History
The railway reached Severn Beach in 1900, but was at first used only for goods traffic to Pilning. A platform was built beside the line at Severn Beach by the Great Western Railway in 1922, and a bay platform added to the west for excursion traffic, with terminating passenger services from Bristol starting on 26 May 1924, subsequently extended to Pilning in a loop back to Bristol via Patchway from 9 July 1928. By 1924 a brick concourse had been built perpendicular to the bay platform, providing a ticket office, the station master's office, toilets and a ladies' waiting room. The station master and keeper of the level crossing were also provided with houses, while to the east of the platform were sidings, primarily for stabling of excursion trains.
In November 1964 through services to Pilning ceased, with the line north closed completely in July 1968, although goods traffic at Severn Beach had already ended in 1963.
More recently, services to Severn Beach have been cut back further, with only one in three trains to Avonmouth now continuing on to Severn Beach. The concourse and other station buildings have been demolished, replaced with a small metal and glass shelter, while the eastern rails have been pulled up, leaving just the bay platform remaining. Half of the 240 yards (220 m) is cordoned off, and that which remains dwarfs the two-car diesel multiple units which use it. To the east, the land once used for sidings has become overgrown and a dumping ground for litter and general detritus.
Read more about this topic: Severn Beach Railway Station
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)