the original station in Portishead during broad guage days
Reproduced from the Portishead Railway Group website
The original station in Portishead was demolished in the 1950's to make way for Portishead 'B' power station. The line was altered suitably and now instead of curving round to the north east, the line took a shorter, more direct route into a brand new station
Below: The 2nd Portishead Station in 1960
Reproduced from the Portishead Railway Group website
Image taken by J. Thorn
Passenger services were discontinued in 1964 as part of the Beeching Axe, and freight was discontinued in 1981, but the railway was not dismantled.
Below: The last passenger train leaving Portishead on 7th September 1964
Reproduced from the Portishead Railway Group website
Below: The old Pier Station building in 2004, now at the far end of a large housing estate where the power station once stood
Reproduced from the Portishead Railway Group website
More recently (2000-2002) the line has been repaired as far as Pill, and a short spur added to transport freight to and from Royal Portbury Dock.
Local politicians and organisations have been campaigning to have the remaining 3.3 miles (5.3 km) repaired and a new station constructed at Portishead. The coastal town largely serves as a dormitory town for Bristol workers, and the main route into the city, a single carriageway, the A369, is often unable to cope with the volume of commuter traffic. When current construction work is completed Portishead will be the largest settlement in the country without a link to the rail network. The Department for Transport currently do not support the proposals, estimating the costs to be too high at ú17 million, and because of scheduling complications due to its use by freight trains. The 2006-2011 Joint Local Transport Plan reserves ú1 million for the project.
Present Day
So today I drove up to the docks armed with camera and prior knowledge of the site courtesy of google maps.
The site of Portishead Docks is now under re-development as a marina and modern housing estate.
Firstly, here is a large image compiled from aerial photographs to show my travels (Can be copy and pasted into photoshop/mspaint or similar if you wish to zoom in further):
The long tramway to the north has now completely disappeared (I once bombed down this stretch at speeds resembling 50mph with a cameraman standing out of the sunroof, for a film project so this area was particularly close to my heart).
The reference points on the aerial photo show approximately where I was standing when I took them.
Photo 001 - taken looking north along the site of the tramway section, as stated this area is now slightly wet!
Photo 002 - Taken from the side of the road, so you can tell the extent of the excavations
Photo 003 - Standing in the excavated section looking south, I think the wood in the foreground is actually a sleeper that has been unearthed by the workmen as it is sunk into where the formation was
Photo 004 - about 20yards away from my previous location, still looking south, these are what I presume to be the old headshunt points before the line slews away to join the main spur
Photo 005 - A side on view of the point remains, the wooden vessel is visible from the aerial view also
Photo 007 - The road is laid over the old double track section here, and the line appears out of the ground! The fence was erected by network rail to stop access to the site
Photo 008 - On the other side of the road looking towards Portishead, the undergrowth gets extremely thick here
Photo 009 - looking back towards the road, showing how the track disappears (It has been cut neatly by oxy-acetalene)
Photo 010 - On the southern bridge site there lies this old relic
Photo 011 - The smaller bridge
Photo 012 - Looking towards the presumed 'freight' bridge
Photo 013/14 - Nestled in the undergrowth beyond the goods bridge (Looking away from the docks) are two signal posts, presumably guarding entry to the dockyard area as they sit either side of the trackbed (Which here has been lifted). The undergrowth here is in fact inpenetrable without a machete!
Anyways hope you enjoyed it thus far, will be updating it soon!
