Rivercider

The previous year I had a day trip calling in Swindon then via the Golden Valley to Gloucester where I took a few pictures before travelling via Lydney to Newport. I only photographed one freight train during my brief stop at Gloucester, an empty Freightliner service heading north. 47312 waits for the road on the through line at Gloucester, in the background two DMUs await departure, Bristol suburban set B428 on the left and Cardiff allocated Met-Cam set C822 on the right, 4/9/84. For many years platform 4 on the far side had been a parcels only platform and had only recently been brought back into passenger use. And another shot of the same train for no better reason than we can have a look at some of the locos on Horton Road Depot, Class 37s and 45s predominate in this view of Horton Road Depot. 4/9/84 cheers

One of the rare visits I made was to Gloucester was with my dad, he was the W.R. Civil Engineers Regional Wagon Supervisor, and had been trained to undertake load examination of wagon loads of new concrete sleepers loaded at Quedgeley. On arrival at Gloucester we saw one of the local 08 pilots in Gloucester Old Yard adjacent to the station. 08799 is waiting to leave the Old Yard for Gloucester New Yard with a discharged tank from Horton Road, 10/7/85 We then had a lift down to the Dowmac Factory at Quedgeley. New concrete sleepers manufactured here were sent to the Pre-Assembly Depots at Taunton Fairwater and Radyr for use in prefabricated track sections. These new sleepers had previously been dispatched in tube wagons, but in the 1980s revised working methods meant that the sleepers were then loaded out on sturgeon wagons which required examination to ensure that the load was secure. They would then be collected by the local trip engine and taken to Gloucester New Yard. The following two pictures have previously been posted elsewhere This sign at the entrance to the yard would not have seen a class 35 Hymek for some time! 10/7/85 And a view from the other side Staff can be seen adjusting the strapping, I think the loco is a Ruston of some description, 10/7/85 cheers

Back in about 2005 or so when I was still with EWS in Bristol and West Depot was being rented out as a car park one of our local managers called into our office in Bristol on his way to a site meeting at West Depot. The meeting was to look at what work was required to reopen the yard, he said there were three potential traffic flows being considered, One was containerised limestone from one of the Mendip quarries, near Cheddar, for Port Talbot steelworks, for which West Depot would have been the right side of Bristol. cheers

Thanks for that Paul, there is a good photo of Fisons Tank Farm amongst that lot cheers

There were quite a few freight yards and terminals active in the Gloucester area at the start of the 1980s, many of them were served by local trips worked from Gloucester New Yard. Starting from the north of the area were Ashcurch MOD vehicle depot, Cheltenham CCD, Quedgeley Dowmac Concrete Works, Stonehouse CCD, Berkeley Nuclear Sdgs and Sharpness Docks, which received some freight stock for scrapping. In Gloucester there were civil engineers sidings at Barnwood, and a UKF fertilizer siding, and a civil engineers works depot at Armscroft Road. Also sidings for Gloucester Foundry, and Gloucester Wagon Repair Works, and on the Llanthony Docks branch was a Blue Circle cement terminal. Here is a view of part of Gloucester New Yard, this was situated within a triangle of lines to the north/east of the station, the main part of the yard lay parallel to the Birmingham - Bristol route with another fan of sidings lying north west/south east adjacent to the route from Gloucester Yard Junction to Horton Road Junction, it is this part of the yard pictured below. Looking east from Horton Road Junction. Out of site to the left the main lines head towards Barnwood Junction and Birmingham. 6/11/80 In the yard the 21t coal hoppers are probably unfitted examples stored due to the 1980 British Steel Strike which rendered large numbers of coal wagons surplus to requirements. To the right of the main lines which lead to Gloucester Yard Junction are some loaded 21t minerals for Gloucester Foundry. The 1979 copy of the Inter-City Railway Societys Shunter Duties booklet lists three Gloucester Area duties, 1 New Yard pilot weekdays/nights and stabling at the depot at weekends 1 Llanthony Docks trip loco, also works as second station pilot in the evenings. 1 Station parcels pilot, also shunts Gloucester Old Yard adjacent to the station, Barnwood yard and Gloucester Wagon Works, cheers

In the 1980s Gloucester saw a lot of freight traffic, many trains from the North and Midlands heading for South Wales, Bristol, and the South West passed this way, in addition Gloucester New Yard handled local traffic. Gloucester Horton Road Diesel Depot had an allocation of class 08 pilots to cover duties at Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. In 1980 for example there were 8 locos allocated, 08364, 08486, 08646, 08778, 08796, 08826, 08836 and 08849. Locos from a wide variety of mainline classes could also be seen as a number a parcels trains originated here and some of the North - South West passenger services called at Gloucester, a move involving a reversal which sometimes included a loco change. Horton Road Depot is seen from the west, two of the local allocation of class 08s is seen along with visiting locos. 47128, 08778, 08836, 20176/070, 47026, 25197, 31296 are stabled, 6/11/80 And viewed from Horton Road we can see the pits of the former steam shed, notice the spilled loco sand next to the red stores van, The stabled locos seen are, 25197, 47026, 31154, and 47050. 6/11/80 cheers

Thanks for all the positive comments, corrections, additional information and likes. We are now going to head north to Gloucester and Worcester, locations that I only photographed on a couple of occasions. As I only made a few visits to this area and have only a little local knowledge this section will be much briefer, cheers

Thanks Brian, my error there with the coke hopper capacity, I was thinking of HUOs. Your post had prompted me to look at some of my Flickr photos, and I think I have made a mistake with some of my South Wales captions so you may have saved me making more errors later in this thread! I have amended the caption above, cheers

We now get to the smelting works Grid Sidings Firstly a photo of one of the ISC shunting locos crossing Smoke Lane Crossing with coke hoppers. Having previously written that I don't remember the barriers in use I can't see them in this shot, perhaps they are lowered after all., This load of coke appears to be all in 21t HTVs, 26/1/82 Now a view from the A403, I think I was making my way from St Andrews Road station and grabbed this shot. 37255 shunting at the grid sidings to make up the 7C42 for Severn Tunnel Junction, the vans are probably loaded with zinc for Bloxwich followed by empty coke hoppers, 20t (correction) coke hoppers, like the 4th vehicle, were common here until about 1981, 5/2/81 A different view of 37255 in the Grid Sidings, to the left is a train of tanks, I remember at one time there was a timetabled weekly service of Phosphoric acid tanks to Ince & Elton but this ceased early in the 1980s, 5/2/81 And a final shot of the Avonmouth area, the morning Severn Tunnel Junction train on a different morning. This time showing some sulphuric acid tanks, one of the regular customers for the acid was Gower Chemicals in Swansea where these tanks are likely to be headed. One tank a week went to the Royal Ordnance Factory at Puriton, and later in the Speedlink era TTAs of sulphuric acid regularly went to Stratford Market in East London, for a while 6L46 Swansea - Dagenham Speedlink service was routed via Hallen Marsh to collect these tanks 47094 is ready to work 7C42 10.50 Hallen Marsh - Severn Tunnel Junction with acid tanks and coke empties, 26/1/82 cheers

The Smelting Works Grid Sidings were a short distance south of Hallen Marsh and were reached via the inwards and outwards roads, here are a couple of views. With Hallen Marsh in the back ground we see Bristol area trip 11 loco which this day is Bath Roads 31210, 5/2/81 To get to the Grid sidings the busy A403 had to be crossed, this road carried much traffic from the docks towards the north, and was provided with barriers though I never saw them in use 37233 is on the crossing which was known as Smoke Lane Crossing, the overhead pipework connects into the docks, 11/2/80 cheers

Thanks for the comments. I joined BR in 1977 and went into Bristol TOPS in October 1978 after the Royal Edward Yard had closed, I can't say that I ever recall seeing a class 20 in the Bristol area or reporting one while on TOPS duty. I live at Weston and commuted to Temple Meads so never regularly went through Avonmouth or Stoke Gifford, the only times I remember seeing class 20s back then was at Gloucester or Severn Tunnel Junction. However I have found a photo of class 20s at Hallen Marsh in 1984 on the Bristol Rail Archive site, Peter Rendall was a supervisor in the Bristol Panel Signal Box when I knew him in the late 1980s http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:Hallen_Marsh_Junction10.jpg cheers

Here are another three in blue between Cardiff and Portsmouth Harbour March allocated 31318 was an unusual performer seen passing Lawrence Hill at the head of the 16.00 Cardiff - Portsmouth, 22/4/81 31294 stands at Bristol Temple Meads ready to work forward to Cardiff with the 16.07 departure from Portsmouth 23/4/80 Heading into the early morning sunshine with the 06.53 Bristol Temple Meads - Portsmouth Harbour is 31423 10/5/80 cheers

We now retrace our steps back to Hallen Marsh to look at traffic for the other major freight customer at Avonmouth. I think the smelter was opened in 1968 by the Imperial Smelting Corporation, when I knew it in 1978 it was known as the Commonwealth Smelting Company, and later as Pasminco. A couple of these photos have been seen on other threads before. The smelting works furnaces worked continuously and coke was received by rail six days a week. The sources for the coke were Nantgarw, Cwm and Coed Ely, and later from BSC Grange Works at Port Talbot. In the early 1980s traffic was routed via Severn Tunnel Junction and arrived mid morning on 7B26 47077 North Star is seen at Hallen Marsh with 7B26 from Severn Tunnel Junction, 7 wagons back amongst the coke is a sulphuric acid tank, 5/2/81 The return working of 7B26 was 7C42 to Severn Tunnel Junction which conveyed the empty coke hoppers. 37255, which we saw earlier, is seen on the 'Outwards' road from the grid siding to Hallen Marsh, the first three vans are either empties from Avonmouth Rowntrees for York, or loaded with zinc ingots for Bloxwich, 5/2/81 The Smelting works had an extensive rail network and their shunting locos were permitted to run out to Hallen Marsh spur to collect traffic. ISC shunter no.6 is hauling airbraked wagons from Hallen Marsh in towards the complex, the VTG ferrywagon is probably empty for exporting lead ingots, the VDA for loading zinc to Bloxwich, behind that appears to be a discharged sulphuric acid tank, 5/10/83 cheers

We are still at St Andrews Road but now looking south towards Avonmouth. Between St Andrews Road station and the docks there had been an extensive rail network including another set of running lines to connect the Royal Edward Yard onto BR for services heading south but this had been lifted by 1980. 37255 and brake van head north towards Hallen Marsh prior to working 7C42 to Severn Tunnel Junction, I am guessing that the working from Severn Tunnel, which on paper ran to Hallen Marsh, had been diverted to either Kingsland Road or Ashton Meadows and this move was to get the loco back to Hallen Marsh for the return working. 5/2/81 Crossing the station was a conveyor which was used, amongst other things, to convey Phosphate rock from the docks to Fisons plant. Another shot from the up platform at St Andrews Road 55032 again seen working the 09.05 Severn Beach - Bristol Temple Meads. 5/2/81 To the left of the shot behind the fence can be seen a rake of liquified anhydrous ammonia tanks in Fisons Tank Farm and in the distance is Town Goods signal box which controlled access to the tank farm as well as Avonmouth Town Goods Yard. AvonmouthTown Goods had handled bagged fertilizer from the nearby ICI Severnside until about 1980. Later in the Speedlink era the depot dealt with a variety of traffic in and out including fertilizer,imported timber and newsprint from Immingham, Imported timber from Avonmouth Docks was also sent out. This was the last freight terminal here to remain active, this whole area was later used to build the BBHT. Here is a better view from Flickr taken in 1978 that shows tanks outside the tank farm and the signal box at Town Goods, https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=25130+avonmouth cheers

I think this may be a train of MEAs, it sounds like they had been loaded in Bennetts siding with imported coal. I think they needed to go over the weighbridge in the BBHT (Bristol Bulk Handling Terminal) hence the reason to run round. Bennetts often sent train loads of coal to Rugby cement works as well as other locations,, cheers

We now head a short distance south to St Andrews Road Station an unmanned two platform affair with minimal facilities. This is another shot with no freight train but will illustrate the area here. The Severn Beach line service from Bristol temple Meads was largely worked by class 121 single power cars 55032 and 55033 were the two sets allocated to Bristol at this time, 55032 (B132) approaches with the 09.05 Severn Beach - Bristol TM. 5/2/81. On the extreme top left of the shot are Open-ABs and 21t hoppers in the PBA sidings as seen in the previous view. The grassy area is the site of the former BR Royal Edward Yard which had closed in 1978, a brick yard cabin still remains, the TOPS office was located adjacent to it. To the right of the running lines is the, by then disused, St Andrews Road Tip Siding, the spent ballast has been unloaded and spread across the ground as far as St Andrews Road (the A403). This land was used for the sidings of the BBHT (Bristol Bulk Handling Terminal) Now copying an idea from Chris T in his thread 'Chris T's photo archives' a then and now shot to better illustrate the previous view. A photo taken probably in 1993 when the BBHT was under construction. Notice that the Severn Beach passenger line has now been effectively singled using the former up line, the former up line was retained, and after construction work was completed became a run round road for the BBHT, To the left of the concrete wall the coal stockpile belongs to Bennetts who imported coal through the Royal Edward Docks, I think this traffic started in the 1990s loaded in MEAs and went to Rugby cement works among other locations, ??/??/93 cheers

I must admit to being rather fond of the class 31s, probably because there was an allocation of them at Bath Road in the 1970s when I was trainspotting, and later joined BR in Bristol, and they were still there in the 1980s when I started taking photographs. They seemed to be popular enough when doing the sort of work for which they were designed, secondary passenger and local freight work. The Bath Road locos worked the Portsmouth Harbour - Bristol - Cardiff service before the class 33s took over, the service over this route had been a patchwork of local services and when the 31s first appeared the service was not even hourly to begin with. Here are some photos of them on the Pompey trains starting in Cardiff 31424 is seen at Cardiff Central waiting to work the 12.15 departure to Portsmouth Harbour, the GUV on this trains was unusual though the set used on the Bristol - Weymouth working normally had one, 11/8/82 Now we are nearing Newport 31419 is seen approaching Ebbw Junction with a morning departure from Cardiff to Portsmouth, 19/5/82 And into Newport 31420 this time, is running into the platform at the head of the 08.15 Cardiff Central - Portsmouth Harbour, 17/7/80 cheers

I saw this working, or the similar Newport Docks - Didcot PS service once or twice. However as a clerk in Bristol TOPS we had to report it calling at Stoke Gifford upside where the assisting loco came off, thanks for sharing these photos cheers

There are no freight trains in this post but I am including a couple of photos showing part of the PBA complex, apologies for the quality, they were taken on a dull January day in 1982. Firstly a view from Holesmouth Junction looking south towards Avonmouth. Holesmouth Junction signal box I believe was only open as required by this time Looking south at Holesmouth Junction, the main lines curve away to the left towards St Andrews Road station, with the double track diverging right into the PBA. 26/1/82 Beyond the oil tanks on the right is the Oil Basin of Avonmouth Royal Edward Docks. Later in the 1980s the LPG tank trains from Furzebrook used to enter here to reach BPs LPG terminal which was located on the site of the former sidings. some of the gas was for local distribution and some was exported by ship. Now we are inside PBA property and this next photo is also looking south. I think the large silos in the centre of the view are the ones later used by Castle Cement, towards the right we can see cranes and the tops of vessels in the Eastern Arm of Avonmouth Royal Edward Docks. 26/1/82 In the sidings is a variety of wagons these represent the three major traffic flows I remember from the early 1980s. On the left are 21t hoppers loaded with coal. In front of the silos are Cov-ABs which would be waiting to be loaded with imported cocoa beans, I can not remember the destination for this traffic. To the right are Open-ABs which were waiting to load with imported bagged sugar for Tuxford. As I have mentioned when a ship of import coal was expected up to 180-200 empty coal wagons, mostly 21t hoppers, were ordered and supplied by using empties from the local CCDs at Filton and Wapping Wharf as well as empties from the smelting works. The destinations for the coal were CCDs in the south of England, I remember Watford, Neasden, West Drayton, Fratton as well as Wapping Wharf and Exmouth Junction. The traffic generally got forwarded on ordinary services via Severn Tunnel Junction or Kingsland Road. I remember one consignment was a patent fuel similar to phurnacite whose name escapes me, which I think came from South Africa. On one early occasion when the coal was loaded staff labelled the wagons up in blocks for each destination prior to the wagons being weighed, as the wagons were weighed in small groups they were randomly shunted into different roads well and truly shuffling them up, I think a loco was specially booked out on the following sunday to sort them out again. Thereafter the wagons were loaded and weighed before being labelled! cheers

There were abbreviations, and nicknames some local railwaymen knew some of the trains by. The liquified ammonia tanks were referred as 'L/As' while the ammonium nitrate tanks that worked in and out of Fisons Tank Farm at St Andrews Road were known as 'A/Ns' or 'green tanks' after their colour. The ammonium nitrate traffic from Fisons went to Immingham, Ipswich, and Plymouth 31238 passing Hallen Marsh is working 7Z67 from Ipswich to Avonmouth Fisons formed of mmonium nitrate tanks, 5/10/83 Now we move south from Hallen Marsh towards Holesmouth Junction 31210 seen earlier with empty 21t coal hoppers from the smelting works is now leaving Hallen Marsh and propelling along the main line towards Holesmouth Junction en-route to the PBA sidings, The route diverging to the left are the inwards and outwards road to the Smelting Works grid siding, 5/2/81 edit - here is a photo I previously thought was on the Smelting Works outwards road, but is between Hallen Marsh and Holesmouth Junction 31296 propels three vans towards Hallen Marsh, if this trip had come from Avonmouth there should have been a brake van leading, 11/2/80 Next we reach Holesmouth Junction and see the fertilizer special from Ince & Elton arriving 47258 working the 6Z35 fertilizer special crosses into PBA property where the traffic will be handed over to 08949, and on the extreme right of the shot is a 47 and VDAs on the inwards/outwards road to the smelting works 5/10/83 cheers

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I have got things going ok for now cheers

ICI Severnside was one of the major freight locations in the Avonmouth area. In 1978 I remember large numbers of vanfits of bagged fertilizer were still being dispatched, they would be sent usually in blocks of 10 vans to various locations, up to 40 vans a day, though this traffic ceased around 1980. Trainloads of tanks of liquified anhydrous ammonia could be either received or dispatched according to demand, destinations were Heysham, Leith, Haverton Hill and locally to Fisons tank farm at St Andrews Road. An important traffic that started in the 1980s was containerised potash from Boulby to ICI Severnside 7V66 a Tees - Severn Beach service was set up specifically for this traffic, which initially conveyed potash only but later became part of the Speedlink network running as 6V66 and conveying other traffic. 7V66 Tees Yard - Severn Beach has just run round at Hallen Marsh and 45013 is about to set off for ICI Severnside. 5/10/83 The line from Hallen Marsh - Severn Beach was single and although there was the facility to lock in a freight train at Severnside when a passenger service was due no freight train could run. For this reason one early morning passenger service from Bristol Temple Meads was booked to terminate short at Avonmouth to leave a free path for the potash. There had been no class 08 pilot turn at Avonmouth since 1978 so the presence of 08949 in the last photo was unusual, it was there for a special trial train of fertilizer from Ince & Elton to Chittening Estate. 47258 had arrived with 6Z35 the special from Ince & Elton and worked it as far as the PBA yard adjacent to the old Royal Edward Yard. The route into Chittening Estate was very curved and the 08 was used initially, later class 37s and 47s were permitted but there were severe speed restrictions and buffer locking was a common problem. 08949 is seen on PBA (Port of Bristol Authority) property behind Hallen Marsh signal box,5/10/83 The PBA branch into Chittening Estate originally crossed the Severn Beach line on a flat crossing, the PBA rail network had originally been operated by a fleet of the PBAs steam locos, then by their diesels, but by this date the PBA ceased to work the Chittening Branch and BR had taken over the operation. 08949 heads away from Hallen Marsh towards Chittening Estate with half of the PWA palvans of fertilizer, 5/10/83. The whole of the layout at Avonmouth and Hallen Marsh has been completely remodelled for the BBHT (Bulk Handling Terminal) the Severn Beach branch here is now a separate single line (the track on the left of this shot) and Chittening Estate was accessed from the freight only line on the right that leads to Stoke Gifford without the need for the flat crossing. edit - I am grateful to Mike (Stationmaster) for reminding me that is was a major rationalisation scheme in 1986 that first altered the layout here. Four of the five signal boxes, including Hallen Marsh, were closed and thereafter the Severn Beach passenger branch was operated as a single line from Avonmouth using the former UP line. The former DOWN line was worked as a siding as far as Town Goods, Fisons Tank Farm and Rowntrees siding having closed by that time. There was no physical connection between the two lines at Hallen Marsh, there was a ground frame at Holesmouth Junction to provide access into the PBA to the LPG gas terminal. The construction of the Bristol Bulk Handling Terminal in 1993 further changed the layout at Hallen Marsh. cheers

Whiteways Cider at Whimple received imported French apples, they came via Exmouth Docks, Which would be the nearest rail connected dock to Hereford? cheers

A view from Bath Road in 1982 when there were still 31/4s allocated there for working the Portsmouth Harbour trains In the shed yard are 31419, 31231, 31401, 31326, 25160, and 47166, 17/5/82 cheers

During the course of this thread we have seen most of the pages of the 1982 Bristol Area Trip Booklet so here is page 5 which among other things lists the trip dedicated to shunting Rowntrees siding at Avonmouth it was known locally by some railwaymen as the 'chocolate engine'. And now another picture of the Rowntrees trip in 1983, (by this time it was trip 78 but the principle was the same). Rowntrees siding held 3 VDAs inside the warehouse and 3 more outside, but owing to theft it became the practice to only leave 3 vans there safely inside. If 6 vans had arrived overnight from York then the other three were kept attached to the loco, or stabled at Hallen Marsh under the watchful eye of the staff there. In this case a second trip to Avonmouth was required to make a turnover shunt. The method of working for this trip was for the loco to haul the trip down to Avonmouth Dock Junction where the line to Bristol became single, the trip would then halt and propel back over the UP line with the brake van leading to Avonmouth to shunt, then propel back to Hallen Marsh, this movement was prohibited during the hours of darkness, fog, or falling snow. 47286 on trip 78 is seen again with 6 VDAs and a brake van at Hallen Marsh. The photo was taken from the inwards/outwards smelting works lines looking towards Hallen Marsh, 5/10/83 cheers