The Bristol Railway Archive

All the windows appear to have been replaced with white PVC. They were originally metal framed. The white door was never there and it looks like this is part of an extension onto the original frontage. The view from the opposite side of the white stack clearly shows this as being the lift shaft.

The metal railings directly in front of the main windows are original.

Strange how the lamp standard appears to be leaning because the original one, which carried a road sign in advance of the 3-lamps junction was further out on the pavement. This one was bent by an Ellis and Everard lorry which was reversing off the forecourt having just made a delivery but was unable to proceed forward due to the number of cars double parked. The driver cleared off without reporting it to anyone so I contacted the council myself with his registration number. I presume someone came out to look at it but it stayed in the bent posture for as long as I can remember.

i take it - the lift is the grey looking object to the left of the main building? just one question, what signage was here originally ?

I'm trying to remember, but didn't somebody use part of the offices on a temporary basis after the depot had closed?

These pics with it all fenced off are obviously after the building went out of use, but I'm sure it had a bit of life left in it after the depot proper had shut.

Yes, the lift is the grey tower with a folding door directly behind the Jeep in photo one. Signage? That's a difficult one. I'm sure there was a nameboard at roof level but the wording escapes me. Without photographic backup, I would be guessing but it probably said something like 'Bristol Bath Road Diesel Maintenance Depot'. There must be other photos out there from the 60's to 80's.

As you know mate, theyre hard to come by. But I do remember something not on the building but on the pavement/mini carpark, wasnt it br double arrows?

There were some markings on the ground but after 30 years since I last walked through the front doors, I'm afraid the old grey matter is not retaining as much as it used to. Sorry but I think I have exhausted my knowledge on this one...apart from some anecdotal memories.

For instance the day when Terry Henley got his wife to drive him into the depot to pick up the on call van. She dropped him off then drove off the forecourt first with him following in the van. Unfortunately, as she went to pull out into the stream of traffic she hesitated and Terry ended up driving the van into the back of his own car. That would look good on a diorama and I bet it confused his insurance company.

And I was very upset one day to see the depot cat just failing to make a short cut across the main road. Fortunately it was a fatal blow so he didn't suffer.

I went past the place everyday yet I cant remember much either. I never knew FGWs policy for closing the depot. It all sounds political..... -so best not go there wink wink. The only winners were the heritage railways who came and salvaged usable equipment. All that Bristol has to offer now is Barton Hill TMD. And I think the East Lancs Rly up here has more to offer lol.

Basically too much capacity. Even in BR days, it was generally accepted that we had too many main depots on the Western Region.

It was only really suited to loco operations too, being quite a cramped site. You couldn't fit many 125s in there. So, fewer locos, no need for such a depot, sadly.

The 'local authorities' also had concerns about access to the depot in emergencies. It was only in the early 80's that the access road from the car park opposite was installed down under the bridge to the rear of the main shed. Even with this, the fire brigade would have had problems getting their equipment anywhere near the Daily Shed. As pointed out earlier, the lift from road level down to the yard was of very limited capacity and in any case, was it a wise thing to use in the event of a fire when electrical power could suddenly be lost? From an access point of view, this was quite a high risk site.

I agree fully, it was a health and safety nightmare. Fire-brigade access was impossible as we know with the fire started under the co-bo. It took them ages to reach a small fire which grew into an inferno. Like wise serious accidents would be an awfull scenario. Having said that, the loco repair turn around times were - along with Laira the fastest on the BR network.

My only input to this is that I used to use the carpark as a sneeky U turn if you came down Wells rd & wanted to go back up Bath road, it saved you going all the way down past Fowlers.

I bet the staff hated it when people did that