Bristol Harbour Railway Prepares for Extension
By Robin Jones

The Bristol Harbour Railway is to commence regular running over its 'branch' from Wapping Wharf to Ashton Swing Bridge in July following the granting of a permanent Safety Case for the section. The section of former GWR line beyond the wharf on Spike Island has been used for occasional private charters and special events where Safety Cases were obtained on a 'one-off’ basis. Now the line, which is operated by the Bristol Industrial Museum, has permission to use it on a regular basis. The first operations under the new Safety Case will be passenger trips during the museum's forthcoming Steam Festival over the weekend of July 1 / 2 2000. It will allow running from the existing half-mile waterfront line, the surviving remnant of the original Bristol Harbour Railway which opened for freight on March 11 1872, to the Create Centre, a new recyclable energy visitor attraction set up in a former bonded warehouse next to the swing bridge.

As there is no run-round loop by the bridge, trains will have to work on a 'top-and-tail' basis. The line has two 0-6-OSTs inherited from the Port of Bristol Authority lines, which once extended over 100 miles both in the city and at Avonmouth Docks. Peckett No. 1940 of 1937 Henbury is currently operational, while Avonside No. 1764 of 1917 Portbury is nearing the end of a ten-year overhaul and may be ready for resteaming later this year. As a result of only one steam locomotive being available for the weekend, a second will need to be hired in. The special guest for the festival will be Kitson 0-4-OST No. 3799 of 1898, the only surviving locomotive from the Cardiff Railways and which, having passed into GWR and then BR ownership, worked for many years at Bridgwater Docks in Somerset. It is being loaned to the harbour railway by Didcot Railway Centre, where it was successfully resteamed last autumn for the first time in 36 years. It has another link with the locality, being one of the exhibits at the long-closed Somerset Railway Museum which was based at Bleadon & Uphill station, before passing into Great Western Society hands. No. 1338 is set to stay at Bristol for the rest of July before attending the Rail 2000 Millennium Cavalcade of Steam at Shildon over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

While track across Ashton Swing Bridge is intact, the bridge itself has not been swung since 1936 and the girders are said to be in need of urgent remedial work. Axle loadings across the bridge have been progressively reduced and there is little chance of a Safety Case for passenger trips across it being granted in its present state. However, experimental trips with a Parry People Mover light rail vehicle have been held on the harbour railway, and there is the prospect that such traction might one day be used to provide a link between a giant Sainsbury supermarket and the city centre via the line. Although the harbour railway's original route eastwards into Temple Meads station has long been truncated, the museum terminus is only a few minutes walk from the city centre, where road traffic congestion has been worsening for many years. The harbour railway still links with the mothballed Portishead branch at Ashton Junction. Plans are afoot to reopen the Portishead branch to handle car shipments arriving at Royal Portbury Dock, and passenger services may be revived on a Metro-style basis at a later date. Whether or not a revival of the branch leads to further use of the Bristol Harbour Railway remains to be seen.

Article and image courtesy of Heritage Railway magazine. Picture shows Peckett 0-6-OST Henbury in steam on the Bristol Harbour Railway.