Bristol Parkway 50th anniversary

[Upton]

Next Sunday, 1st May, sees the 50th anniversary of its opening. As this was the first station to be opened with the 'Parkway' suffix,. I was just wondering if anyone knows of any special events taking place to mark this anniversary?

I do know that one of the local papers is publishing a major article on it.

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[WesternBiker]

I don't know of any special events, but it sure brings back memories. Those windswept platforms with bus shelters and an open footbridge! Good to see it develop into the interchange it is now.

 

[robert thomas]

Unfortunately the good connections to and from South Wales are now gone with the withdrawel of the Cross Country Bristol-Manchester services. What is the prospect of these returning?

 

[HowardGWR]

Unfortunately the good connections to and from South Wales are now gone with the withdrawel of the Cross Country Bristol-Manchester services. What is the prospect of these returning?

The station location is the rail equivalent of the Thornbury M4 / M5 Interchange road junction, so yes, it should function in that way. If it had been built in the middle of the rail clover leaf with platforms on all four sides and one in the middle for Avonmouth, it would mirror the road system exactly. It should then have been the station for Bristol Airport close by. The Filton runway Inquiry result was a travesty for integrated transport for Bristol.

Edit: just to make clear that I don't mean physically exactly but I hope my point is made. I would not have platforms on the two western connections for instance.

 

[The exile]

The station location is the rail equivalent of the Thornbury M4 / M5 Interchange road junction, so yes, it should function in that way. If it had been built in the middle of the rail clover leaf with platforms on all four sides and one in the middle for Avonmouth, it would mirror the road system exactly. It should then have been the station for Bristol Airport close by. The Filton runway Inquiry result was a travesty for integrated transport for Bristol.

Edit: just to make clear that I don't mean physically exactly but I hope my point is made. I would not have platforms on the two western connections for instance.

It would have been an awful long walk between the platforms!!!! Incidentally, the motorway intersection is at Almondsbury.

 

[Annetts key]

The station location is the rail equivalent of the Thornbury M4 / M5 Interchange road junction, so yes, it should function in that way. If it had been built in the middle of the rail clover leaf with platforms on all four sides and one in the middle for Avonmouth, it would mirror the road system exactly. It should then have been the station for Bristol Airport close by. The Filton runway Inquiry result was a travesty for integrated transport for Bristol.

Edit: just to make clear that I don't mean physically exactly but I hope my point is made. I would not have platforms on the two western connections for instance.

Well, if you want, you can walk between Bristol Parkway and Filton Abbey Wood… Or to Patchway station…

 

[MarkyT]

The station location is the rail equivalent of the Thornbury M4 / M5 Interchange road junction, so yes, it should function in that way. If it had been built in the middle of the rail clover leaf with platforms on all four sides and one in the middle for Avonmouth, it would mirror the road system exactly. It should then have been the station for Bristol Airport close by. The Filton runway Inquiry result was a travesty for integrated transport for Bristol.

Edit: just to make clear that I don't mean physically exactly but I hope my point is made. I would not have platforms on the two western connections for instance.

The station is what it is now, much improved compared to its original configuration, now with 4 platforms and better facilities. What's probably worth looking at in future is a dramatic improvement to the speed of Westerleigh Jn. for Birmingham line trains, preferably with grade separation if possible.

 

[Annetts key]

What's probably worth looking at in future is a dramatic improvement to the speed of Westerleigh Jn. for Birmingham line trains, preferably with grade separation if possible.

This is currently very unlikely. Network Rail have already investigated moving the junction westwards towards Coalpit Heath to enable a better (faster) junction with a higher speed curve. But the additional cost due to the nearby electricity lines and it’s pylons and a underground gas pipeline was too much. So instead they have spent millions of pounds strengthening the embankments between Coalpit Heath and the junction, at the junction, and round towards where it joins the old Midland route (near Yate South).

Oh, and where the Western joined the Midland near what is now called Yate South, was a flying/grade separated junction. But this so that Midland trains were not disrupted… (some details on this web site) (a mix of text and photos, which are not easy to copy here when using a mobile, sorry moderators).

Wikipedia also mentions the flying junction on the Yate Station page.

… a connection was subsequently laid in to link this route with the rival Great Western Railway's 1903 "Badminton Line" from Wootton Bassett to Patchway (the current South Wales Main Line) in 1908. The new connection left the older line by means a flying junction at Yate South[7] before heading southwest to join the SWML at the triangular Westerleigh Junction.

There is a signal box diagram here but it’s a low resolution image.

This diagram shows the general layout but does not show the flying junction

 

[Mintona]

Mad how many railways were lost in such a small snapshot.

 

[Watershed]

Unfortunately the good connections to and from South Wales are now gone with the withdrawel of the Cross Country Bristol-Manchester services. What is the prospect of these returning?

Some of the withdrawn services will be reintroduced from the May timetable change.

Northbound there will be extra Birmingham-Manchester and Bristol-Manchester workings (one each), plus an extension of a current Plymouth-Birmingham to Manchester. There will also be a new Bristol-Birmingham short working. This will have the combined effect of raising the frequency of Bristol-Birmingham to half-hourly from 11:34 until 16:35.

Southbound there will be 3 additional Manchester-Bristol workings, plus an extension of a current Bristol-Paignton working to start back at Birmingham, and a new Birmingham-Bristol short working. In this direction the pattern won't be exactly half-hourly, but roughly 3tp2h (with some gaps) between 08:12 and 19:12.

It's possible more may be reintroduced in due course, but with the very slow pace that XC are reintroducing services (and the lack of a Rest Day Working agreement at the moment), I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[PTR 444]

The station location is the rail equivalent of the Thornbury M4 / M5 Interchange road junction, so yes, it should function in that way.

The main difference being that Almondsbury is fully grade separated whereas the railway is not. Saying that, I wonder if it would be practical to do so even though only 2 out of 4 turning movements are used by passenger trains.

If it had been built in the middle of the rail clover leaf with platforms on all four sides and one in the middle for Avonmouth, it would mirror the road system exactly. It should then have been the station for Bristol Airport close by. The Filton runway Inquiry result was a travesty for integrated transport for Bristol.

Yes, it was a shame that Filton Aerodrome was never developed into Bristol’s main airport due to its superior transport links compared to the other site south of Bristol that did become the airport. If that had happened, then Bristol Parkway could have become a national hub in a similar manner to places like Stratford (London) and OOC.

 

[Gloster]

A short item on Bristol Parkway, including John Craven reporting on the opening, on the BBC website News page. (Sorry, I can’t do a link.)

 

[jfollows]

BBC News link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-wiltshire-61275648

Reminds me how grim it used to be.
I used it to visit Clearspeed who were early developers of computer accelerator cards about ten years ago, they had their office nearby, and I used it in 1994/95 occasionally when I lived in Bath for a bit of variety - to catch a non-stop train to Paddington in the morning rush hour.
Most recently I used it to change to Filton Abbey Wood for a meeting at BAe Filton, I waited at Bristol Parkway for quite a while for my connection and the station was clearly much improved. Even that was 8 years ago I reckon.

 

[Starmill]

Happy 50th Birthday to Bristol Parkway station.

 

[MarkyT]

This is currently very unlikely. Network Rail have already investigated moving the junction westwards towards Coalpit Heath to enable a better (faster) junction with a higher speed curve. But the additional cost due to the nearby electricity lines and it’s pylons and a underground gas pipeline was too much. So instead they have spent millions of pounds strengthening the embankments between Coalpit Heath and the junction, at the junction, and round towards where it joins the old Midland route (near Yate South).

Nothing of which will increase the junction and curve speed, remaining around 40mph due to the ~400m radius. A new 1000m radius curve might allow up to 75mph or even 80mph, which would be a sensible junction speed avoiding too many reliability-sapping backdrives and supplementary detectors on very long switches. Such an alignment could pass under the electricity lines near where the Midland line does today, although an additional pylon might be required to mitigate greater cable sag at the point of intersection. I don't know where the gas main is.

Oh, and where the Western joined the Midland near what is now called Yate South, was a flying/grade separated junction. But this so that Midland trains were not disrupted… (some details on this web site) (a mix of text and photos, which are not easy to copy here when using a mobile, sorry moderators).

I remember noticing the earthworks and old bridge abutments of the abandoned flyover track.

 

[donutdisturb69]

Nice to know that my local station has the same birthday as me!

 

[Upton]

There's a piece about it here from the BBC with some interesting footage from its early days.

Original parkway celebrates its 50th anniversary

When Bristol Parkway was built 50 years ago it was described as a car park with a railway station.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bessie]

Dial a ride Morris Marina for 40p - I assume this service didn’t last long!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Dial a ride Morris Marina for 40p - I assume this service didn’t last long!

Probably driven by displaced shunters from Stoke Gifford

 

[Snow1964]

Nothing of which will increase the junction and curve speed, remaining around 40mph due to the ~400m radius. A new 1000m radius curve might allow up to 75mph or even 80mph, which would be a sensible junction speed avoiding too many reliability-sapping backdrives and supplementary detectors on very long switches. Such an alignment could pass under the electricity lines near where the Midland line does today, although an additional pylon might be required to mitigate greater cable sag at the point of intersection. I don't know where the gas main is.

I remember noticing the earthworks and old bridge abutments of the abandoned flyover track.

Yes not really any chance of realigning the existing curves, would really need a new spur from near Ram Hill, running across the open fields to near the existing junction south of Yate (near where Culvert Avenue - Road to nowhere didn’t join up as rail bridge was never built).

But never going to be able to fully make an East-West and North-South connecting point where trains come in either side of the island platforms at same time, unless either widen Parkway-Westerleigh, or use full bidirectional to timetable parallel moves. Widening doesn’t have to be 4 tracks, only really need a reversible centre track as not going to happen more than half hourly (at best) in either direction.

Probably the best long term solution would be third track Parkway-Ram Hill (not the easiest with crossing the M4) and a new grade separated spur to south of Yate. But very unlikely now that the Westerleigh spur has been electrified (wires currently end just north of where Westerleigh Road passes underneath)

 

[Wychwood93]

Nothing of which will increase the junction and curve speed, remaining around 40mph due to the ~400m radius. A new 1000m radius curve might allow up to 75mph or even 80mph, which would be a sensible junction speed avoiding too many reliability-sapping backdrives and supplementary detectors on very long switches. Such an alignment could pass under the electricity lines near where the Midland line does today, although an additional pylon might be required to mitigate greater cable sag at the point of intersection. I don't know where the gas main is.

I remember noticing the earthworks and old bridge abutments of the abandoned flyover track.

From Open Infrastructure Map:

Open Infrastructure Map

Open map of the world's electricity, telecoms, oil, and gas infrastructure, using data from OpenStreetMap.

openinframap.org

Hopefully centred at Westerleigh!

 

[Pinus contorta]

Dial a ride Morris Marina for 40p - I assume this service didn’t last long!

There was a dial a ride concept in Greater Manchester in the 1970's. Don't know if it was Selnec or early GMPTE era. That didn't last long either. Perhaps there was a national initiative due to the fuel crisis of the early 1970's? I remember reading about during my uni days.

 

[WesternBiker]

Dial a ride Morris Marina for 40p - I assume this service didn’t last long!

Because it was in a Marina? Dreadful cars. Our neighbour had one and it spent much of its early life in a garage, being fixed.

40p is equivalent to about £5 now, thanks in part to the eye watering inflation of the later 1970s. Quite why they didn’t just have a taxi rank…

 

[Annetts key]

From Open Infrastructure Map:

Open Infrastructure Map

Open map of the world's electricity, telecoms, oil, and gas infrastructure, using data from OpenStreetMap.

openinframap.org

Hopefully centred at Westerleigh!

Yes, it comes up showing Westerleigh


Interesting that there are no underground gas pipelines shown in the area north of the railway line between Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath and Westerleigh, despite what I had heard.

Although there are rather a lot of power lines and a Solar PV farm in the way.

Adding even one extra line between Stoke Gifford East junction (Bristol Parkway) and Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath would be difficult.

Moving from Stoke Gifford East towards Westerleigh (London) direction, first the cutting would need widening. The new Stoke Gifford Bypass road bridge would need alterations. Then the next set of embankments would need widening, along with a new bridge over the Old Gloucester Road (BR.11069).

As said, a new rail over motorway bridge (or a new separate bridge) would be needed over the M4 (BR.11064). More embankment work and another new bridge, this time the Winterbourne Viaduct (BR.11036) over the B4058 Bristol Road. Then a new bridge over Mill Road (Mill Lane BR.11023). Winterbourne cutting under Down Road would need widening, with maybe alterations to the road bridge.

I don’t remember how wide/how much space is under Harcombe Hill (road over, Hicks Common road) bridge (BR.10971).

Then there is the stone Upford viaduct (BR.10953) just east of Winterbourne that would need to be widened or a parallel structure added.

Park Lane bridge (BR.10925) would need to be rebuilt. Plus a another minor bridge (BR.10910). Then there is the stone Bristol Road Viaduct (BR.10879) over the A432 Badminton Road.

Then just before Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath, there is the Ram Hill (BR.10853) bridge over Henfield Road.

That would be a very expensive project…

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see some improvements made in this area. As this line is already very busy, so it’s becoming a bottleneck.

Way back in the 1980s BR wanted to provide bidirectional signalling here, but this has not yet happened. Although the normal direction signalling is already four aspect in both directions.

 

[Snow1964]

Yes, it comes up showing Westerleigh


Interesting that there are no underground gas pipelines shown in the area north of the railway line between Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath and Westerleigh, despite what I had heard.

Although there are rather a lot of power lines and a Solar PV farm in the way.

Adding even one extra line between Stoke Gifford East junction (Bristol Parkway) and Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath would be difficult.

Moving from Stoke Gifford East towards Westerleigh (London) direction, first the cutting would need widening. The new Stoke Gifford Bypass road bridge would need alterations. Then the next set of embankments would need widening, along with a new bridge over the Old Gloucester Road (BR.11069).

As said, a new rail over motorway bridge (or a new separate bridge) would be needed over the M4 (BR.11064). More embankment work and another new bridge, this time the Winterbourne Viaduct (BR.11036) over the B4058 Bristol Road. Then a new bridge over Mill Road (Mill Lane BR.11023). Winterbourne cutting under Down Road would need widening, with maybe alterations to the road bridge.

I don’t remember how wide/how much space is under Harcombe Hill (road over, Hicks Common road) bridge (BR.10971).

Then there is the stone Upford viaduct (BR.10953) just east of Winterbourne that would need to be widened or a parallel structure added.

Park Lane bridge (BR.10925) would need to be rebuilt. Plus a another minor bridge (BR.10910). Then there is the stone Bristol Road Viaduct (BR.10879) over the A432 Badminton Road.

Then just before Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath, there is the Ram Hill (BR.10853) bridge over Henfield Road.

That would be a very expensive project…

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see some improvements made in this area. As this line is already very busy, so it’s becoming a bottleneck.

Way back in the 1980s BR wanted to provide bidirectional signalling here, but this has not yet happened. Although the normal direction signalling is already four aspect in both directions.

The widening from Bristol Parkway to RAM Hill would be very expensive, building a new more easily curved spur from Ram Hill to Yate, would be a lot less.

But the solution used at Southampton tunnel (between 4 track sections that allows trains to run in parallel side by side on the two track part if required, as can run 4 trains in 2 paths in one direction if there is a delay causing a bottleneck) might be a better solution.

Probably the cheapest quick fix (cheapest, not cheap) is probably to try and add a third track between Hicks Common Road (by old Winterbourne station) and the viaduct over A432. With the existing track becoming a reversible centre loop that allows slower trains to be passed, with a full reversible section each side. It would effectively give a midpoint where a train can pass in other direction when 2 tracks were being used in parallel in other direction. If the bi-directional section has no passing point then will be difficult to use without holding up trains going opposite way excessively.

 

[Annetts key]

Coalpit Heath (Ram Hill) railway station before it closed had four running lines through it. Two platform lines (loops) plus the up and down main (through) lines. So something could certainly be done here.

At Stoke Gifford East (Bristol Parkway), the currently rarely used spur on the up side could be extended and converted into a passenger line. It could join with the up line beyond the two main to main crossovers on the Westerleigh side. Along with other alignment changes at this end of the station, that would help a little if bidirectional signalling was extended.

At Stoke Gifford West, there is room on the up side from Patchway for a “up relief” line, but the bridge over Hatchet Road would need to be replaced, or alternatively, space made by abolishing the Stoke Gifford siding spur and then realignment of the whole junction.

 

[Upton]

BBC TV Points West did a short feature on Bristol Parkway in its news bulletin last night, including an interview with the author Mark Chatterton who has written a book about Parkway railway stations. It starts at 03.00.

BBC One - Points West, Late News, 01/05/2022

The latest news, sport, weather and features from the West of England.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[E16 Cyclist]

Old photographs of Parkway and Ride Station

Bristol Parkway is 50 years old this week

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[The exile]

Yes, it comes up showing Westerleigh


Interesting that there are no underground gas pipelines shown in the area north of the railway line between Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath and Westerleigh, despite what I had heard.

Although there are rather a lot of power lines and a Solar PV farm in the way.

Adding even one extra line between Stoke Gifford East junction (Bristol Parkway) and Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath would be difficult.

Moving from Stoke Gifford East towards Westerleigh (London) direction, first the cutting would need widening. The new Stoke Gifford Bypass road bridge would need alterations. Then the next set of embankments would need widening, along with a new bridge over the Old Gloucester Road (BR.11069).

As said, a new rail over motorway bridge (or a new separate bridge) would be needed over the M4 (BR.11064). More embankment work and another new bridge, this time the Winterbourne Viaduct (BR.11036) over the B4058 Bristol Road. Then a new bridge over Mill Road (Mill Lane BR.11023). Winterbourne cutting under Down Road would need widening, with maybe alterations to the road bridge.

I don’t remember how wide/how much space is under Harcombe Hill (road over, Hicks Common road) bridge (BR.10971).

Then there is the stone Upford viaduct (BR.10953) just east of Winterbourne that would need to be widened or a parallel structure added.

Park Lane bridge (BR.10925) would need to be rebuilt. Plus a another minor bridge (BR.10910). Then there is the stone Bristol Road Viaduct (BR.10879) over the A432 Badminton Road.

Then just before Ram Hill, Coalpit Heath, there is the Ram Hill (BR.10853) bridge over Henfield Road.

That would be a very expensive project…

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see some improvements made in this area. As this line is already very busy, so it’s becoming a bottleneck.

Way back in the 1980s BR wanted to provide bidirectional signalling here, but this has not yet happened. Although the normal direction signalling is already four aspect in both directions.

So there’s bi-directional signalling on the approach to Westerleigh from the north (see it in use on the staff info boards at Parkway regularly), but not on the main line? Interesting…

 

[MarkyT]

So there’s bi-directional signalling on the approach to Westerleigh from the north (see it in use on the staff info boards at Parkway regularly), but not on the main line? Interesting…

I think that's mainly for freight workings from the Tytherington branch towards Bristol Parkway, as there's no crossover at the branch junction (Yate Middle) just to the north of Yate station. These trains cross back over to the down main just west of Westerleigh Junction via the left-hand trailling crossover.