Rivercider

Thanks for all the positive comments. I have got a lot of enjoyment from RMWeb, particularly layout threads where there is an emphasis on freight, especially if it is in the blue era. Just one photo today, of a service that ran towards the end of the vacuum brake era, finally ceasing when the Speedlink network took over. When the nuclear flask traffic from Bridgwater passed on ordinary services it was always picked up by a service that started at Exeter Riverside. The mid morning departure had originally run from Exeter Riverside to Warrington, as the vacuum braked network contracted it ran as far as Bescot only then latterly becoming a service that terminated at Gloucester New Yard. The route of this service in Bristol was via Bristol West Junction, the Bristol Avoider past the HST Depot, then via North Somerset Junction and into KIngsland Road Yard. In order to avoid reversal after shunting at KIngsland Road the train was then hauled by the pilot back to East Depot Downside loop the pilot then detached enabling the train to continue north via the Rhubarb Loop. 7M67 08.50 Exeter Riverside - Warrington Walton Old Junction rounds the Rhubarb Loop from Feeder Bridge Junction (North Somerset Junction) and is approaching Dr Days Junction. The loco is 46039, then three vanfits, a clayfit and then the two flasks attached at Bridgwater. The buildings in the background in the middle of the triangle are the part of the CS&TE depot at Bristol East, 6/5/80 cheers

Yes I have found that too! Some photos of places I do not remember visiting! The background of photos can be a gold mine of info, lots of detail like depot clutter, lineside equipment, and platform furniture. I like the shot of 56091 back along, is that passing Derby? cheers

At Bristol East Depot marshalling yards were opened on the upside and downside in 1890. There were about 17 roads in each yard and when they closed as marshalling yards in 1967 both saw further use. Bristol East Depot Downside became an important civil engineers yard handling materials for which a crane was later installed, (this is still there long after the depot closed). It was also the focal point for engineers trains in the Bristol area being responsible for forming up trains for weekend work, there being as many as 12 or 13 departues on busy weekends. During the week the yard forwarded trains of spoil to Stoke Gifford Tip, and dispatched midweek ballast drops.. There were regular trains from and to Meldon Quarry for ballast, as well as Severn Tunnel Junction as some ballast was supplied by either Machen or Tintern Quarries. Local trip no.2 worked around the area as required, while the yard pilot was trip no.21 on weekdays, and trip no.31 on saturday mornings. Here is another page from the 1982 trip booklet. During the week trains of materials were sent and received from various yards, as well as ballast and spoil there were trains of new and recovered track sections moving between East Depot and Taunton Fairwater PAD. As the engineers bogie wagon fleet of salmons sturgeons and ganes contained no vacuum fitted wagons there was sometimes a problem with insufficient brake force and these trains were among the last time I remember brake tenders in use. A very smart Bath Road loco 31159 leaves East Depot with a brake tender and a train of recovered track sections for Taunton Fairwater, 17/7/79. And a class 31 in more typical condition for a Bath Road loco On the same day 31422 had been working engineers trips but is now waiting for the road to go back light diesel to Bath Road. In the background is a rake of dogfish hoppers, 17/7/79. After East Depot upside closed as a marshalling yard it was later used as a yard for holding crippled wagons. The introduction of TOPS brought greater control of the wagon fleet, and combined with declining traffic levels large numbers of wagons became surplus. The yard was classified as a Catchment Area Focal Point, and empty unfitted and vacuum braked wagons that had been green carded with a defect were sent there for grading. The local Carriage and Wagon assessor would regularly attend to examine wagons and label them up for repair if authorised. I remember taking calls in the TOPS Office from the C&W where he would sometimes give details of 20 or 30 wagons labelled away for repair at Barton Hill, Cathays, or Swindon or Derby Works. When the vacuum fleet was being slimmed down the monetary limit for repairs was nil for some wagon types so eventually they would be labelled away 'one journey only' to locations like Sharpness Docks for scrapping, cheers

Here is another sequence of photos taken at Kingsland Road in September 1983. One of the local trip locos 45057 arrives from Lawrence Hill with airbraked traffic detached off 6B46 06.30 Severn Tunnel Junction to Bridgwater. The Kingsland Road yard pilot 08950 then attaches to the rear to shunt out the train, and finally 08819, working the enparts trip departs for Bath Road. 45057 has just arrived at Kingsland Road, next to the loco is a TTA tank for Bath Road (as well as loco fuel occasionally a tank of lube oil would arrive), followed by an enparts VCA and a VDA. 20/9/83 Pilot 08950 with its regular CAR brake van attached, starts to shunt out the trip, the rear of which is a PGA probably returning from repair at Marcrofts in Gloucester, 2 more VCAs for Bath Road and a BDA 950806 loaded with some s&c rail for the engineers at East Depot, 20/9/83 .Todays enparts trip loco 08819 departs for Bath Road with 3 VCAs and a TTA. The VCAs came from Swindon, Derby and Crewe Works with loco stores, 20/9/83 cheers

Here is another page from the 1982 Bristol Area trip book, although it is not from the same year as my Kingsland Road pictures which were taken in 1983 it gives an idea of the local working. By the time we have visited the other locations in the Bristol and Avonmouth areas I will have probably scanned and posted most of the trip booklet. Notice trip 13 which is provided due to Kingsland Roads awkward location, the service from Southampton to East Usk must be formed with the Bristol portion front to be detached at East Depot and tripped to Kingsland Road. Before the Bath Road fuel tanks gained their own dedicated service from Fawley this was the service that brought them to Bristol. Trip no.20 is the 'enparts' tripper to move the fuel tanks and loco stores around Bristol. And another example of a prototypical short train, and an unfitted one at that as the flatrol is piped only, The 45 had worked in from Lawrence Hill with airbraked traffic and gone light diesel down to Malago Vale carriage sidings to collect the loaded lowmac. 45057 with the Malago Vale 'muck truck', the four waste skips belonged to Hemmings Waste and were for bags of waste collected by the carriage cleaning crew at Malago, there being no proper road access down there the waste was brought to Kingsland Road for Hemming to collect and dispose of, 20/9/83 cheers

Another couple of views of Kingsland Road, which have been seen before on other threads. A view of Kingsland Road from the east end, the pilot hiding behind the yard cabin on the left is 08950, Siding 1out on the right was lifted because of tight clearances to the down main line, 20/9/83 Kingsland Road pilot 08950 busy shunting at the east end, 20/9/83, cheers

Thanks. Jack had been a lad porter on the Midland, and was on duty at St Phillips Midland station alone one night during the Bristol blitz, he also worked as a guard on the S&D at Bath, and had plenty of stories to tell cheers

Next I will make the short journey east out of Temple Meads to Kingsland Road, the yard responsible for local marshalling and sorting of freight traffic. There had been a number of marshalling yards in the Bristol area but although they had all closed by 1980 most remained in railway use. The yards at Westerleigh shut in 1965 with the closure of the Midland route north out of Bristol, the up yard later became the site of the Avon Waste terminal, and the Murco oil terminal. The marshalling yards at East Depot closed in 1967, the up yard later became a cripple wagon assessment yard, and the down yard became an important civil engineers yard. The yards at West Depot closed in 1971, the up yard then in 1974 became the Freightliner terminal, the down yard was used for storage of surplus coaching stock from Malago Vale. Stoke Gifford Yards also closed in 1971, the up yard became the site of the Bristol Parkway carpark. The down yard was then used for engineers trains in connection with the High Speed Route project to upgrade the Badminton route prior to introduction of HSTs. Then the Down Yard was then used for stone traffic from ARCs quarry at Tytherington, and when Severn Tunnel Junction Yard closed took over some Speedlink marshalling. At Avonmouth were the Old Yard and Royal Edward Yards both, I think, on Port of Bristol Authority (PBA) land. The Old Yard closed first, and BR withdrew the Royal Edward class 08 pilot in 1977 leaving the PBA to carry out any residual shunting of docks traffic. (some dates taken from Colin Maggs book 'Rail Centres Bristol') At Kingsland Road the outside roads were used for local marshalling and sorting of traffic, the inside roads with road access were used for unloading. A view of the outside roads at Kingsland Road, the waste lowmac with carriage cleaning waste from Malago Vale is in the foreground. Airbrake vans on no.11out are loaded with Guinness from Park Royal. Two roads of vacuum braked wagons on 9out and 10out will be cripples for Barton Hill Shops, and repaired wagons for East Depot. The car carriers on the right in no. 3out are for loading at either Temple Meads or Pylle Hill. On the top right of the shot can be seen some wagons in Barton Hill Shops, MSVs in stone traffic use, the farthest two are stood on the Gloucester Lines (the former Midland route), the nearer one probably on Dr Days no.1 reception. 20/9/83 Kingsland Road supervisor Jack Hyde, one of many fine railwaymen I was proud to have worked with over the years. Jack was a relief supervisor, and worked either here at Kingsland Road or as Area Freight Assistant in the TOPS Office. In the background can be seen part of the CS&TE (signals) stores depot at Bristol East, 20/9/83 cheers

At the west end of Temple Meads behind the Motorail dock were a couple of sidings that served the fish dock. In the late 1970s, and possibly just into 1980 there was an unusual, occasional, and very short distance traffic flow. Avonmouth Dock was the UK port for a regular Island shipping service (I forget which Island) and a couple of vanfits would periodically be supplied to the docks. These were loaded with incoming mail off the ship, and worked the short distance to Bristol Temple Meads where they were berthed in the fish dock. I assume they were unloaded by Post Office staff and the mail forwarded on normal parcels trains. Edit - it was the Royal Mail ship St Helena, and she made 4 sailings a year from Avonmouth to St Helena. In the earlier photo of 8B22 coal train passing through Temple Meads I think a couple of vanfits can just be made out in the dock on the left. Temple Meads Goods was a large depot adjacent to the station, it had been a major forwarder of freight but when I knew it the roads still remaining in use were only no.s 13 and 14. By the 1980s it was an NCL depot and only a couple airbraked vans per day were dispatched one each for NCL at Glasgow, and Edinburgh. These were tripped to Kingsland Road and then attached to the loco booked to work the West Depot - Mossend joint Freightliner/airbraked service which would take them down to West Depot before heading north. There was also occasional traffic from the continent received in ferry vans. Here is a view of traffic being drawn out of the shed, it has appeared before on another thread. Kingsland Road pilot 08900 drawing Cov-ABs out of no.13 road ready to take to Kingsland Road, 10/5/80 For anyone not familiar with all the Bristol area locations referred to in this thread I have drawn out a map of the central Bristol area. I think all the locations that were receiving traffic in the 1980s are shown, with the possible exception of the CS&TE (Signals) depot at Bristol East which was in the triangle opposite Kingsland Road Yard. A single siding received very occasional wagons of signals stores. edit - also the Avon Waste depot at Barrow Road was part way down the Avonside Branch from Lawrence Hill Kingsland Road was the yard that carried out local sorting of traffic, and from where a number of trip workings would originate. As it was located on one side of a triangle it was not convenient for a through train from say Eastleigh or London to South Wales to call to shunt. For example fuel tanks from Fawley for Bath Road would be formed on the front of a train from Eastleigh, it would call at East Depot Downside where the loco and front portion would detach and run forward into Kingsland Road, the loco then returned light diesel to East Depot, reattach to the train and continue on to South Wales. cheers

Here are another couple of freight services photographed at Bristol Temple Meads First a traffic that was rapidly declining by 1980, bagged sugar beet pulp nuts used for animal feed. In the sugar beet season in the autumn each year special trains would be run from the sugar beet factories which were mostly located in East Anglia. A number of these specials would run to the west country. Often the power was a class 31 with about 30 loaded vanfits, the loco usually worked back with empties for reloading. 46035 halts briefly on the Up Through at Temple Meads for crew relief, the train is a special from Exeter Riverside to Whitemoor Yard with empty vans, 11/11/80 A site that could be seen each weekday at Temple Meads for many years was the local 'Enparts' trip loco, sometimes booked to be a mainline loco, at other times the job was booked to a class 08. The loco would work between Kingsland Road, Bath Road, Marsh Junction and St Phillips Marsh HST depot, conveying loaded fuel tanks from Fawley in, and taking discharged tanks back to Kingsland Road for Fawley. There were also 'enparts' vans, originally syphon G, then later airbraked VCAs were used, these conveyed loco stores from Swindon, Crewe and Derby works to Bath Road depot. Later when better road access was provided at Bath Road the stores came by road. 08950 is arriving at Bath Road with TTAs of loco fuel from Fawley which it has tripped from Kingsland Road, 26/3/80 cheers

Hi Neil thanks for your kind words. I never saw much hydraulic freight action in the Bristol area, as most of my spotting trips were normally at weekends. I first started trying to take proper photos in 1979, and got my first SLR camera in December that year. I agree that there was an interesting mix of traffic in the Avonmouth area, though being off the main line it went largely unseen and unrecorded. I had been working for BR for just over 12 months, in the civil engineers, and when I transferred into Bristol TOPS in October 1978 I was surprised at how little I knew of the area and how many different types of wagons and flows of traffic there were. I then made several visits there in the early 1980s. So far I have scanned about half of my 1980s photos including most of those taken in 1980/81, there are some from Avomouth in the Flickr '1980s W.R. Avonmouth Area' album. I will be scanning more to add to this thread as I call at Kingsland Road, Lawrence Hill. Stapleton Road and then up to Stoke Gifford, and Avonmouth. Is your layout based on anywhere in particular in the Bristol area? cheers

Portbury Dock became the largest car import/export terminal in the country, it now handles 700,000 vehicles a year. When you pass by on the M5 there are hundreds of acres of new vehicle storage compounds visible. Here are another two views of the automotive traffic in the Bristol area in 1983, for a few months there was a large number of vehicles moved, of differing manufacture and model, then the traffic dried up, I don't remember why. It was not only cars that were moved, I think Land Rovers came from the West Midlands for export. The next photo is of Mitsubishi vans which came from Dover, presumably off the train ferry? The Temple Meads pilot this time is 08756, it is about to take the vans off the Up Through Line down to Pylle Hill for unloading. Notice the sleeping coach stabled in the fish dock, also between the tracks the water supply for loco train heating boilers. 5/8/83 And now a look at Pylle Hill. The large NCL goods shed here was demolished in 1979 and industrial units were built on part of the yard. The remaining sidings were normally only used for storing parcel vans during the day before they went into Temple Meads each evening to be loaded by the Post Office. Some vans were loaded here with locally printed Observer colour supplements. After initial car loadings in the Temple Meads Motorail dock subsequent loading took place at Pylle Hill where there was more space, a lot of the local British Rail road fleet was also stabled here, some of which can be seen behind the wagons.. A cartic set at Pylle Hill being loaded for Glasgow, are they Vauxhalls this time, the first red car looks like an Astra to me? ?/8/83 cheers

There was talk back then about the dock being rail connected, I often thought that if we had got 10 per cent of the traffic talked about by the marketing department we would have been overwhelmed. I had a bet with one of our supervisors Jack about the date the first train of coal would come out of Portbury. The bet was a bottle of spirits, I said by 1984.........., and lost,......, big time.......! cheers edit - we will be meeting supervisor Jack when we get to Kingsland Road in the next few posts. In the meantime here is a shot of the cartics from Pylle Hill now loaded with shiny new Datsuns and on their way to Leith 47246 working 4Z81 18.00 Bristol Temple Meads - Leith waiting traincrew relief on the Down Through Line at Temple Meads, 3/8/83 cheers

I do not ever remember much car traffic in the Bristol area apart from Motorail traffic at Temple Meads Station, and the unfortunate mercedes pictured above. There was regular Speedlink traffic passing through, cars loaded on cartic 4-sets for unloading at Exeter St Davids. In the summer of 1983 however a large number of cars and light commercial vehicles were loaded and unloaded in Bristol. They were being imported, and exported, through Portbury Docks and were road hauled to and from Bristol by the Abbey Hill Group. The first loadings were made from the Motorail dock behind platform 2 at Bristol Temple Meads, it is hard to imagine that happening now, just think what traffic chaos that would cause. Later the vehicles were loaded from Pylle Hill to the west of Temple Meads. First a picture of cartics that had been loaded in the Motorail dock Temple Meads station west end pilot 08951 shunts the loaded cartic sets onto the Down Through Line ready for a special working which I think went to Leith, 5/7/83 Later loadings were from Pylle Hill, here are empty cartic sets heading for Pylle Hill, on a local trip probably from Stoke Gifford, in the background can be seen another empty cartic set. They were for loading with imported Datsuns that later went on a 18.00 special to Leith. , 47032 on the Up Through Line at Temple Meads en-route to Pylle Hill, 3/8/83 cheers

Thanks for that Brian. Did 8B22 convey coke for Commonwealth Smelting at Hallen Marsh? By the late 1970s the Smelting Works was receiving coke from either Nantgarw, Cwm or Coed Ely coke works, cheers

Now another look at a couple of Freightliner services in Bristol. When I first started on BR in 1977 West Depot Freightliner terminal was served by a joint Freightliner/airbraked working to and from Mossend with 1 x 5 set daily each for Glasgow and Trafford Park terminals. By the 1980s these sets from Glasgow and Trafford Park arrived and departed on services from Cardiff Pengam FLT. The usual power for these trains was a type 4s of classes 45,46, or 47. Later in the 1980s the service was again amended and West Depot was also served by a service to and from Swindon to connect into the Stratford - Danygraig Freightliner services. Firstly a photo of another special working from West Depot probably for Pengam though I have no notes to confirm 31257, one of Bath Roads allocation, brings a Freightliner special from West Depot under Bath Road bridge. This was probably going to Pengam, 31s were not normally used on these trains as the booked service of 2 or 3 loaded 5 sets would be over the maximum load for a class 31 going up Filton bank, 25/4/83. And now a view of the normal booked service from Pengam with the usual motive power up front. 47257 works 4B48 05.20 Pengam - Bristol West Depot through Temple Meads on the Up Through Line 5/8/83 cheers

Thanks Rich. That mercedes was a one-off move, so it is not a good example of everyday Bristol freight working in 1981, but, as cold-ash mentions, it would look good at an exhibition, and that train would fit on most layouts! cheers

Here is another page of the Bristol Area trip booklet from May 1982 together with a couple more photos at Temple Meads. Both the photos have been posted before on other threads but serve to illustrate the local freight working. Page 4 of the Bristol Area Trip Booklet dated 17th May 1982. This working may have been Trip No.2 the engineers trip loco, or an additional special trip, either way it was a job typical of the work carried out by the engineers locos. Dogfish hopper DB993311 had been en-route from Meldon Quarry loaded with ballast, but suffered a hot axle box and had been detached at Weston-super-Mare. After temporary repairs had been carried out 47377 was sent to collect it, on the way up to Bristol it had again run hot. The panel signal box advised us in the TOPS office of the problem and I was able to get to the platform to take this photo. 47377 passes Temple Meads with a trip from Weston-super-Mare to Bristol East Depot. 17/5/82 Another photo taken as a result of information received in the TOPS was this shot. In 1981 the freight timetable allowed 8B32 the 07.20 Severn Tunnel Junction - Ashton Meadows coal train to convey a portion of ordinary traffic for the Bristol area if required. This was then tripped from Ashton Meadows to either Kingsland Road or Lawrence Hill as required. On this day when the train passed Ashton Junction the signalman noticed the damaged mercedes, and, forwarned, I was able to get this photo as the trip headed for Lawrence Hill. A trip from Ashton Meadows to Lawrence Hill passing Temple Meads on the Up Through Line 37178, vanfit B771064 and B451727 loaded with a mercedes from Oban to Lawrence Hill consigned to Cruickshank a Mercedes main dealer at Ashton Gate in Bristol. 3/7/81 cheers

Here are another couple of photos of freight trains passing through Bristol Temple Meads. I have lost my notes for the 1980 photo of 47074 with the tank train, it may be for Tiverton Junction though in later years 6V62 Fawley - Tavistock Junction ran this way for a while calling to detach tanks of fuel for Bath Road and St Phillips Marsh HST, and attach discharged tanks for Fawley. 47074 on the Down Through Line at Bristol Temple Meads, in the background can be seen Shed Box which controlled movements onto and off of Bath Road Depot, 4/3/80 56035 heads a Freightliner special working from Pengam to Bristol West Depot through Temple Meads also on the Down Through Line, class 56s were not normally common on Freightliner workings in Bristol, 9/6/83, cheers

Much of the freight traffic for the Bristol area came through the yards at Severn Tunnel Junction. In the late 1970s and early 1980s there were morning departures from Severn Tunnel Junction to Lawrence Hill (cement), Kingsland Road (general Bristol area traffic), Filton CCD, and Ashton Meadows (coal for Wapping Wharf CCD), as well as a couple of services to Hallen Marsh with Avonmouth area traffic. The second Hallen Marsh service could sometimes be diverted elsewhere if there was surplus traffic left on hand for another yard. In the winter if coal traffic for Wapping Wharf was heavy the booked service 8B32 07.20 from Severn Tunnel Junction was often fully loaded with 25 - 30 21t hoppers of coal so a second train would sometimes be required. I am sneaking in one of my poor 1970s images here, 8B22 11.20 Severn Tunnel Junction to Hallen Marsh has been diverted to Ashton Meadows with coal for the CCD at Wapping Wharf and is passing Bristol Temple Meads on the Up Through Line, the loco is 37227, 3/12/79 cheers

I did not often take my camera to work, but obviously did in April 1983. I must have been aware of a number of special freight workings as I had walked along Bath Road and into the car park opposite Bath Road depot overlooking Bristol West Junction, to take some photos. Here are four photos taken that day illustrating a variety of workings, what would we give for such variety now? Two of them are services from the west, one a midweek ballast drop returning to East Depot and a local Bristol area trip working. Firstly clay for export. Coming under the west gantry is 47236 with 6Z94 07.45 Tavistock Junction to Dover, 27/4/83 Next up is a Bristol area tripper from West Depot to Kingsland Road. This was an unusual working, there had been a dockers strike at Southampton resulting in a shortage of berths for container ships a number of which were diverted to Portbury. Some of the containers were road hauled to/from Kingsland Road and specials arranged from there or West Depot. 45051 Bristol area tripper passes Bristol West Junction with 6B78 en-route from West Depot to Kingsland Road, 27/4/83 Here is a train of tanks from Tiverton Junction another terminal previously mentioned in this thread. 46037 passes Bristol West Junction with 6Z31 10.45 Tiverton Junction to Washwood Heath 27/4/83 And finally a typical engineers working of the period, a midweek ballast drop. These trains ran sometimes 2 or 3 times a week from East Depot departing around 07.45 in the morning and would run to various locations Bridgwater/Gloucester/Westbury etc. This would be dropping ballast to either finish off after weekend relaying work or maintenance ballast (to top up ballast shoulders?) 31291 is returning to Bristol East Depot after a run down to Bridgwater with 6Z03 consisting of 6 empty dogfish ballast hoppers and a shark plough van. 27/4/83 cheers

To start off here are a couple of photos from South Bristol West Depot Freightliner terminal was a small terminal and used a crawler crane hired from Sparrows Crane Hire, unloading from one siding. The usual daily loading had been 1 x 5 set for Glasgow and 1 x 5 set for Trafford Park going out on a combined Freightliner/Speedlink working. Later when traffic increased there were also sets from Felixstowe, more than coiuld be berthed on one siding. As the crawler crane could not reach the second siding easily a turnover shunt was sometimes required and one of the Bristol area trip locos would make a visit 31210 working local trip no.1, with a full crew of driver second man and guard, runs light diesel through Parson Street on the way to West Depot, 3/2/81 Coal for Western Fuels CCD at Wapping Wharf came via Severn Tunnel Junction before the advent of Speedlink. There was a weekday morning service from Severn Tunnel Junction to Ashton Meadows that I often passed on my train into work at Bristol. Usually a class 37, it would leave the loaded trains to be collected by the Western Fuels Hudswell Clark shunter which had brought out the return empties. The train was usually well loaded with 25 or 30 21t hoppers, and in the late 1970s I remember it sometimes had a brake tender as well. In the winter if traffic was heavy a second trip could be organised departing Severn Tunnel Junction late morning. At Ashton Meadows 37302 is running round the loaded train to collect the empties already waiting on the left. On the right is part of the civil engineers Ashton Gate works department depot. 11/2/80 Ashton Meadows was the subject of a thread on here some time ago, it made me think that a compact yard like this could well be the inspiration for a scenic fiddle yard. cheers

We now arrive at Bristol, which in the 1980s still had quite a variety of freight traffic at various yards and terminals. I worked in Bristol from 1977 to 1985, in the TOPS office from 1978 so was involved with the freight traffic and photographed some of it. Portishead was still receiving cement on presflos from Ketton in the late 1970s but closed around 1980, the traffic then went to Lawrence Hill. Western Fuels at Wapping Wharf had a coal concentration depot, trains ran each week day from initially from Severn Tunnel Junction to Ashton Meadows from where the Western Fuel shunter collected the traffic. The Civil Engineers had a depot at Ashon Gate which generally received a trip from Bristol East Depot on mondays and fridays to move the 'tunnel train'. The weedspray train also based here when the seasonal spraying programme was taking place. Bristol West Depot was the Freightliner terminal, a small terminal without a gantry crane, a hired in crawler crane was used, usual traffic was only 2 or 3 five sets a day, if there was extra traffic one of the Bristol freight trip engines would be required to make a shunt. Malago Vale carriage sidings had no road access, so carriage cleaning waste was loaded into skips on a lowmac wagon which was tripped to Kingsland Road for unloading, there was alos the occasional TTA of fuel for the carriage heating boiler which came from Fawley. Pylle Hill was used to load some van parcel traffic, particularly Observer colour supplements, and in the 1980s also loaded cars imported through Portbury and road hauled up to Pylle Hill. Bristol Temple Meads also loaded imported cars from the Motorail Dock The adjacent Temple Meads Goods handled a small amount of NCL traffic in Cov-ABs and some imported traffic in ferry vans. KIngsland Road was the main yard handling local sorting for the Bristol area trips, and the mileage yard dealt with general traffic, some steel, some ferry vans, Guinness from Park Royal and other odds and ends. There was a class 08 pilot based here 24 hours on weekdays, and saturday mornings. Barton Hill Wagon Shops, sometimes known as Days Road Shops repaired a variety of wagon types, the former Pullman shed was used for planned preventive maintenance (PPM) of the Westbury based stone wagon fleet a set came over from Westbury each evening, the loco returning with yesterdays set after PPM and repair. A lot of engineers vehicles came in for repair as well. The shops was shunted on the night shift. Bath Road and St Phillips Marsh HST depots received fuel oil in TTAs from Fawley as well as stores and replacement parts (enparts) which came in Cov-ABs, this traffic was tripped as required by the 'enparts' tripper, usually a class 08. Bristol East Depot Downside was the main civil engineers yard, trains were formed up here for weekend working, there was also a crane available to load and unload wagons. A class 08 pilot worked here on a day shift and there was also a trip loco on weekdays working out of here. Marsh Ponds had previously received wood pulp for St Annes Board Mills, but this had ceased by 1980. There was a small short lived Rugby cement terminal receiving Speedlink traffic in PCAs. Lawrence Hill Yard handled most of the cement for the area, Aberthaw and Ketton cement was unloaded in the yard and the yard pilot also worked Blue Circle Cement traffic down the Avonside Branch. There was a rail weighbridge here, occasional wagons of scrap wouild arrive for weighing. Later a small compound was built here to handle TTAs of LPG. The Avonside branch also saw seasonal molasses traffic from Kings Lynn. Later when the Avon Waste contract started the yard pilot would haul the train down the Avonside branch to the Barrow Road terminal. The pilot was here on early and late turns on weekdays, originally a class 03, it became a class 08 from about 1981. Stapleton Road had been forwarding scrap from Birds and Pugsleys terminals but this had ceased by 1980. The above is not a complete list, no doubt I have forgotten something, and of course the picture changed as during the decade most of the yards declined in use, and then closed. I will look at freight traffic at Avonmouth, and Stoke Gifford, separately, in the meantime I will post some photos of freight in the Bristol area, cheers

DMUs were not reported on TOPS at that time, that is why, when they were added, some of them had to be renumbered, vehicles in the 50xxx range becoming 53xxx, and 56xxx becoming 54xxx, hence 50001 became 53001. I have a Platform 5 Multiple Unit Pocket Book Spring 1983 Special renumbering edition that gives the details. cheers

Great pictures there Ray, especially 08419 in the shed. It is always good to have some information to go with the pictures, helping to explain what was going on. I only went there once, travelled overnight from Bristol - Carlisle, then down to Workington on the first DMU of the day, took a few photos there, Whitehaven and Barrow, then back down the WCML and home via Bristol, cheers