Bristol and North Somerset Railway
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The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with towns in the Somerset coalfield. The line ran almost due south from Bristol and was 16 miles long.
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[edit] The main railway
The line was opened in 1873 between Bristol and Radstock, where it joined with an earlier freight only line from Frome to Radstock that had been built in 1854 as part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway. Through services between Bristol and Frome began two years later, in 1875, at which point the line was formally taken into ownership by the Great Western Railway, which had absorbed the WS&WR in 1850.
[edit] The Camerton branch
In 1882, a branch line from Hallatrow was built to Camerton; in 1910, this line was further extended eastwards along the route of the former Somerset Coal Canal to join up with the line from Bath to Bradford-on-Avon railway station line at Limpley Stoke.
The Camerton branch was mainly used for coal - in particular, the colliery at Camerton. The original line from Hallatrow to Camerton closed in 1932, with Camerton becoming the western terminus - having also been the eastern terminus and a through station. No other example of this is known.
[edit] Line traffic
The principal traffic on the railway was coal from the Somerset coalfield, though the villages nearer Bristol generated some commuter traffic. Passenger services were never frequent: in 1910, there were eight trains a day at most (on Thursdays and Saturdays) and not all of those ran through to or from Frome.
Traffic on the Camerton line from Hallatrow to Limpley Stoke was even lighter: passenger services started in 1910 and were suspended for the First World War in 1915; they resumed in 1923 (though Midford Halt never reopened) but were withdrawn entirely in 1925. Freight services on the branch line ceased in 1951. The line achieved some fame after closure by its use in the film The Titfield Thunderbolt, but the track was taken up in 1958.
The Bristol and North Somerset main line did not last much longer. From the point where the line turned northwards towards Bristol, only three miles out of Radstock, it ran virtually parallel to the main A37 road, which made it vulnerable to competition from road transport. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1959 and freight traffic stopped in 1965.
[edit] Features
The original stations were in most cases built to a standard but distinctive design by the architect William Clarke, featuring large canopies and three tall chimneys. Clarke designed stations on other "minor" Great Western satellite railways.
The biggest civil engineering project on the line was the Pensford Viaduct over the River Chew. The viaduct is 995 feet long, reaches a maximum height of 95 feet to rail level and consists of sixteen arches and is now a Grade II listed structure.
[edit] References
- Bradshaw's Railway Guide. April 1910 edition. (Reprinted by David & Charles, 1968)
- Oakley, Mike (2002). Somerset Railway Stations. Dovecote Press.
