Lawrence Hill Railway Station - History

History

The station was opened on 8 September 1863, when the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway was opened. The BSWUR (absorbed by the Great Western Railway in 1868) ran from Temple Meads to New Passage, where a ferry took passengers to South Wales.

The original track formation had 4 tracks, with 2 lines going between the current platforms and another 2 tracks immediately to the east that bypassed the station. The 2 lines that bypassed the platforms were lifted in the early part of 1985 and the trackbed has been derelict the since then. It has been proposed that this unused transport corridor could be used as a tramway or guided bus route toward Filton.

There was a goods yard at the station immediately to the west of the existing platforms. These were in use for cement depot until the mid 1980s. The land was developed in about 1990 and now has a supermarket and small industrial estate located on it.

On 1 November 2000, the station was the scene of a crash, when an empty Royal Mail train ran into the back of a loaded coal train. The mail train locomotive rode up over the other train, ending up against the road overbridge while balanced on top of the 3rd coal wagon from the back. The driver of the mail train suffered head injuries in the crash. Officials found that the mail train had passed through two red lights. This accident is referred to in an RIAB accident report, the following text describes part of the accident at Lawrence Hill station: "The misunderstanding and incorrect use of the BPPCUIC cock on an EWS class 67 locomotive led to a serious accident at Lawrence Hill near Bristol (1 November 2000). This resulted in serious injury to a driver and significant damage to equipment."