The Bristol Railway Archive

Several items in the local news made me wonder if it may now be an appropriate time for the authorities or an enterprising company to keep the FILTON airfield as an airport serving the Continent and the USA. These are:

1) The construction of a railway servicing depot between the Filton railway chords.

2) The proposed re-opening of the Henbury railway link
With construction of first class hotels nearby, Bristol could be the hub of a thriving tourist industry.

Apart from Bristol itself, there are many attractions within an easy dayÆs coach or train ride, e.g.




- Bath, Wells, Glastonbury and the Mendips
- the Cotswolds
- the Wye valley and the forest of Dean
- Stoneheenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, and nearby other ancient monuments
- Oxford
- The West Somerset and other local steam railways and museums.

An enterprising operator could also organise tours to local craft breweries and historic pubs, castles, and stately homes

Despite objections, noise should not be a problem with modern jets.
The airport would be ideally located close to motorways and railways going east, wet, north, and south and would put Bristol well up the must-visit tourist destinations. Very few international airports would be advantageously located close to a major city centre and transport hub.

Perhaps RYANAIR would be interested as they once offered to build anew terminal at Dublin airport. Or even INFRATIL Thus rekindling the merchant adventuring spirit of past centuries.

Ron Wells

I have always thought the closure of Filton is a tragedy. An airport there could replace Lulsgate and Rhoose with the critical mass to develop more routes. It would be attractive to areas like Gloucester and Swindon.

And it's only (or could be) an hour from Paddington. It's virtually on the cross-country network, too as well as good motorway links.

The trouble is the local NIMBYs wouldn't wear it.

Far too much housing development in northern Bristol since Bradley Stoke was built.

Not everyone in Filton and the surronds was against the airport. But with GKN taking over many parts of Airbus/ BAe it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that the airfeild would close. As there is a lot of preassure on local councils to come up with housing the airfield closing is to them like a winning lottery ticket.
Filtons roads are very congested at peak times and even sinple roadworks can cause problems now with more housing it will get worse.

I have two childhood memories of lying awake to sounds of transport, one railway, one aviation.
Neither bothered me, and if I am woken now by aircraft or railway noise I feel strangely reassured, and easily go back to sleep!

It was only when I heard similar sounds on an Argo Transcord recording some years later that I understood one particular railway æmusicÆ was specific to loose coupled freight trains picking up the couplings wagon by wagon as they pulled away.

My dad explained the aviation noises at the time- the bits of the explanation that I remember are æjet engines being tested at FiltonÆ and æVulcanÆ. IÆve accepted this explanation for years û and I do remember hearing at the time (1962) about the Vulcan that caught fire, so that sort of confirms that engines were tested in a Vulcan airframe. (There is an account of the fire at http://www.aviationarchive.org.uk/stori ... p=3&pnum=0 û one photo shows a fire engine burning nicely alongside a burning Vulcanà.).

And so to my question: did they REALLY test large jet engines at night (well, evening û 8pm perhaps)? IÆm inclined to believe my memory but itÆs very hard to imagine any industry now being allowed to routinely make nocturnal noise that would wake children over a radius of several miles.

Can anyone confirm night (or evening) engine testing at Filton?

76026 wrote: Can anyone confirm night (or evening) engine testing at Filton?

Yes they did. In the late 60s-early 70s I used to visit family who lived in Little Stoke, in the houses built on the east of Little Stoke Lane which looked towards the plant, and recall this happening in the evening.

The test plant (not on the airfield but at the Rolls-Royce factory on the west side of the main line north of Patchway station) was not completely in the open with jet engine sounds, but had a substantial water cooling system which generated much steam. The sound was a combined hiss and jet roar. When this testing was in progress the water pressure fell substantially in the houses there. As most worked in the various aviation industries, it was just accepted. I wonder if it was done in the evening so not to give water supply problems to the factories in the day.