Filton Railway Chords

jules · Post by **jules** » Thu May 10, 2012 5:04 pm

That settles it then! Failing memory

Shovel · Post by **Shovel** » Thu May 10, 2012 5:05 pm

jules wrote:Which raises the question - before the curve was put in, where did the Monkey Specials reverse? Stoke Gifford? Or maybe even Stapleton Road or TM?

Monkey Specials reversed at Stoke Gifford Down Yard but also at Stapleton Road. When reversal at Stapleton Road took place the special worked via Filton Junction- Fliton West.
One Monkey Special reversed at Filton Junction due to problems at Stoke Gifford(If memory serves me right they had wagons off the road at Stoke Gifford West).

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Thu May 10, 2012 5:08 pm

Just in case anybody is thinking that it might be me having a "senior moment" here, as I said back in May 2009 I've still got a log of this run of the special to Aberystwyth on Sunday 8th August 1971. The log of the return run looks like this (to the nearest minute because you can't type fractions onto a PC all that easily!):

Aberystwyth 1836 Train engine D210
Machynlleth 1909-1912 waiting line clear and token
Cemmes Road 1923-1927 waiting line clear and token
Newtown 1959-2005 waiting line clear and token
Shrewsbury outer home signal stop 2051-2100
Shrewsbury 2103-2109 D210 replaced by D1633
Hereford 2205-2207 crew relief
Pontypool Road 2245 pass
Maindee East 2258 pass
Patchway 2320-2321
North Filton 2325 pass
Hallen Marsh 2337 pass
Avonmouth Dock 2342-2348 driver taking instructions from signal box
Shirehampton 2351-2352
Sea Mills 2357-2358
Clifton Down 0002-0005
Redland 0007-0008
Mopntpelier 0011-0012
Stapleton Road 0016-0017
Lawrence Hill 0020-0021
BTM 0025

As I am sure you will appreciate, it would have been difficult for D1633 to run round its train at Parkway/ Stoke Gifford (as it still was then) or Filton, and still get from Patchway to North Filton in four minutes. It took 6 minutes to detach D210 and attach D1633 at Shrewsbury, and that was without running round

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Thu May 10, 2012 5:10 pm

madhattie wrote:From a certain Bristol railway website... 'This section of line is known as the Patchway Curve. It came into use on 22nd February 1971, although it has been marked on maps since the 1920s. '

If I hadn't been blowing the dust off an old notebook and typing at the time you posted, I could have saved myself some time

Post by **madhattie** » Thu May 10, 2012 5:54 pm

Robin Summerhill wrote:If I hadn't been blowing the dust off an old notebook and typing at the time you posted, I could have saved myself some time

If I'd have remembered that the information was on the website way back at the start of the thread I could have saved everyone a lot of typing!

stantheman · Post by **stantheman** » Thu May 10, 2012 7:37 pm

madhattie wrote:From a certain Bristol railway website... 'This section of line is known as the Patchway Curve. It came into use on 22nd February 1971, although it has been marked on maps since the 1920s. '

The 1902/04 map on 'Bristol - Know Your Place' shows the course of the chord with 'Railway Under Construction'.

mjt · Post by **mjt** » Fri May 11, 2012 2:48 pm

jules wrote:Which raises the question - before the curve was put in, where did the Monkey Specials reverse? Stoke Gifford? Or maybe even Stapleton Road or TM?

The Monkey Specials reversed at Pilning (& came through Severn Beach), Stoke Gifford (& via Henbury), or Stapleton Road (& via Montpelier). The return journey was usually by the same route - but this not always the case. In particular, the records I have here (for 1963) shew that there there were no return journeys through Severn Beach. Steam locos were changed but it seems diesels (Hymeks & Westerns generally) ran-round their trains & worked through to Clifton Down.

My local station in the 1960s was Clifton Down & I often called in there on my way home from school so I can remember these specials well & the long processions snaking their way back to the station. The number & length of trains some days was remarkable. On Friday May 24 1963 there were 5: from Reading, Bridgend (reversing Pilning out/StokeG back), Tip Phil (Pilning/SG), Gowerton (Stapleton Rd both ways). & Torrington. The number of coaches are reported to be 11, 12, 13, 13, & 11 respectively. The departures from CD were somehow all accomodated between 5.40pm & 6.50pm. To have 2 non-Welsh excursions on the same day was unusual - but during 1963 there were also excursions from Wadebridge (5 July) & Leominster (8 July).

All this comes from an article in a recent edition of 'Pannier' - the Great Western Study Group's journal. What surprised me (my memory has obviously let me down) is the amount of double-heading that occurred on the branch. The article has photos showing Hall + County, 2 * Halls, Castle + 38xx. But what really caught my eye was the reported use of 7802 + 5921 on an Aberdare excursion on 21 June. A Manor through Clifton Down! I wish I'd seen that!

Trains from the south of Bristol obviously didn't have to reverse & the locomotive could work all the way through to CD. The writer reported seeing a West Country returning with a Portsmouth excursion from his house overlooking Montpelier on one occasion.