The Bristol Railway Archive

As the vast majority of members will know, Bristol Temple Meads is being closed in August whilst Bristol East Junction is remodelled, with many trains stopping short at either Parkway or Bath for bus connections.

However, according to Realtime Trains, from 6th August some services, and in particular the Parkway to WSM stoppers, are being diverted via the avoiding line, making an interesting non-stop run from Lawrence Hill or Stapleton Road to Bedminster!

Some ÔÇ£track-bashersÔÇØ (and I include myself in that number sometimes!) might be interested. I have never been on a train via that route, although I have walked it a few times when at Bath Road and going home to Brislington for lunch! (Things were different 45 years ago in pre-hi-viz days when all you were expected to do was keep oneÔÇÖs ears and eyes open and acknowledge a warning horn if something was coming...)

According to the GWR website service updates, services from Cardiff to Taunton and Parkway to Weston will not run north of Temple Meads.

Certainly back in my day, the avoiding line may still have been there physically but it was part of the St Philips Marsh depot complex with movements controlled by the mini-panel operator using ground signals. Without some serious changes to the working arrangements, I think that may be wishful thinking. I'm sceptical that it would even be classified as a passenger line these days. Could be proven wrong of course.

Roy

Eighteen months of lockdown and travel restrictions; they come to an end and Summer holiday period is here so close Temple Meads.
It's inconvenient to say the least.

Whether the thinking is wishful or not, a lot of it has been put into this by the timetable planners. The trains are running Monday to Friday 9th to 13th August and are shown on RTT as follows:

BPW to WSM at 0915, 1114, 1214, 1414 and 1514
Allowed 10mins North Somerset Jcn to Bristol West Junction
Sample times https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/servic ... 9/detailed

WSM to BPW at 0929, 1029, 1229, 1329 and 1529
All allowed between 10 and 15 mins pathing allowance between Bristol West and North Somerset Jcn
Sample times: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/servic ... 9/detailed

Indeed, the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner does now show a limited number of through services running non-stop between Filton Abbey Wood and Nailsea & Backwell. I shall have to interrogate my grapevine.

Roy

Confirmed it will happen for five days as outlined in the public domain. I can't share any other information than that without compromising confidentiality.

Roy

Given the circumstances that Roy has found himself in concerning confidentiality, I looked at other publicly-available data, and looked at movements on the Bristol avoiding line today, which I hope is a typical example of a dayÔÇÖs usage.

Hardly surprisingly the vast majority of movements are in early morning and late evening with ECS to and from the depot. However, three freight train Q paths also appear but they were all cancelled today, which at least shows that through running from one end to the other is not unheard of, so presumably the signalling currently allows this to happen.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search ... &order=wtt



Between 0845 and 1817 only 3 ECS movements were timetabled (2 into the depot and 1 out) plus one of the freight Q paths, so on that basis running passenger trains round the avoiding line at the times these BPW/ WSM services will be running is not going to get in the way of normal workings into the depot.

If XC services on the NE/SW route were diverted that way, however, the number of trains and the level of occupation these trains would need would be far greater and probably would cause a significant problem with the depotÔÇÖs routine workings. In addition of course XC drivers may not have route knowledge of the avoiding line. These are running from Bristol Parkway to Taunton via the Rhubarb chord and Westbury with an unadvertised stop at Bath for staffing purposes.

So the publicly-available data appears to give plausible answers to the questions of why so few trains are going that way and over a relatively short part of the day only, and whether the signalling is adequate for the job.

I donÔÇÖt know what else we might need to know!

I suspect that the Q paths probably relate at least in part to fuel tank deliveries for the depot. They came up from Fawley in my day. They may also possibly relate to on-track plant assuming they are still maintained at Marsh Junction.

Roy

The Q paths are listed on the link I provided above. They are:

0202 Stoke Gifford to Bristol Freightliner Terminal
0736 Stoke Gifford to Taunton Fairwater Yard
1428 Stoke Gifford to Bristol Freightliner Terminal

The 1428 calls for 2 minutes at XPM. All the others are booked to run straight through

I took my ride around the Bristol avoiding line today ÔÇô 1214 from Parkway to Yatton and 1341 return.

It has certainly changed a lot since I was walking that way back home for lunch in 1975 when the HST depot had yet to be built, yet alone opened. As Roy said, the line is to all intents and purposes part of the HST depot, so much so that the through line runs through a carriage washing plant!

If anyone else is interested in going you have 3 days left to do it. Departures from BPW at 0915, 1114, 1214, 1414 and 1514, returning from WSM at 0929, 1029, 1229, 1329 and 1529