Fishponds railway station
Encyclopedia
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, a victim of Dr Beeching's cuts in the 1960s.
Fishponds station was just south of where Wm Morrison's
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
supermarket car park is today. The railway line was built in 1835 for transport of coal from Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath is a small village in the parish of Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire, England, south of Yate and east of Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire.-Background:...
to industry in the centre of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The station, named Stapleton Halt, was opened on 1 April 1866, and was part of the Bristol to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
line operated by the Midland Railway. The station was renamed Fishponds on 1 July 1867, and had two platforms plus a shunting line constructed in 1905 for the Avonside Locomotive Works
Avonside Locomotive Works
The Avonside Locomotive Works was a locomotive manufacturer on Filwood Road, Fishponds, Bristol, England. A nearby locomotive builder was Peckett and Sons located on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and St George.-The new company:...
to move their newly built locomotives onto the main line.
The Network
The stations at the Bristol end of the Midland line were St PhilipsBristol St Philips railway station
St Philip's railway station was a small terminus station in Bristol built by the Midland Railway to relieve pressure on the main station at Bristol Temple Meads, which was owned by the Great Western Railway...
(where it ended within walking distance of Temple Meads), then Fishponds, Staple Hill and Mangotsfield
Mangotsfield
Mangotsfield is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north of the Bristol suburb of Kingswood, bounded to the north by the M4 motorway and to the east by the Emersons Green housing estate....
. At Mangotsfield the lines split, and passengers could continue onto Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
past Parkfield Colliery
Parkfield Colliery
Parkfield Colliery, near Pucklechurch, South Gloucestershire, was sunk in 1851 under the ownership of Handel Cossham. Coal was reached in 1853. The shaft was 840ft deep, but only the upper series of coal veins were worked. These were the Hard, the Top, the Hollybush and Great veins...
and Coalpit Heath, and or through Warmley
Warmley
Warmley is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, to the east of Kingswood on the outskirts of Bristol.In the mid 18th century it contained the Warmley Works of William Champion...
, Oldland Common
Oldland Common
Oldland Common is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, on the outskirts of Bristol. It is in the civil parish of Bitton, approximately 8 miles between the centres of cities Bristol and Bath...
and Bitton
Bitton
Bitton is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, in the Greater Bristol area on the River Boyd.It is in the far south of the South Gloucestershire district, near the border with Bath and North East Somerset...
when the Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line
Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line
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....
was opened in 1869. There was also a spur to Clifton Down
Clifton Down railway station
Clifton Down railway station is located on Whiteladies Road in Clifton, Bristol, England. The station is west of Bristol Temple Meads on the Severn Beach Line...
, the Clifton Extension Railway
Clifton Extension Railway
The Clifton Extension Railway was a joint railway in Bristol, owned by the Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway companies.-Description of line:...
, built in 1874 and closed to passenger traffic in 1941.
Closure
The line was part of Dr Beeching's railway closures in the 1960s. Stopping passenger services on the Bristol to Gloucester line ceased on 4 January 1965, and the station then closed to goods traffic on 31 December 1965. However, trains continued between Bristol and Bath Green ParkBath Green Park railway station
Green Park railway station is a former railway station in Bath, Somerset, England. For some of its life, it was known as Bath Queen Square.-Architecture and opening:...
until 7 March 1966. The signal box remained open until 12 April 1968, when most of the station buildings where demolished. The line through the station was due to close on 3 January 1970, but a landslip at nearby Staple Hill
Staple Hill railway station
Staple Hill railway station was on the Midland Railway line between Bristol and Gloucester on the outskirts of Bristol. The station was on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway line, but opened in 1888, 44 years after the line had been opened through the site...
led to its closure a week early. The tracks were later removed. There are still remains including the stairs to the footbridge on the Bristol side. The line was converted into the Bristol & Bath Railway Path which was completed in 1986, though the trail through the Fishponds station site deviates from the original rail line because of the roads associated with a supermarket on adjoining land.