After the last days of Barrow Road

[Marsh'Un]

Robin

I must admit that I was only denied access to SPM on the 1 occasion.

Climbed the steps to the yard, and the place seemed to be stacked full - a line of engines going way past the coal stage to beyond the signal box. Unfortunately, we got "spotted" by the foreman straight away.

I believe that it was a weekend in 1963/64 and a national rail strike was on at the time - Can anyone come up with a possible date ?

Also recall on another occasion a near close encounter with a British Transport bobby, but managed to hide behind a WD !

[trafalgar45682]

I was never asked to leave St Philips Marsh, although I did it many times from mid 61 until closure in June 64. Always went in by the back entrance where the coaling plant was.

Went around Barrow Road many more times than the Marsh, sometimes three times a day to collect information from the Roster Board. Always went down the steps at the front of the shed. If there were engines in the freight line blocking the view of the foreman's office, I would go straight into the shed. If not, I would cut through the carriage sidings on the right and go into the shed from the back. Foreman Cowley sometimes asked me to leave (threw me out), but the other management seemed to turn a blind eye.

On the day of the strike, I didn't go around as even the back entrance on Days Road Bridge had a policeman on the other side.

I hope you all had a two minute silence yesterday as it was the 46th anniversary of the closure of Barrow Road.

Some of the photo's of the last day which you may have seen before are here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bristolste ... 5157165429

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bristolste ... 5157165429

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bristolste ... 5157165429

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bristolste ... 5157165429

Hardly great photos, but they do reflect the miserable and sombre occasion of the end of steam in Bristol

[the green mile]

Marsh'Un, I stand corrected, it was no.12.

I remember those prefabs well. Were you living there when Eastville Park was flooded. I think it was '68. And what about when the viaduct over Stapleton Road was dynamited to make way for the M32?

[Bill]

I remember Barrow Road as well, probably 1961-62.

We used to walk over there if a day on Temple Meads at the London end proved tedious. Out of the station, along by The Feeder (always seemed tedious), through a series of back streets and up Barrow Road. The railway bridge that crossed the middle of the yard was our favourite place, we would jump up on top of the brick parapet and look down on things, then cross the road and do the same on the other side. How high was that parapet? Always a challenge for me at that age.

Do I remember correctly that there was a mechanical coaling plant on the east side, that made a distinctive crunching sound when in operation?

[the green mile]

There was a coaling plant and an ash handling plant. They were described in detail in British Railways Illustrated Summer Special no.8 published in 1999 by the Irwell Press. The coaling plant was the larger of the two and furthest away from the viaduct.

As a teenager. I spent many a happy hour with my pals on the swings in Atchley Park directly in front of the coaler.

The parapet walls of the viaduct were just a bit too high to see over so probably somewhere between 5 and 6 foot. If you held on to the top by your fingertips, you could just pull yourself up to glance over but then you had to explain why the toes of your shoes were all scuffed. I don't think trainers had beeen invented then. If your parents were flush,you probably had a pair of 'daps' which were less prone to such damage.

[jules]

As a teenager. I spent many a happy hour with my pals on the swings in Atchley Park directly in front of the coaler.

Where was Atchley Park? Did it have another name? The only park I know near that location is Gaunts Ham Park - Same place maybe?

[the green mile]

Atchley Park was what we referred to as the hard fenced in area with the swings, roundabout and maypole directly in front of the coaling stage. It may not have been its proper name but it was at the end of Atchley St and opposite Atchley Tools. Gaunts Ham was the proper park with grass, trees and shrubs about a hundred yards to the east. In between was a large open space, tarmaced over, which served as an improvised football pitch. That's one where you put your jackets on the ground to represent goalposts. The Health and Safety brigade would probably have it all banned these days playing on such a hard surface. I had my fair share of grazed knees and hands.

[Marsh'Un]

The prefabs are still in Averay Rd, although they have been completely rebuilt. We moved to Fishponds in late 1966, but I can recall the allotments behind the Merchants Arms being flooded during Xmas/New Year 1965-66.
The 13 Arches were demolished on a Sunday afternoon sometime during 1968 - My memories are of standing in Eastville Park on a dismal day, not being able to see very much through the trees between the arches and the edge of the cordoned off area.
The following afternoon I went down to the corner of Muller Rd/Stapleton
Rd with a few mates from Greenbank School. One almost-complete arch was still standing, along with one or two piers.
The Clifton Extension line had closed in June 1965, and the building of the Parkway (M32) sealed the fate of a magnificent railway viaduct.

Visits to Barrow Road often began from this area, catching the No 83 bus to the 2nd railway bridge at Lawrence Hill.
Down Hemmings Parade,Tenby Street, Gaunts Ham Park, Atcheley Park (which always seemed to be deserted), Robert Street, Barrow Road and a quick dash down the steps into the shed yard.

One particularly fond memory is of buying my very first Ian Allan "Combined" in Max Wililams`premises on Lawrence Hill - What an Aladdins cave that shop was !

[the green mile]

Ah yes! Max and his good lady wife ran the model shop and I believe it was his son who looked after the bike shop next door. I too bought my first ABC there =10/6d if I remember correctly. Had a blue cover with an A4 on it - must have been about '63.

[Marsh'Un]

Green Mile
The Combined Volume you refer to was dated Spring '63.
Although I had one or two of the regional abc`s, I did not acquire my first Combined until early 1964 - The one with a cover photo of a County "under the wall" at Penzance. Price 11/6d - a lot of pocket money in those days !

Just had another look at the images from Trafalgar featured earlier in this thread. Nice "mood" photography of a very sad occasion.
I cannot recall my final visit, but I guess that the last weeks were so depressing that the shed visits tailed off. Must say I have no regrets on
missing the last rites.

On the weekend following Barrow Road's closure, The Seekers got to No.1 in the UK singles chart. The song title perfectly summed up the demise of 82E - "The Carnival is Over "

[the green mile]

I only started spotting in about '61 using the softback regional ABC for the WR. I think it was a combined issue with the SR. The bug must have bitten quite quickly to have progressed onto the Combined Volume so quickly, especially as they were relatively expensive. I bought one every year thereafter and I remember the one with the County on the cover.
Plenty of LMR locos were underlined but not a great deal in the ER section.

[Robin Summerhill]

Plenty of LMR locos were underlined but not a great deal in the ER section.

Which underlines (pardon the pun) for me why the hobby was so much fun in the 60s. OK, Standards were rather uniquitous (up to a point), but you had to put yourself out to go and see different things, because they wouldn't come to you.

I know there were other examples, but the only ex-LNE engines I ever saw at Bristol were Mallard on 17th March 1963, plus B1s on average once a fortnight or so.

Southern engines were a rarity in Bristol (WCs, BBs and the odd Q round the Marsh, as I recall) but if you got yourself off to Salisbury or to a lesser extent Reading or Templecombe, you couldn't move for them

Fancy O2s working with pre-grouping stock on passenger trains? Better get off to the Isle of Wight then - you'd not see it anywhere else.

Similarly, the Midland 0-4-0Ts shunting Gloucester docks. You'd wait a long time to see one of those on 82E, so travel up to Eastgate to see them and, while standing on the north end of the platform, see the Collett 0-4--2s on the Chalford auto trains, or the odd Manor arriving from Hereford (another class you didn't see much of in Bristol)

Nostalgia's not what it used to be ....

[the green mile]

Robin, I was there as well in 1963. What a miserable wet day it turned out to be. I was one of the scrawny kids stood near the smokebox in the photo which appeared on the front page of the Evening Post. Dad ordered a copy and I kept it for decades. No idea where it ended up - too many house moves since. I was also there when Alan Pegler turned up with his new acquisition 'Flying Scotsman'. Was that '65?. Totally confused as to why we could not find 4472 in our ABC's. The complexities of how the 'Big 4' became BR had yet to be discovered.

[the green mile]

Going back to Max Williams' shop, I was quite shocked to pass by one day only to find it had been converted into a Machine Mart. What happened to Max? He looked to be well beyond normal retirement age the last time I saw him probably in the 80's.

When I lived in Barrow Road, my train set had to go into storage. Not due to a lack of space but because the house had no electric. It was gas and coal powered. If only Hornby had been around with their current day live steam. But then there was a 'train set' to kill for just along the road!

[Marsh'Un]

Have a look at the following website;
www.flickriver.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/5377223055.
Interesting history of Max Williams and his shop.

Re the 1st visit of `Scotsman` to Bristol, I have a hunch that the year was 1963, vague recollection of being at BTM on the day.
Also recall being at Patchway in 1965, expecting to see `Scotsman` work through on the Railway Magazines` special from Paddington to Swansea (?) Unfortunately the A3 failed at Swindon - the sight of a Hymek hauling a rake of Pullman stock was somewhat disappointing....
However, a "Panda Pullman" ran to a similar schedule later in the year, managed to catch 4472 then.

I missed seeing 60022 at BTM in`63, but did see 45552 `Silver Jubilee` which worked in on a RCTS special the same year. I believe that the special was run to mark the closure of the Cheddar Valley line. The train apparently headed for Cheddar from TM behind a pair of prairie tanks - 45552 was parked up on display in the bay platform adjacent to the old fish dock.