The Bristol Railway Archive

Back in the late 70's I recall a friend and I investigating the "other" side of the Avonmouth-Henbury-Filton line as it passed through Hallen (near the site of the former Hallen Halt). This is a very inaccessible area, owing to all the oil storage installations in the vicinity - I'll leave it to your imagination as to how we got over there.

Digging around in the bushes just before Hallen bridge (Ison Hill), we were astonished to find an old siding connection running along the side of the hill. We followed it and emerged in a fenced off oil terminal, complete with three or four siding roads, buildings and oil discharge pipes, all complete, but totally abandoned and overgrown. The connection to the main line had been removed, but it could easily have been re-installed.

This place had the eerie feeling of being one of those lost places, that nobody knew was there and where nobody had been for years. My memory is such that it is almost like the place never existed - was I having a dream?

Anyway, I recently got to thinking about these sidings and took a look at the aerial map of the area on multimap. See here:

http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?c ... db=freegaz

At the bottom of the pictutre, you can see the Avonmouth-Filton line and to the south of it, a triangular area of trees. There is a definite curve running away from the main line - could this be the lost sidings of Hallen? Are they still in place? Click south on the aerial pic and you can see even more.

I have never heard anybody make reference to these sidings. My mother (now 90), who grew up in Hallen, says she thinks there was something there, but can't remember what.

I intend soon to go back to Hallen and try gain access to the area and will post here as to how I get on. But meanwhile, if anybody else can shed any light on this strange, lost place, I'd be grateful

All sounds very interesting, and I'm looking forward to an udate if you get down there and have a look around (make sure you take a camera )

Looking on a current OS map and there is indeed a small strip of land at this location that looks like it once connected to the mainline. Fortunately, there's also a footpath that crosses the northern section of whatever it is so a visit should be possible.

Perhaps this location is part of the wartime usage that Hallen Halt was reopened for? A secret military base?

My memory wasn't playing tricks with me. I went back to Hallen yesterday and found the site of the old oil sidings which I remember stumbling across some 25 years ago!

Sadly, there is not a lot there now. Back in the70's it was all in place, oil pipes, waggon stands, electrics, buildings, track, but it was all becoming overgrown and rusting gently away. At some time in the last 25 years, the track has been lifted, the discharge stands cut down and buildings demolished.

But what does remain is the boundary fence, the earthworks and some very strange concrete structures to the south of the sidings. The fence is crumbling away in many places, so access is relatively easy. Whilst an attempt has been made to place barbed wire where the fence has fallen down, this looks more like the efforts of the local farmer to keep animals out, rather than people.

How to get there:

Drive down Hallen Road towards Hallen from Bristol and turn left into Windmill Lane. Follow this road and take the second right into Hill End Drive. At the end of this road you will find a small cul-de-sac called, I think, Darley Drive or Close. In front of you, between the houses, you will find a five-bar gate with a conreted lane leading down through a small valley.

Climb over this gate (it's easy) and follow the lane down into the valley. At the bottom of the valley, the lane levels out - this is where the short branch to the sidings crossed the footpath. To your right and left, you will see old sets of gates (or rather their posts) that closed off the sidings and the branch from the main line from the footpath. (I guess the footpath was the pedestrian access to these sidings). You can also see the old wartime style fence that still surrounds the entire site.

Following the footpath further down, you come into a field and to your left, the fence runs along both this and the next field up. Access is possible at several points, though there is not a lot to see within the depot apart from some old earthworks and a few rotting sleepers and a few cut-off girders based in concrete. The depot was actually more extensive than I remembered and from the second field, you can walk right to the end of the cutting that was the end of the sidings (could this have been a headshunt?). I never realised that this depot actually extended quite a long way into the hill in a deep cutting at it's Lawrence Weston end). On the multimap link in my last post, the entire cheese shaped triangular area of trees is actually the area of the old oil depot.

Returning to the bottom of the lane that runs down the valley, walk down the edge of the field towards thge main line. This triangualr area, set between the main line and the line of the old branch to the oil sidings, contains three very large and very strange concrete structures, formed of lots of concrete ribs running horizontal to each other, about 50 yds long. I have no idea what these were - could it be the tops of old subterranean oil tanks - or maybe some kind of oil traps in case of spills? From here, you can also see the earthworks of the branch that ran into the depot, but it is not possible to go any closer to the site of the old junction.

One warning - the fields around here are very wet and soggy - I wish I'd worn stout boots! You get a good view of the other side of Hallen embankment from down here too. Also, go take a look from Ison Hill Road at the other end of the housing area. There is lots of building of new houses going on here, so walk down rather than drive. You can look over the wall at the route of the old branch into the sidings and also see the main line.

So, what was this depot all about? It was obviously connected with the nearby oil storage tanks (the hills around Hallen are full of them) and the nearest one, being just a little furhter down Ison Hill and still operational, would have been the obvious destination for rail traffic to and from these sidings. The whole lot was obviously once rail connected. My family tell me aviation fuel was stored there, particularly during the war years. Could it be connected with the temporary re-opening of Hallen Halt? It would be interesting to find out when it was built, when it closed and why it was left in place right up to the late 70's/early 80's. Also, what arrangements there were at Hallen Halt for controlling traffic - there must have at least been a ground frame.

I took some photos of what is left here, which to be honest is not a lot. You can view them here:
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/the_ch ... /my_photos

I've captioned each pic to explain what it is, as it ain't always obvious! Feel free to use any on the main site for Hallen if they are of any use. Would be good to see this hitherto unknown piece of Bristol's railway history mentioned on the main site

What an excellent result

jules wrote:It would be interesting to find out when it was built, when it closed and why it was left in place right up to the late 70's/early 80's. Also, what arrangements there were at Hallen Halt for controlling traffic - there must have at least been a ground frame.

A lot of wartime stuff was kept in place for many years afterwards in case we ended up going to war again.

Anyways, I will add the pics to the mainsite when I get a chance. Never even knew about it until your first post, now I have pics.... amazing

Just noticed this in this book:

http://www.bookcupboard.co.uk/190447442x.php

'The track was doubled here in 1917 and a siding was provided on the south side of the line for an Air Ministry fuel depot in June 1940. When closed in July 1973, this siding was used by Texaco'

Excellent! I love this investigative work

The place would only just have been closed about 2 years when I visited there in 75/76 then. No wonder it was all still in place. I did spot in the old pic (on this site) of Hallen Halt that there was a lot of point rodding in the foreground - this must have been for the siding connection. Too far away from Henbury to be controlled from there I would think, so either a fairly substantial ground frame or even a long forgotten signal box at Hallen?

I shall go up Gloucester Road tomorrow and hope they've got a copy of that book in stock. Well spotted indeed!

Saw my Auntie from Hallen yesterday She told me she definately remembered a signal box at or very near to Hallen Halt. This would explain the point rodding and signal on the pic of the GWR loco passing Hallen Halt on this website. Apparently, the 'box wasn't manned full time.

A quick search on the web reveals that this must have been Blaise Signal Box (not one I had ever heard of). It must have been this 'box that controlled traffic to and from the oil sidings.

We'll be finding out who worked there at this rate!

Hi Jules,

Just a quicky to say I've finally got this online

Didn't take me long did it...

This caption ' A better view of the strange humps of earth at the very end of the old sidings.'

Well, I've come to the conclusion (after asking around) that these bumps are used by mountain/motor bikers as off-road practice and are not railway related

Cheers for the update. Glad to be of assistance in adding a previously unknown location to the website for posterity!

Racking my brains now for the next forgotten location .....

You are right. these sidings were known as Blaise Sidings and were controlled from a GWR signalbox which opened 13 june 1940 and closed 22 May 1966. After that, the oil sidings were serviced from Hallen Marsh and the signalbox there controlled the ground frame release. The last trip I recall using the sidings was in 1973, but I know they were used after that.When I went to Hallen Marsh as relief signalman in 1982 the sidings were still on the box diagram. Yes, I can give some names of signalmen who worked Blasie box: Wilf Stanley, Brian Chaney and various other Bristol Relief men worked it after the war. Anyone wanting a drawing of the box diagram visit my website WWW.pasttrack.co.uk where you'll find contact details for my archive.

Just by coincidence, a ground frame key from these sidings has appeared on eBay!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 45080&rd=1