Bedminster railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bedminster | |||
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|---|---|---|---|
| The southern end of Bedminster railway station | |||
| Location | |||
| Place | Bedminster | ||
| Local authority | Bristol | ||
| Coordinates | Coordinates: | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | BMT | ||
| Managed by | First Great Western | ||
| Platforms in use | 3 | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Rail Passenger Usage | |||
| 2004/05 * | 32,489 | ||
| 2005/06 * | 40,917 | ||
| History | |||
| Key dates | Opened 1871 | ||
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| * Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bedminster from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. | |||
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Bedminster railway station is on the Bristol to Taunton Line and serves the suburb of Bedminster in Bristol, England. It also serves the area of Windmill Hill.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Bristol and Exeter Railway was opened on 14 June 1841 but a station was not provided at Bedminster until June 1871. This station was only in use for 23 years, as on 27 May 1884 a new station was opened 250 yards further away from Bristol Temple Meads station. It was now on an elevated section of line with an entrance from Windmill Hill which passed beneath the railway, and was extended in 1908 to allow access to the platforms from the other end too.[1]
The original line had just been two tracks, but on 30 April 1932 a much larger station was brought into use, now serving four tracks from two island platforms. From north to south the tracks were the Up Relief and Up Main (towards Temple Meads), Down Main and Down Relief. New station buildings were provided on both platforms but have since been swept away and replaced by basic waiting shelters.
A coal yard was provided here but goods traffic at Bedminster ceased on 1 June 1964 and staff were removed from the station in September 1968. To the east of the station was Pylle Hill Goods Depot and to the west was Malago Vale Carriage Sidings; a carriage washing machine was provided on a loop off the Down Relief line to allow carriages to be cleaned during their journey to Malago. These sidings have now closed but the Down Relief and loop are still in place as far as Bedminster to allow for short-term storage of trains away from Temple Meads.
With the Bristol Area Resignalling Scheme in the 1970s the local signal box was removed, the Down Relief converted to a Down Carriage Line and the Up Main signalled for reversible running between Bedminster and Temple Meads. This means that down trains can leave Temple Meads "wrong line" and is often used to allow late running fast trains to overtake stopping trains at Bedminster, which means that passengers waiting on the platform for trains towards Weston-super-Mare sometimes have to hurry through the subway when their train appears on the "wrong" platform!
[edit] Services
This station and all trains serving it are operated by First Great Western. The basic pattern of trains is an hourly train calling at all stations between Bristol Parkway and Weston-super-Mare. There are also peak hour services from Cardiff to Taunton.
The station is unstaffed but has an automated customer information system and a payphone.
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol Temple Meads | First Great Western Bristol to Taunton Line |
Parson Street | ||
[edit] References
- ^ Oakley, Mike (2002). Bristol Railway Stations 1840-2005. Wimbourne: The Dovecote Press. ISBN 1-90434-909-9.
[edit] See also
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