Bristol docks operations?

[Forward!]

Hi all,

 

I was wondering if there are any sources of information for how the part of Bristol docks that was served by the extention from Temple Meads Goods Station was operated? I have long though the area around the surviving Fairburn steam crane would make an interesting cameo layout (see image attached). In the early part of the 20th century, were steam engines working on the south side of the harbour here? Did the GWR have any that were assigned specifically to dock duties? Or was it all done by horse/capstans?

 

I'm just curious.

[Andy Kirkham]

Pictures of trains on the Harbour Lines are very rare indeed, but there is one in Reflections on the Portishead Branch by Mike Vincent. It shows a saddle tank on the quayside line with some open wagons behind and a shunter's truck in front, and I should say that it is probably adjacent to the building marked Store on the map. The photo is dated "Early 1900s". So yes, this suggests that locos were used on the Wapping quayside lines.

 

Interesting that the map shows mixed gauge track.

 

As a child I was taken for walks along the dockside at Canons Marsh and I remember seeing wagons on the quayside but they were always stationary. I was disappointd never to see operations on the quay but I daresay these walks were on Sundays. I remember a grown-up pointing out capstans and explaining that they were used for moving trucks. Nevertheless  I have seen a photo online  (which I can't now locate) showing a panier tank on the Canons Marsh quayside.

[Andy Kirkham]

Found it!

 

[Gordon A]

Pannier tank, not saddle tank.

[Rivercider]

A quick read through part of the OPC book Reflections on the Portishead Branch mentioned by Andy above, on page 216 there is an extract from the Local Restrictions. Of note is the entry:-

 

Wapping Wharf - Line adjoining the Quayside.  Engines prohibited - All engines.

 

 

Some years ago I remember reading a book written by a steam driver or fireman based at St Philips shed, he recounted work at Cannons Marsh or Wapping, including how they would walk or cycle from the shed to relieve the locos shunting in the Bristol Docks area. I cannot remember the name of the book. 

 

 

EDIT - the book might be the one by D J Fleming 'St Phillips Marsh - Memories of an Engine Shed'.

cheers

Edited September 10, 2023 by Rivercider
edit - to include book title.

[Andy Kirkham]

14 hours ago, Gordon A said:

Pannier tank, not saddle tank.

Sorry for the confusion: the picture I first referred to (early 1900s from the Portishead book) definitely does show a saddle tank; but that is not the picture I posted. 

[KeithMacdonald]

20 hours ago, Forward! said:

I was wondering if there are any sources of information for how the part of Bristol docks that was served by the extention from Temple Meads Goods Station was operated?

 

There's a few Flickr pics that give us some clues...
 

Quote

 

Bascule Bridge Bathurst Basin

Swindon built Pannier tank No.3650 (now preserved at the Great Western Society's depot at Didcot) crosses the Bascule Bridge with a train of vans for Wapping Wharf. Note the second line of rails on the left - it was a long time since double-line working had been undertaken, the second line having been used for many years as a siding. The arrow in the foreground is not the result of wayward archery - it indicates the 'cut-out' in the bridge guide where the broad gauge rail was once located. Behind the train is the western portal of Redcliffe Tunnel. The building on the right of the picture is Bristol General Hospital.

 

 

 

Here's one of the steam crane

 

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

This one's a bit deceptive, as the engine was originally from somewhere else in the Bristol area, But the location is correct(?) near what's now the Industrial Museum.

 

 

[Rivercider]

4 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

There's a few Flickr pics that give us some clues...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few years ago I made a visit to the excellent SS Great Britain, as I walked down from Temple Meads I took this view looking back towards the tunnel at Redcliff

 

Redcliff 5/7/2019.

 

cheers

[Andy Kirkham]

13 hours ago, Rivercider said:

 

 

Wapping Wharf - Line adjoining the Quayside.  Engines prohibited - All engines.

 

 

 

But note that on the OS map extract shown, there were two lines running along the quayside; I guess that it was only the one nearer the quayside (the one straddled by cranes) that was prohibited to locos. Also, I think the name Wapping Wharf applies only to the western end of the waterfront - the part not backed by warehouses. The eastern part is known as Princes Wharf.

[Andy Kirkham]

4 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

But the location is correct(?) near what's now the Industrial Museum.

 

It's not been the Industrial Museum for a good many years. It was redeveloped as a museum of general Bristolian culture under the name of "M Shed". Not an improvement in my opinion.

[The Stationmaster]

As at June 1963, Source WR official list of Locomotive Route Availability

 

Temple Meads to Wapping Wharf. - 'Red' - All WR classes except 47Xx permitted but 92XXX limited to maximum speed of 5 mph.  As far as sidings were concerned -

Redcliffe Wharf No.s 3, 4, and 5 Sidings  - all WR and BR Standard 4-6-0s plus 70XXX were prohibited

Wapping Wharf similar restriction applied to various sidings including Cal Road Jcn to Quayside warehouses

 

Wapping Wharf Jcn to  Ashton Bridge Jcn - 'Yellow' - All 'Uncoloured' and 'Yellow' engines permitted except LMR 412XX and 350 hp diesel shunters.

 

Ashton Jcn to Cannons Marsh - 'Yellow' -  All 'Uncoloured' and 'Yellow' engines permitted except Standard 82XXX and 350hp diesel shunters

 

Cannons Marsh Dockside - 'Uncoloured'  - 36XX (aka 57XX) permitted to work to Cannons Marsh Dockside with ATC clipped up and prohibited from the curved track at the stop block end of A Shed/'Shute Road'/'Oil Road'