Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line

[v · d · e]Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line

Legend MR (Bristol and Gloucester Railway to Bristol) 0km Mangotsfield (Interchange) 0hours MR (Bristol and Gloucester Railway to Gloucester) 2.01 Warmley 0.04 Oldland Common 0.08 5.63 Bitton (Principal station of Avon Valley Railway) 0.11 River Avon (To Bristol) Avon Riverside (Opened in 2004) 9.25 Kelston 0.16 14.48 Weston (Bath) 0.22 Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (To Bournemouth) Coal-Gas Works Bath Goods Depot River Avon (To Bath) 16.09 Bath Green Park (Terminus; formerly Queen Square) 0.26

The Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line opened in 1869 to connect Bath to the Midland Railway network at Mangotsfield, on the former Bristol and Gloucester Railway.

The line was used by through trains from the Midlands and the North of England, such as the Pines Express, which reversed at Bath Green Park railway station and then proceeded southwards over the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway to Bournemouth. The main passenger traffic was local, with trains to Bath from Bristol Temple Meads, the St Philips Midland Railway station in Bristol, and from Clifton Down on the Clifton Extension Railway.

In its latter years, train service cuts reduced and then eliminated the number of passenger trains using the line from the north, and, though serving different communities on route, the line was in direct competition for the traffic between Bath and Bristol with the more direct and faster Great Western Railway route. As a feeder to the S&DJR, the line's fortunes were inextricably linked with those of the Somerset and Dorset line, and it closed on the same day, 7 March 1966, as part of the Beeching Axe, though freight services to Bath's gas works continued to 1971.

Weston station, September 2007

[v · d · e]Bristol Area Railway Map

Legend Cross Country Route Thornbury Branch Line Yate South Wales Main Line New Passage Pier Westerleigh Junction New Passage Halt Cross Hands Halt South Wales Main Line Pilning Severn Beach Coalpit Heath Crooks Marsh Winterbourne Bristol Parkway Grey line represents Patchway boundary of Bristol Ram Hill Colliery Avonmouth Docks Chittening Platform St Andrews Road Henbury Avonmouth (Royal Edward) Hallen Halt Avonmouth (BPRP) Charlton Halt North Filton Platform Avonmouth Docks Westerleigh Goods Depot Avonmouth Filton Junction Avonmouth Light Railway Filton Avonmouth Docks Filton Abbey Wood Shirehampton Horfield Sea Mills Ashley Hill Clifton Down Tunnel Mangotsfield (1845-1869) Clifton Down Mangotsfield (1869-1966) Redland Staple Hill Montpelier Fishponds Hotwells Halt Hotwells Stapleton Road Warmley Lawrence Hill Waste depot Oldland Common Bristol St Philips Temple Meads goods depot St Mary Redcliffe tunnel Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Harbour Railway St Philips Marsh T&RSMD Bedminster Parson Street Bristol Docks (North) Bristol Docks (South) West Depot East Depot Bitton Ashton Gate St Anne's Park Clifton Bridge Brislington Nightingale Valley Halt Long Ashton Ham Green Halt Avon Riverside Pill Keynsham Portbury Shipyard Whitchurch Halt Royal Portbury Dock Kelston Saltford Portbury Portishead (1954-1964) Mangotsfield Branch Line WC&PLR Great Western Main Line Portishead (1879-1954) Bristol & N. Somerset Rly. Portishead Pier Bristol to Exeter Line

Present

The northern section from Mangotsfield to Warmley been greatly used by the dual-carriageway development of the A4174 road, although both station sites still exist. The remainder of the line was passed from the British Railways Board to Sustrans, which in co-operation with the local councils developed the Bristol & Bath Railway Path.

The Avon Valley Railway based at Bitton came to an agreeent to run a single track alongside the bicycle path, from Oldland Common to Avon Riverside. Further development of the preservation railway is wholly dependent on a usage agreement with Sustrans.