The Bristol Railway Archive

I was born in Bristol in July 1965 and between then and December 1968 we travelled by train to and from Darlington to visit relations every Technical College holidays - my Dad was a lecturer at Bristol Tech in his first teaching appointment. Can anyone point me in the direction of any gen/database for loco workings in this period please? It's a curiosity, sadly brought on by my Dad's imminent demise, but I could probably have a stab at the end of term dates for Bristol college and I think we generally travelled up on overnight service (I believe there was a 7.25pm service from Bristol Temple Meads north in December 1965 for example). The only definite date I have is 1st January 1967 when I understand we travelled from Darlington to York on one service and then had to wait in the stock of a service that started there before going on to Bristol. We lived in Kingswood and used Mangotsfield station too - but only in one direction apparently, is that memory correct?

The absolute bonus question is that I understand I travelled in a pram from Mangotsfield to Bath Green Park on at least one occasion. Bearing in mind I was born in July 1965 and the passenger service finished in March 1966 this is a much smaller window! Any photos showing my parents with a pram getting on or off a train at either end of the journey would be splendid. According to an RCTS book these could have been an 82xxx tank, Hymek or DMU I think? My only personal memory of the period is of going round a Bath Road open day and seeing shiny blue pullman trains at Temple Meads.

We moved up north to Bradford in December 1968 and I've been here ever since. Any pointers or information greatly appreciated.

Sorry, this is best I could find:- October 65 https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/453596993691570108/

Express trains stopping at Mangotsfield were few by 1965, with only the 0740 Bradford, 1040 Newcastle and the 1925 Newcastle Mail stopping there. As you say there were none in the reverse direction. The stops were not made as an ÔÇ£early Bristol Parkway,ÔÇØ but were for connections to be made from Bath. The Newcastle Mail attached a van that had come up the S&D on the 1540 ex-Bournemouth. The way the timetable was built up in those days there was no need to stop southbound rains at Mangotsfield, as connections could be made at Bristol (and, as an aside, as fares were mileage based in those days the railway could squeeze a few extra pence out of people...).

The practice of stopping those northbound trains at Mangotsfield probably stopped in January 1966 because there were no connections to be made from the Emergency Service that ran for the last 9 weeks. In fact IÔÇÖm not sure whether all 3 stopped after January 1965 because that was when the Gloucester stoppers were withdrawn.

As another aside, when I lived in Staple Hill up to1964 I would start my trainspotting journeys to the north on the morning Bradford, but go back to Temple Meads and offer to excess the fare when I got there. Usually I was waved straight through the barrier except if on particularly miserable old git was on duty on the gate, who seemed to take great relish from excessing me 3d, perhaps thinking heÔÇÖd stopped me from pulling a fast one. Most of the others also allowed you to jeep your ticket if you asked them ÔÇô not him though...

But I digress. Motive power for the Bath stoppers was provided from both ends. Green Park would by then have provided a standard class 3 tank (they had 82030, 93041 and 82044 to choose from at the end), and 82001 was still allocated to Barrow Road. If diesel power was being used on the Bristol diagrams it could be a Hymek. A Warship or a Peak, basically depending on what Bath Road wanted to allocate to the job. DMUs were not common but may have been used from time to time. The 1710 ex-Bristol had traditionally been a St PhillipÔÇÖs Marsh job and, when they were still in the area, former GWR railcars would sometimes be seen although I never saw any there myself.

There is a Mangotsfield Station group on Flickr which has a number of photographs of the place, including some of mine. None of a baby in a pram though!

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1493786@N23/

Sincere thanks for the helpful pointers on here so far. Made all the more poignant by the fact that Dad passed away (not unexpectedly) last week. Very much appreciated.

A definite one now...

Sunday 1st January 1967 please: What worked the 0905 Newcastle - Kings Cross (on it between Darlington and York) and 1244 York - Bristol TM (on it throughout - any diversions?)

Any help greatly appreciated!