Rivercider

I will post the photos of the passing freight trains at Stapleton Road in the order I took them that morning. In the late 1970s when much traffic was still passing in vacuum braked vehicles Kingsland Road Yard had been the principle yard for dealing with wagons arriving in the Bristol area. There were a number of services that called overnight including St Blazey to Carlisle and St Blazey to Temple Mills, also from Acton to Severn tunnel Junction and Eastleigh to Severn Tunnel Junction. When the Speedlink Network was introduced it was based on a smaller number of Trunk Yards linked, mostly overnight, by fast services on a limited number of routes. The awkward location of Kingsland Road and Lawrence Hill in Bristol meant that they could not conveniently be served by the trunk trains and Stoke Gifford yard was instead chosen for trains to call to detach a Bristol portion. Ketton Cement traffic in presflos had previously been routed via Temple Mills, Acton, Kingsland Road and Portishead. Under Speedlink, now loaded in PCAs, it ran from Ketton via Whitemoor, Stoke Gifford and then to Lawrence Hill At 08.50 Bath Roads 31210 on local trip work passes Stapleton Road en-route from Stoke Gifford to Lawrence Hill. Next to the loco are 6 PCAs from Ketton for Lawrence Hill, 30/9/81 Next came a special working, 6O68 was a Severn Tunnel Junction to Eastleigh Speedlink working, but this train was described as 6Z68, though I can not think why either an empty PGA or an airbraked open were important enough to warrant a special working. It is 08.52, two minutes after 31210 has come down the relief, and Old Oak Commons skinhead 31121 heads past on the Down Filton Main on a special working from Severn Tunnel Junction to Westbury, 30/9/81 cheers

While searching my notes before posting the photos from Stapleton Road I find that I recorded the times of all the trains that passed in the 4 hours from 07.15 -11.18 I think this may have been because I was going to work late turn in the TOPS and by noting the time I could then check what each move had been. I think it might be interesting to show the variety of traffic on offer on a weekday morning in the early 1980s. There were 43 movements through Stapleton Road in 4 hours on Wednesday 30th September 1981 comprising the following:- 15 loco hauled passengers (2 x 31, 2 x 33, 4 x 45, 6 x 47, 1 x 50) 8 DMU moves including the Severn Beach single power car twice and the experimental LEV3 twice. 7 light diesel moves (1 x 31, 1 x 37, 1 x 45, 4 x 47) And the following freight moves 07.15 47134 with tanks 07.44 47068 with tanks 08.50 31210 Speedlink trip 08.52 31121 6Z68 Speedlink special 08.59 47125 6C01 Bridgwater - Baglan Bay 09.00 31323 6B39 Speedlink 09.18 45075 HBAs 10.05 47236 Cement tanks 10.35 47438 Engineers empties ex Stoke Tip 10.41 47318 6V53 Longport - St Blazey clayliner 11.18 47230 6C42 Speedlink It was a dull September morning, so not ideal, and all photos were taken at 1/60th second on 100ASA film, I took 14 photos and next will post some of the freight train shots, cheers

As a kid in the 1960s I remember our family travelling a lot by train particularly around Devon and my dad was always pointing out closed stations or the site of old junctions. It is something that I have continued to do over the years, of course since then those old remains have largely been demolished, redeveloped or simply gone back to nature. Many yards and depots in use during my railway career are now going the same way, consequently there must be hundreds of railway relics large and small around the region that I look out for on my occasional travels. One thing that I have passed hundreds of times over the years is the old Railway Hotel at Durston, the former junction for the B&E Yeovil branch. I have no memory of the branch line or station, both had already been closed and lifted/demolished but the Railway Hotel continued to stand defiantly in the Down Yard. I do not know how long ago it closed as a hotel or pub, possibly many years ago, but it retained the name board until relatively recently though I assume it is now a private residence, and I always look out for it as I pass by, cheers

Thanks for the positive comments, they are much appreciated. Next stop will be Stapleton Road for a few photos of passing freight trains, cheers

Is the train running clockwise around the Hounslow loop, Whitton would be a more logical destination on the departure screens than Waterloo where the train will end up. An anti-clockwise service for the Hounslow Loop could then be described as for Hounslow? cheers

Here are the photos of the Lawrence Hill pilot 08949 taking the molasses tanks down to Distillers siding on Avonside Wharf, I think they have all been posted before on various threads, but I will add them here in the order they were taken. As there was no run round at Lawrence Hill or Avonside all trips were propelled down the branch to Avonside, travelling with the shunters on the veranda of the brake van was a strangely quiet experience, the pilot was 18 tanks back and could not be heard, there was only the bumping of the van over the track joints. The other regular traffic to Blue Circles cement terminal on Avonside Wharf had ceased about 1980 and the molasses traffic was only seasonal, running in the autumn. Consequently Bristol commuters who always have parking problems had started to park across the level crossings not expecting them to be used, and BT Police sometimes had to be called to assist in removing cars 08949 is seen at Barton Street Level Crossing on the way down the branch, 28/9/83 On arrival at Avon Street the propelling brake van was stood to one side and the tanks split into two sets 08949 at Avon Street sidings, on the left a HST can be seen outside Temple Meads, 28/9/83 To reach Avonside Wharf it was necessary to cross the busy Avon Street Protected by shunters with flags 08949 propels across into Avonside Wharf to berth the first 9 tanks, 28/9/83 After reattaching the brake van 08949 prepares to return to Lawrence Hill, the maximum speed on the branch was 10MPH, 28/9/83 cheers

Lovely shots as always David, especiaily BR Blue, my era. Is the class 31 returning from Rowntrees at Coxlodge I wonder? Some photos of that trip have a brake van with the Cov-ABs, and also i remember there were a few wagons in the Rowtrees pool with white roofs, presumably an attempt to keep the contents cooler I wonder cheers

I don't have that book, but I would guess that if 33 is involved then they may be vans that have arrived on Speedlink via Salisbury. In the 1980s when Speedlink was in its prime a number of locations, including Bridgwater, sometimes received 3 or 4 PWAs on Speedlink services, this was in addition to the normal company block trains from Ince & Elton of 12 PWAs. This gives an excuse to run a prototypical shorter train, cheers

Continuing from the previous post here are three more train movements from 28th September 1983. As there was usually traffic for other Bristol locations arriving on 6B46 from Severn Tunnel Junction one of the Bristol area trip engines would normally be waiting to take it into Kingsland Road. 47104 is on trip duties this day and has just propelled its train out of the yard onto the Up Filton Relief and is seen here now heading south wrong road to pass through the platforms at Lawrence Hill, the first two vehicles are VCAs and will be enparts vans with stores for Bath Road, 28/9/83 Looking back to post 138 with the bitumen tanks passing Lawrence Hill behind a pair of 25s we can now see a change in traffic patterns, and a switch of traffic to the Speedlink network. 6O42 Severn Tunnel Junction - Eastleigh passes Lawrence Hill behind 45051. Next to the loco are 3 bitumen tanks, probably for Cranmore, then 5 more unidentified tanks and an open, 28/9/83. Finally for this post another, this time unidentified, working heads south. 47070 passes through Lawrence Hill with a train of TTAs, 28/9/83 cheers

Now a series of photos from a misty morning in September 1983, we are now well into the Speedlink era and the main service of the morning is 6B46 06.30 Severn Tunnel Junction - Bridgwater which calls at Lawrence Hill to detach Bristol area traffic. 45034 at the head of 6B46 creeps under the Midland Railway bridge, the front of the train is formed of former BR ferry vans now allocated to Bridgwater in a pool for use as barriers to segregate the explosives traffic out of the ROF from the caustic soda tanks from the Cellophane works, 28/9/83 The problem with using Lawrence Hill for southbound trains was that it was a one ended yard, and a short one at that, the length limit for trains into the yard was 50 SLUs (a Standard Length Unit being 21', the length of an ordinary vanfit) Here 6B46 can be seen stretching the length of the yard. In the distance now at the stopblocks are the barrier wagons for Bridgwater, followed by an unidentified tank car then 5 caustic soda tanks for Bridgwater British Cellophane, then a VGA probably for Kingsland Road and then at least 3 seacows probably going to Barton Hill Shops for repair, the 45 is nowhere to be seen, 28/9/83 The staff at Lawrence Hill decide their next move, the pilot 08949 is attached to some PCAs from Ketton which will be shunted to the brick road. There are still presflos in use as can be seen in the background, 28/9/83 08949 has now shunted the Ketton Cement PCAs into the brick road ready for unloading. Behind them towards the stopblocks appears to be TTAs of molasses for Distillers at Avonside Wharf, another raft of them can be glimpsed on the right of the view standing on the Avonside Branch siding, they will be tripped down later by 08949 to Avonside, I went down with them and took a few photos of the trip, 28/9/83 cheers

The 1987 Freight Train Loads book shows Ince & Elton - Andover / Gillingham for class 47 as - Palvans loaded 'M' (presumably medium load) max length = 42 SLUs, load = 1220 tonnes including loco route via Heyford and Southcote. The trains would always be a full load from Ince & Elton, then spilt between depots. A full load would be about 12 PWAs edit - and the same loads book shows the return load via Warminster and Craven Arms, 55 SLUs, 520 tonnes including loco Here is the return train at Westbury, looks like at least 12 PWAs https://www.flickr.com/photos/47500cdb/8395216293/in/photolist-c4U1bQ-j1tHZX-eexNcp-dMRFjv-6Q7vTj/ cheers

The Murco Petroleum Depot is built on part of the site of the former Westerleigh Up Yard, with the Avon Waste container terminal just to the north of it. There was a yard on the downside at Westerleigh as well, Jack Hyde, the supervisor featured earlier, said the yards were laid out in the same pattern and that if you learned how to shunt one yard, then you knew them both, cheers

Hi Gary the bridge, or its replacement, is still there, i believe part of the Bristol and Bath Railway Path. Yes, the Midland route ran from Temple Meads/St Phillips via Barrow Road, Kingswood Junction, Fishponds, Staple Hill, Mangotsfield (triangular junction with S&D route), Westerleigh Yard, Westerleigh Jn, Yate, and thence to Birmingham, cheers

And now a series of photos from an afternoon in April 1981, some of these have been seen before. These photos see the pilot 08338 forming up traffic for 7C62 to Severn Tunnel Junction, and the train departing behind 37277. The cement would have arrived that morning on the 04.20 from Severn Tunnel Junction. Firstly a general view of Lawrence Hill taken from the Midland Railway overbridge. From the left the running lines are, the Down and Up Filton Main, Down and Up Filton Relief. In the yard the weighbridge road is behind the up platform where there are some Ketton cement tanks. Bagged Aberthaw Cement was unloaded in the goods shed and Aberthaw presflos on the next two roads. Ketton cement was unloaded on the right hand side, further right is the brick siding, and on the extreme right above the 08 is the line to Avonside. One of the Bristol allocation of class 101 Met-Cam units sets B806 heads north, 08338 is in the yard, 22/4/81 08338 draws empty vans from the shed road, the white roofs clearly indicate they have been used for cement traffic, 22/4/81 At the north end of Lawrence Hill the running lines were spanned by the former Midland route north out of Bristol. 37275 runs past southwards with a mixed freight, I am guessing it is for Westbury/Eastleigh, or Exeter Riverside meanwhile classmate 37277 peeps under the bridge, 22/4/81. 37277 now brings 7C62 16.35 Lawrence Hill - Severn Tunnel Junction out of the yard, the Cov-ABs in this working were VBBs with through vacuum pipes, enabling the train to run vacuum braked, 22/4/81 cheers

Now we can call into the yard at Lawrence Hill to have a look at some of the traffic there and the trains that served it. Here is the next page of the 1982 Local Trip Booklet with details of the Lawrence Hill pilot. Going back to my first photographic visit to Lawrence Hill here are two photos from 1980 when the pilot was still booked to be a class 03. Bath Road had two 03s 03121 and 03382, these were required because at that time class 08s were restricted from working at Avonside. It is also worth mentioning that there was no run round in the yard at Lawrence Hill thus trains heading north up Filton Bank could call and attach or detach traffic normally, but trains heading south down the bank needed another loco to shunt release them. Yard pilot 03382 with runner TDB709457 at work as seen from the platform. In the distance under the bridge we can see 37071 which had just come light diesel from Bath Road, 6/5/80 03382 shunts the goods shed road, bags of bagged cement from Aberthaw Cement were unloaded here, two of the vans can be seen on the right, meanwhile 37071 now waits for its train to be formed up before working 7C62 15.50 to Severn Tunnel Junction, 6/5/80 cheers

Hi Matt, sorry I have no photos of class 20s in Bristol, in fact I don't remember seeing many in the Bristol area at all in the 1980s. A pair were employed working top and tail on the annual visit of the weedspray train which would berth overnight in the civil engineers works depot at Ashton Gate, to replenish stores and water tanks. cheers

Hi Gary, 25s had been allocated to Bath Road from 1971 to replace diesel hydraulics, Cardiff Canton also had an allocation, so a lot of the Bristol drivers would have had traction knowledge of them. I think the Bath Road allocation went back to the Midland Region about 1976 but they were regular visitors until about 1980. The Laira 25s lasted until 1980 but they generally kept to Devon and Cornwall. cheers

Here is another pair of photos of passing traffic at Lawrence Hill, I am not completely sure of their identity. Firstly a train of tanks passing northwards. 25278 and 25321 head through the platform with discharged bitumen tanks, I think this is probably 6M35 13.20 Cranmore - Ellesmere Port, 2/6/81. And next a train of coal empties also heading north. 37229 passing Lawrence Hill with, according to my notes, 7V81. I assume this is probably from either Eastleigh or Southampton to Severn Tunnel Junction or East Usk, 2/6/81 cheers

I am glad you are finding the thread interesting. I finished taking railway photos regularly in 1986 so I don't think I will find any photos of the lpg trains, one of which arrived and departed during the night shift, and I think the Norsk Hydro traffic was a bit later also, though I have do a photo of Fisons traffic heading to Avonmouth. As to whether the Avonmouth route is busier than 1980 it is difficult to say, the wagons in use then were mostly smaller with a lighter payload and many of the trains were shorter. Since I was redundant from EWS in 2007 I have lost touch with the current operations, but I do recall that the coal train programme could vary a great deal from week to week, sometimes there were only one or two coal trains booked a day, other times six or more a day. I would estimate that on average there was a similar number of train movements a day in 1980 to the present time, but of much more variety back then. In 1980 there was probably more traffic by weight going down to Avonmouth by rail than now. If the coal trains are running though there would be much much more traffic by weight coming up from Avonmouth than back then. cheers

Thanks Paul, very informative as usual. Were those photos of the Fisons tanks in the FF47xxx series taken in Fisons Tank Farm adjacent to St. Andrews Road station? cheers

Hi John by the time I started in Bristol TOPS in October 1978 traffic from Avonmouth Docks was pretty sporadic, I will try to recall all the traffic i can remember later when I get to Avonmouth. The OBAs were for, I think, for loading with bagged sugar which then went on Speedlink services to Tuxford, there were several consignments over a few months then the traffic stopped. Presumably it was semi-refined and was going to be refined ?, I do not remember who the consignee was though. cheers

When two tracks were removed from Filton Bank in 1984 the two remaining tracks slewed from side to side. Through Lawrence Hill the tracks were on the (west) relief side as only the relief line platforms remained there. At Stapleton Road I understood that that the bridge carrying the up and down mains needed major repair, so again the relief lines were retained in use. Further up the bank at Ashley Hill the remaining tracks slewed across to the (east) main line side. There had been a very long slow burning bank fire on the (west) relief line side of the embankment at Ashley Hill possibly I think as the embankment had been built out of colliery spoil tips and included coal dust, and as a result the embankment had become unstable on that side. cheers

83A was the code for Newton Abbot, 6334 lasted until October 1971. I have looked on Flickr and found another photo of 6334 at Newton Abbot with the distinctive brickwork on the chimney in the background, I don't recognise that view at Newton Abbot though. Is it taken in the depot, looking away from the station? cheers

We now follow 46039 round the curve and make the short journey north to Lawrence Hill. A number of my photos of Lawrence Hill have already appeared on other threads, http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70626-goods-yards-and-freight-handling/page-4 but I will add some fresh views. Before we go into the yard I will have a look at traffic passing on the main line. The route from Bristol Temple Meads to Filton Junction had been four tracks until 1984 when it was reduced to two tracks. At Lawrence Hill it was the Up Filton Relief and Down Filton Relief that remained in use as they served the two remaining platforms there. Heading south past Lawrence Hill on the Down Filton Main, which would be lifted in 1984, is one of Bath Roads class 31s 31258, a regular snow plough wearer. It is working local trip no.16 and is en-route from Stoke Gifford to Dr Days with a stone set of MSVs and MTVs . These will be for Barton Hill Shops for Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM) and would be shunted into the PPM shed that night. 6/5/80 The following year 31258 still with ploughs is again on local trip work and passes Lawrence Hill heading up Filton Bank. 31258 this time with a rake of empty OBAs for Avonmouth Dock passes Lawrence Hill having departed Kingsland Road at 14.00, 2/6/81 Nearly all of the freight traffic to and from Avonmouth went via the Henbury Route but in 1981 there was one booked Speedlink working that went via Clifton Down. 6C36 12.10 Swindon Transfer - Severn Tunnel Junction which was booked to convey empty steel carriers from the Pressed Steel plant at Swindon as well as enparts VCAs for various depots. It called at Kingsland Road and then via Clifton down to attach traffic from the Avonmouth area. An Immingham 31 this time, 31127 is working 6C36 12.10 Swindon - Severn Tunnel Junction through Lawrence Hill, the 2nd - 5th vehicles look like VCAs so will be enparts vans, behind that are probably discharged fuel tanks from Bath Road and St Phillips Marsh returning to Fawley, 2/6/81 cheers

Very nice Rob, some old friends there edit - and prompted by your post my next batch of photos has some class 31 action cheers