Portishead Approved - Construction Updates Thread - No speculation

thelongestroad said:

Do you have any more information about that?

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There's a tiny amount in this blog: https://bristolharbourrailway.co.uk/locomotives-and-rolling-stock/portbury/

Managed by the National Shipyard Company set up by the British government in July 1917, the construction of Portbury Shipyard was well advanced when the war ended in 1918. Over 1,000 troops of the Royal Engineers had worked on the project which cost £238,000; a workers’ accommodation camp, railway sidings and a station had been constructed. No ships were ever built there but the construction camp and railway sidings were subsequently used during the 1920s as a government central stores depot.

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zwk500 said:

From the drawings on the planning application, the platforms look to be roughly 120m operational length, so capable of a 5-car. Regrettably I can't find a specific dimension in any drawing on paperwork publicly online, and the latest TPRs don't have Portishead listed yet. Those drawings could have been superseded from the planning application, of course.

Changing the length down to 3-car might be more fuss than it's worth as a secondary exit is shown at the far end. Although anything's possible.

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120m was also a strange platform length to pick as it requires a mixed allocation of 2car and 3car units, and the replacement fleet in about 6-7 years (or about 4 years after opening) is not expected to have any 2car units.

To be fair, many other stations in Bristol are currently similar restricted length, although some are nearer 200m including the 2 stations from Temple Meads to the start of the branch

Snow1964 said:

120m was also a strange platform length to pick as it requires a mixed allocation of 2car and 3car units, and the replacement fleet in about 6-7 years (or about 4 years after opening) is not expected to have any 2car units.

To be fair, many other stations in Bristol are currently similar restricted length, although some are nearer 200m including the 2 stations from Temple Meads to the start of the branch

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Ashley Down, the most recently opened station in Bristol, has platforms 126m long. The length would allow for 5-car units should the new fleet procure them - 3 cars are already being stretched to capacity in the evening peak for Severn Beach/Filton Line services.

zwk500 said:

Only if you've got the head for it! Although I wouldn't advise anybody trying to set up on the bridge footpaths themselves, they're not particularly wide, often 1 or the other of them is closed for maintenance, and you've got the fencing all over them so obstructed views. A quick snap is not going to do any harm (plenty of people snapping the river anyway), but there's better vantage points of the gorge where somebody could sit for a while without getting in anybodys way too much.

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If you want a photo with the bridge in it, there’s a few viewpoints nearby that can provide this.

Approaching from the Clifton side, there is a path on the left before the bridge kiosk that leads to a viewpoint adjacent to the bridge abutment that gives a good view of the line (much improved last year following vegetation clearance)

Here’s a photo from March 2025 taken from this viewpoint:



A favourite spot for me to photograph trains (particularly if I don’t have time to go down into the gorge on my bike) is the service road behind the Avon Gorge hotel, you can set up something like a gorillapod on top of the wall here and capture trains emerging from the tunnel. Here’s a winter view (without train) from January last year:



In the summer months the gorge is quite overgrown on this side which does block the view a bit. The gorge is often in the shade too which can make pictures difficult to expose well (might need a grad filter or post processing).

The hill in front of the observatory (round tower building on raised ground to north-east of the bridge) also provides a good vantage point, although the trains are quite far away and hence appears quite small!



(Photo shows a GBRF class 66 with empty stone hoppers heading for Portbury Dock in March 2021)

Other viewpoints to consider:

Towards the bottom of the zigzag footpath (just north of the Avon Gorge Hotel) which is a steep winding path that descends the gorge:



This view is from October 2022 (showing a Freightliner 66 on an inbound container train), note that vegetation next to the line has been cleared since this photo so you get a slightly better view, although the vegetation adjacent to the zigzag path is getting bigger!

On the other side of the gorge is a cyclepath/footpath along the river. You can climb the bank at the side of this (careful when it’s wet!) to capture trains from the boundary fence in many locations. South of the tunnel under the bridge gives a good view:



There’s loads of good viewpoints in Leigh Woods on the west side of the river, though again light can be tricky as bright sunshine throws all kinds of shadows, often best on an overcast day or in winter when the trees aren’t in leaf. Access is also difficult but if you have a mountain bike and a bit of local knowledge you can find good places. Though be aware that the rail boundary in the woods isn’t always demarcated, something they’ll need to fix if regular passenger trains are running.

Cracking shots.

JKF said:

If you want a photo with the bridge in it, there’s a few viewpoints nearby that can provide this.

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An excellent portfolio!

JKF said:

There’s loads of good viewpoints in Leigh Woods on the west side of the river, though again light can be tricky as bright sunshine throws all kinds of shadows, often best on an overcast day or in winter when the trees aren’t in leaf. Access is also difficult but if you have a mountain bike and a bit of local knowledge you can find good places. Though be aware that the rail boundary in the woods isn’t always demarcated, something they’ll need to fix if regular passenger trains are running.

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I only ever walked Leigh Woods at the top of the gorge, rather than descending (I didn't fancy the idea of climbing back up!), but yes some good views from there.

I also think the view from the Downs themselves, a short way north, is excellent. You can just about get the Severn beach line below, with the Portishead line on the far bank (although often hidden by trees in the summer). And as a bonus, there's usually an Ice Cream van up there

thelongestroad said:

Do you have any more information about that?

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Only really what is online:

Established after WW1 with the plan to build ships. Branch Spur was created as per Railway maps online shows:



Never got off the ground and it was all removed in 1923. Apparently there are still foundations where the station was close to the start of the spur (between the docks and marsh lane bridges)

I am sure there was one photo of the station online but can't see it. There are a couple of 'from the air' shots which show the shipyard bays and the spur behind it

Portbury shipyard station building is still there, hidden by ivy and trees. I spotted it a couple of weeks ago from the cyclepath, wasn’t sure it was still standing. It was very prominent 40 years ago when I was growing up in the area! The building was level with the track, but possibly the track had been realigned when it was relaid with concrete sleepers in the late 70s.

There are some historic aerial photos of Avonmouth in which you can see the shipyard branch in the background, I did tip off the railmaponline chap who was able to use them to plot the route a bit more accurately. Being military infrastructure the branch and some of the shipyard buildings were never shown on public maps, but the aerial photos showed where it intersected field boundaries allowing the route to be plotted. When I was growing up there were a lot of military buildings still standing, at the far end of Marsh Lane there was a small industrial estate which used some of the military structures, I suspect they saw some use in WW2 perhaps to support air defence around Avonmouth Docks.

Edited to add that I’ve found an aerial pic showing the route of the branch:


If you look on the far bank of the river you can see the four concrete submarine pens that were partly built as part of the shipyard. To the left (south) of this you can see a light coloured line extending up to the left across the fields, that’s the remnants of the branch which had by then been lifted. The construction of Royal Portbury Docks saw a lot of excavated material dumped in this area which obliterated the existing features. Later on this was further buried beneath the coal stocking area and other dock developments earlier this century.

JKF said:

Portbury shipyard station building is still there, hidden by ivy and trees. I spotted it a couple of weeks ago from the cyclepath, wasn’t sure it was still standing. It was very prominent 40 years ago when I was growing up in the area! The building was level with the track, but possibly the track had been realigned when it was relaid with concrete sleepers in the late 70s.

There are some historic aerial photos of Avonmouth in which you can see the shipyard branch in the background, I did tip off the railmaponline chap who was able to use them to plot the route a bit more accurately. Being military infrastructure the branch and some of the shipyard buildings were never shown on public maps, but the aerial photos showed where it intersected field boundaries allowing the route to be plotted. When I was growing up there were a lot of military buildings still standing, at the far end of Marsh Lane there was a small industrial estate which used some of the military structures, I suspect they saw some use in WW2 perhaps to support air defence around Avonmouth Docks.

Edited to add that I’ve found an aerial pic showing the route of the branch:

EAW002055 ENGLAND (1946). Avonmouth Docks, Avonmouth, 1946. This image has been produced from a print. | Britain From Above

www.britainfromabove.org.uk

If you look on the far bank of the river you can see the four concrete submarine pens that were partly built as part of the shipyard. To the left (south) of this you can see a light coloured line extending up to the left across the fields, that’s the remnants of the branch which had by then been lifted. The construction of Royal Portbury Docks saw a lot of excavated material dumped in this area which obliterated the existing features. Later on this was further buried beneath the coal stocking area and other dock developments earlier this century.

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Where exactly is the station remains, Google pin ?

tumbles said:

Where exactly is the station remains, Google pin ?

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https://maps.app.goo.gl/fDYEZ9xCq7huFyp36?g_st=ic around here. You can still see stonework in the bushes from the cycle track but it’s very hidden by trees. When I was younger there were no bushes at all so it was easily visible from Marsh Lane bridge.

Not 100% sure it is a station building, but too large and substantial for a platelayer’s hut, and not a signal box base as the shape of the side walls indicate a pitched roof. I think there were tall chimneys at each end. My only doubts are down to the elevation relative to the track, in that the doorway was at about the same level as the rails.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2026 ==

The line of the branch is very clear on this aerial photograph from July 1963:


The building I’m on about is possibly the one that can be seen in roughly the centre of this extract, although that’s possibly a signal box from the length of the shadow (obviously an evening shot from the length of them) - I have a feeling the building remains were closer to the Marsh Lane bridge but hard to get a sense of scale without being overlaid on the current map, it could be where the shadow is to the west of the junction.

zwk500 said:

From the drawings on the planning application, the platforms look to be roughly 120m operational length, so capable of a 5-car. Regrettably I can't find a specific dimension in any drawing on paperwork publicly online, and the latest TPRs don't have Portishead listed yet. Those drawings could have been superseded from the planning application, of course.

Changing the length down to 3-car might be more fuss than it's worth as a secondary exit is shown at the far end. Although anything's possible.

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Both Pill and Portishead designed to be 126m operational length

testertrev said:

Both Pill and Portishead designed to be 126m operational length

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A 5car 16x is about 116m, there is normally a 5m margin for stopping, perhaps they have allowed for 24m vehicles.

However the Bristol area struggles to form trains with 2 different length units (3car plus 2car) with many ending up shorter even when booked as 5.

I do wonder if they are creating an operational complication by not making them suitable for pairs of 3car units (and 3car units are the most common length in Bristol area)

A few pictures from a bike ride today - new parapets on Marsh Lane bridge look very tidy and track removal has continued towards the Royal Portbury Dock Road bridge.

Still amazes me the old track was left in situ for as long as it was.

brad465 said:

Still amazes me the old track was left in situ for as long as it was.

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I think it’s a good thing, as it probably held off it being converted irreversibly to some other use. They’d have just built car storage right across the formation in Portbury given half a chance, with vague promises to reinstate if needed that would have just put the project out of bounds.

Plus reopening has been seriously mooted since the early 1980s almost immediately after freight traffic stopped, if not before. There were passenger specials running for GWR 150 in 1985, and also occasional maintenance trains through the 1980s (anyone have an idea when these stopped?). When reopened to Portbury points were intended to be installed to keep the disused section connected and the pieces for these are (or were) still in the undergrowth next to the point it diverged.

We do seem to be thankfully a bit less keen to put old lines permanently out of commission as in the Beeching days, when everything was ripped out and land sold off with indecent haste. It always felt a bit odd that the UK was the only place to do this, across many other countries everything just sits in place and rots for decades.

JKF said:

It always felt a bit odd that the UK was the only place to do this, across many other countries everything just sits in place and rots for decades.

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But then unlike (for example) Germany, which has a lengthy legal process protecting the railway alignment (including infrastructure ), we developed a lengthy legal process protecting the passenger service. There, it can be withdrawn at the proverbial drop of a hat, provided the local politicians are prepared to risk any electoral consequences.

JKF said:

There were passenger specials running for GWR 150 in 1985, and also occasional maintenance trains through the 1980s (anyone have an idea when these stopped?).

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I'm sure there were some Santa Specials as well during the 1980s.

The death of BR would most likely have been the end of the occasional maintenance trains, as then Railtrack would have had to hire in a loco etc.

Then later on in the 1990s, the electrical wiring for the signalling for Ashton Junction signal box was condemned and taken out of use. That took the level crossing equipment out of use. The line (from Parson Street junction onwards) was then effectively out of use. By that time, the maintenance / departmental train that used to run to/from the Ashton engineering depot had also ended.

JKF said:

When reopened to Portbury points were intended to be installed to keep the disused section connected and the pieces for these are (or were) still in the undergrowth next to the point it diverged.

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I can confirm that a single lead point was provided. Later on it was then plain lined. The parts (switch rails and other parts) were indeed dumped in the cess. These points were never worked by any signalling equipment.

Lot of work going on at site of Pill station. Took about 15 minutes for all the machinery to be moved to allow the new class 99s being collected from Portbury Docks to pass.

Snow1964 said:

A 5car 16x is about 116m, there is normally a 5m margin for stopping, perhaps they have allowed for 24m vehicles.

However the Bristol area struggles to form trains with 2 different length units (3car plus 2car) with many ending up shorter even when booked as 5.

I do wonder if they are creating an operational complication by not making them suitable for pairs of 3car units (and 3car units are the most common length in Bristol area)

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Pairs of 3 cars are (hopefully!) not common on GWR as most routes served by their Bristol Turbos require anything longer than 5 cars to have a unit locked out of use (and the Severn Beach branch restricted further still).

Network Rail have a short video on X about the Pill station works fwiw: https://x.com/networkrailwest/status/2091850849660080503 (not sure if it's available somewhere else as well, e.g. on YouTube or a Network Rail web page)

TastyMaltesers said:

Pairs of 3 cars are (hopefully!) not common on GWR as most routes served by their Bristol Turbos require anything longer than 5 cars to have a unit locked out of use (and the Severn Beach branch restricted further still).

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Pairs of 3cars do not normally happen (there is simply not enough units in Bristol area currently ), but there are some workings that get so busy, ideally they would have 6cars (if stock and platform length allowed it)

Web4160 said:

Lot of work going on at site of Pill station.

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I have just had a look at Google Streetview at that location and see a strange arrangement of two road bridges very close to each other, the one you are standing on for the photo and the other only about 20 yards behind you. The latter looks older and quite narrow. Is this the site of an original station and was one of the bridges for internal station use do you know?

Been like that for many, many years...

Here's an old map showing Pill


Link to it.

Sadly, the Bristol Railway Archive doesn't have much of the history on Pill

Web4160 said:

Lot of work going on at site of Pill station. Took about 15 minutes for all the machinery to be moved to allow the new class 99s being collected from Portbury Docks to pass.View attachment 210317

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There is an old photo on this link, and the building that used to be within the retaining wall can be clearly seen, rather resembles an open fronted storage shed, rather than a passenger building. There was similar building opposite on the other platform

Lucan said:

I have just had a look at Google Streetview at that location and see a strange arrangement of two road bridges very close to each other, the one you are standing on for the photo and the other only about 20 yards behind you. The latter looks older and quite narrow. Is this the site of an original station and was one of the bridges for internal station use do you know?

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No when the line was cut through there were 2 roads, the bigger newer road and a back lane, (and a third that was cut, but not bridged called Chapel Row)

The station had steps to each platform from the road bridge, look closely at this Streetview and can see where old staircase was blocked off by bit of wall and railings that don't totally match those to the side. Obviously modern accessibility would be gentle slope or a lift down to platforms, not just stairs.

I wonder if the Down Relief from Bristol West Gantry through Bedminster station (and on towards Parson Street / Ashton Gate Jn) will be re-instated to allow for the increased amount of trains leaving Temple Meads station ?

PP57601 said:

I wonder if the Down Relief from Bristol West Gantry through Bedminster station (and on towards Parson Street / Ashton Gate Jn) will be re-instated to allow for the increased amount of trains leaving Temple Meads station ?

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It's not part of the project unfortunately.

Is reinstating the third platform at Parson Street part of the plans? This would allow Portishead trains to serve the station and run through into Bristol without conflicting with services from further SW.

John R said:

It's not part of the project unfortunately.

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And compared with what goes out the other end the west end will still be quite quiet.