Beginnings
The Midland Railway, based in Derby, had operated a main line linking Bristol to Birmingham since 1845. (The section between Bristol and Gloucester had had complicated origins, starting as a simple mineral line serving the South Gloucestershire coalfield, and becoming the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, absorbed by the Midland company in 1845.). Bath was a significant destination for visitors and as a city of considerable size, was a source of demand for inwards manufactured goods from the Midlands, and a route to Bath would also capture some of the colliery traffic.
In July 1864 the Midland Railway obtained parliamentary authority to construct a branch line to Bath, and the line was duly opened on 4 August 1869. At first the Bath station was a temporary building west of the River Avon, but in 1870 the extension was opened to the splendid terminus at Queen Square in the city; the Great Western Railway had opened its main line between London and Bristol in 1840, and had its own Bath station on the other side of the city.
The branch connected with the Bristol to Gloucester line at Mangotsfield by a triangular junction allowing through running direct from the north towards Bath.
Read more about this topic: Mangotsfield And Bath Branch Line
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