Bedminster Railway Station - History

History

The first section of the Bristol and Exeter Railway's main line opened on 14 June 1841 between Bristol and Bridgwater. The station at Bedminster, originally known as Ashton, opened in 1871, on the site of an earlier excursion platform which had closed in about 1870. Sited approximately 57 chains (1.1 km) from the Bristol & Exeter's northern terminus at Bristol Temple Meads and 119 miles 08 chains (191.7 km) from the Great Western Railway's London terminus at Paddington, there were two tracks, both originally 7 ft 0 1⁄₄ in (2,140 mm) broad-gauge, but the line was reconstructed as a mixed gauge line to accommodate local 4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in (1,435 mm)-gauge traffic by 1 June 1875. On 1 January 1876, the Bristol and Exeter was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway (GWR), who took over services. The station had been renamed Bedminster by 1884, when on 27 May the original station closed and a new station was opened some 14 chains (280 m) west. There were two separate platforms, one on each side of the two tracks. Broad-gauge trains ceased operation on 20 May 1892, and in 1908 the new station was extended, with the addition of ornate station buildings and a footbridge at the west end of the platforms. Until the opening of Parson Street in 1927, Bedminster had served as the first station for trains heading for the Portishead Branch Line, which served the town of Portishead, the villages of Pill and Portbury, and the south side of the River Avon.

The station was rebuilt in 1932, opening on 30 April. The ornate buildings were demolished to enable the line to be four-tracked, and were replaced by more austere buildings on two island platforms between the tracks, including two waiting rooms, ticket and parcel offices. The new station was accessed, as now, by a subway from Fraser Street. The station employed 15 men in 1938. There was a 74 lever signal box to the east of the northern platform, and also a small siding to serve local coal merchants.

When the railways were nationalised in 1948, the GWR became the Western Region of British Railways. Goods traffic at Bedminster ceased from 1 June 1964, traffic to Portishead ended with the closure of that line in September the same year, and the station became unstaffed from September 1968. The signal box was taken out of service in April 1970, and by 1979 all the station buildings had been demolished.

British Rail was split into business-led sectors in the 1980s, at which time operations at Bedminster passed to Regional Railways. Local services were franchised to Wales and West when the railway was privatised in 1997, which was in turn succeeded by Wessex Trains, an arm of National Express, in 2001. The Wessex franchise was amalgamated with the Great Western franchise into the Greater Western franchise from 2006, and responsibility passed to First Great Western, a subsidiary company of First Group.

In 2010, the Severnside Community Rail Partnership began a comprehensive scheme to improve the station. The work included removing foliage from the platforms, new lighting and artwork for the subway, community display panels and the installation of help points. The subway artwork came third in the arts category at the 2011 Community Rail Awards.