The Bristol Railway Archive

Greetings All

I have joined this group as I have fond memories of travelling out of Temple Meads along the old Staple Hill / Mangotsfield line on my way up to Birmingham when going up to university, and also travelling the other end in Scotland from Leuchars Jn. along the (also long defunct) St.Andrews branch line.

I can remember that the train leaving TM (~0830) used to go out via Staple Hill (I remember the tunnel !) and I can remember that suddenly (Jan '70 I gather) the train started going up out via Ashley Down / Filton - nowhere near as pretty a line !

I walked along a bit of the line / cycle track, from Mangotsfield station back through the tunnel, a few months ago and it brought back a lot of memories.

Q. But ... did passenger trains FROM Birmingham always come in via the Staple Hill line while it was open ?

And ... if anyone has any old BR WR Passenger Timetables (or Scottish Region) of that era (1967-71) I would love to know if they could find some of the old times for me.

The reason they stopped suddenly was a landslip on the line through Fishponds in between TM and Staple Hill. As far as i am aware nearly everything to Birmingham went via Mangotsfield, the connecting line at Westerleigh was predominantly for goods coming from the midlands going to Stoke Gifford and beyond. which had to be upgraded when the landslip closed the Mangotsfield line.

In the 50's, there were MR trains to Birmingham New Street that went through Fishponds and WR trains to Snow Hill via Stratford-on-avon that went via Filton. I remember a trip to Birmingham going out the WR way and back the MR way.

This may sound like a stupid question for someone who's been here so long, but how did the LMS route get into Temple Meads? There's pretty much an arrow-straight route from the Lawrence Hill bridge, past the Binliner depot, to Avon Street, but that of course is nothing more than a former industrial yard below the Temple Meads track level.

As you go out of TM in the Up direction to London / Filton, look to your left just before the EWS Depot at Barton Hill (where the row of 37's is stabled). What you are seeing is the old Midland mainline curving away to the left.

Of course, it all changed once they built the Causeway. See Bristol Barrow road on this site!

I also remember getting a train that went from bristol to snow hill through mangotsfield, i actually got on it at mangotsfield, oh the memories. I am sure that later even a lot of the western services were going through mangotsfiled, i can remember the "cornishman" going through mangotsfiled. what ever way they went whether by filton or by mangotsfield, at least there was an alternate route. i bet they regret the day they decided to close that line, just think how much pressure it would take off of filton bank.

As to were the line went on its way out of TM as has been said through the EWS depot and then through the Bingo shed at the side of the ring road, over the western line at Lawrence Hill and on to Fishponds.

The OS Map on this site shows the route (dated 1919), plus it also has an overlay of a modern map.

http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html

They wish they hadn't reduced it to two tracks in the '80's aswell!

They'll have to put 'em back sooner or later. Or even better, re-open the old Midland.

Oops, can't possibly do that, it's a cycle track now!

jules wrote:As you go out of TM in the Up direction to London / Filton, look to your left just before the EWS Depot at Barton Hill (where the row of 37's is stabled). What you are seeing is the old Midland mainline curving away to the left.

Of course, it all changed once they built the Causeway. See Bristol Barrow road on this site!

I see! Development has once again obliterated all trace of the route.

Nearly all!

Though if you look at this aerial pic you can see the route, the branch off Days rd works goes under the spine rd but then the road between Barrow rd & Peters terrace is clearly bang on the line, also can be seen as is the wall that marks where it joined the main line. Have a scroll about:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c ... &encType=1

But yea, theres not much to really see.

The Midland rote to Temple Meads (and much else of interest) is clear on this extract from an 1887 print. http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/1887.jpg

jolly47roger wrote:The Midland rote to Temple Meads (and much else of interest) is clear on this extract from an 1887 print. http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/1887.jpg

Thanks for posted that jolly47roger, a very interesting print.

One thing I did notice though was that the Royate Hill viaduct and the 13 Arches viaduct have both gained an extra arch.

The pointy bit of the old Barrow Road (now truncated) used to go right over to Lawrence Hill on the map. It was on a low viaduct that crossed the enitrety of the loco shed and there was always tons to see there!

Especially from the top of a no 16 or 36 bus. That trip was always a highlight of my childhood, just to see the depot. Alas now all swept away.