BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS RAILWAY STATION

'Bristol Temple Meads railway station' is a major rail transport hub in Bristol, England. It is situated about a mile south-east of the city centre, and is the main station for central Bristol. Bristol's other main-line station, Bristol Parkway, is on the northern outskirts of the city.
In the Strategic Rail Authority’s 2005/06 financial year, Bristol Temple Meads was ranked as the 37th most-used station in the UK. Compared to 39th in 2004/05. Passenger numbers are likely to pass the 7 million mark in 2007/08.

Contents

History

Station facilities

Services

Station layout

Transport links

Bus services

References

Further reading

See also

External links

History

The name of the site where the station was built derives from the nearby Temple (or Holy Cross) Church, which was built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century, rebuilt in the 14th century, and gutted by bombing during World War II. Meads is a derivation of meadow, referring to the water meadows that were part of Temple parish. As late as 1820 the site was undeveloped pasture outside the boundaries of the old city^[1], some distance from the commercial centre and from fashionable Clifton. It did have the advantage of facing onto the Floating Harbour for transhipment of goods onto boats. The city's cattle market had been built on neighbouring land in 1830.
The original terminal station was built for the Great Western Railway (GWR) and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer of the GWR, and Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt ^[2]. The 72 ft (22 m) wide train shed has a wooden box-frame roof and cast-iron columns disguised as hammerbeams above Tudor arches, believed to be the widest Hammerbeam roof in England . The station also included a more utilitarian engine shed, and is fronted by an office building in the Tudor style. It is the oldest railway terminus in the world, and is regarded as one of the best Victorian station buildings. Services to Bath started on 31 August 1840 and to London Paddington in 1841. This part of the station was closed in 1965, and fell into disrepair for over twenty years. From 1989 until 1999 it was the home of The Exploratory, an interactive science centre, and is now the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. It is a grade I listed building ^[3].
The adjacent through station, which is still used by trains, was built between 1871 and 1878 under the direction of Brunel's former associate Matthew Digby Wyatt. There have been a number of references to Matthew Digby Wyattt's involvement with the rebuilding of 1871-1876 but there is no documentary evidence in the Minutes of the Joint Committee or on the drawings. The only signature on the drawings is that of Francis Fox (1818-1914) who was the Engineer to the Bristol and Exeter Railway. The curved train shed is 500 ft (152 m) long on the platform edge and has a wrought-iron roof structure by engineer Francis Fox. It replaced the 1844 station of the Bristol and Exeter Railway, which was perpendicular to the GWR station. The Bristol and Exeter's office building, by S. C. Fripp, still stands alongside the station approach. At the same time the Brunel terminus was extended eastward to join up with the new building. Since the closure of the terminal station in 1965 this extension has served as a covered car park. The through station was further extended on the east side in the 1930s by architect P. E. Culverhouse, with the addition of two further platform islands, allowing the removal of a narrow island platform in the middle of the 1870s train shed. The through station is also a grade I listed building ^[3].
The GWR's goods yard was built on the north-west side of the station, between the passenger station and the Floating Harbour, allowing transhipment of goods onto boats (though not onto ships, as the wharf was upstream of Bristol Bridge). In 1872 a further connection to the harbour was made in the form of the Bristol Harbour Railway, which ran between the passenger station and the goods yard, onto a bridge over the street outside, and then descended into a tunnel under the churchyard of St. Mary Redcliffe on its way to a wharf in a more convenient position downstream of Bristol Bridge. The bridge outside the station remained in use until 1964, but has now, along with the goods yard, been entirely swept away.
The station was built for the GWR's broad gauge, and in 1844 broad gauge trains of the Bristol and Gloucester Railway (B&G) began running from the station. In 1846 the B&G was taken over by the Midland Railway, and by 1853 it had been converted to standard gauge, with mixed gauge track running into Temple Meads.
The original Joint Committee set up in 1865 comprised Great Western, Bristol and Exeter and Midland Railways, hence the three main entrance arches. The capital costs of the work were split 4/14 Great Western/B&E and 10/14 Midland Railway. The ongoing costs were split GWR 3/8, Midland 3/8 and B&E 2/8. Hence when the GWR absorbed the B&E in 1876 the split was GWR 5/8 and Midland (later LMS) 3/8 until Nationalisation in 1948. The station remained a joint GWR-Midland (later GWR-LMS) operation until nationalisation. It was converted to standard gauge when the GWR finally abandoned broad gauge in 1892.
The former Bath Road Depot was situated to the immediate south of the station.

Station facilities

Station facilities at Bristol Temple Meads include,

★ ATM Machine

★ British Transport Police Office

★ Customer Information System

★ First Aid Centre

★ First Class Lounge

★ Help Point

★ Information Kiosk

★ Lost Property

★ Pay Phone

★ Post Box

★ Public WiFi

★ Shops

★ Ticket Machines

Services

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★ Limited service''

Station layout

In general, platforms are arranged in pairs, with odd-numbered platforms located at the east end of platform faces, and even-numbered at the west end. Platforms 1-4 are located on the main concourse; platforms 1 and 2 being bay platforms. The other platforms are on three islands, containing platforms 5-8, 9-12, and 13 and 15 respectively.
Platform 1 is a north facing bay platform, which is most frequently used for services on the Severn Beach Line, but also sees trains en route from Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central. Occasionally four-car Class 220 Virgin Voyagers are allocated to this platform on southbound Cross-Country services and for the start of the following northbound journey.
Platform 2 is a south facing bay platform, which is generally unused.
Platform 3 is generally used for services heading north via Bristol Parkway but this platform also sees trains heading south.
Platform 5 is used for trains heading south towards Weston, but also sees services to avonmouth.

Transport links

Bristol Temple Meads is served by many bus services, and the Bristol Ferry Boat.

Bus services

'Directly outside the station'

8,8A,9,9A - Clifton, Redland and City Centre

330,331 - Clifton, Bus station, Bristol international airport

'Within close proximity on the station'

1 - Cribbs Causeway, Westbury-on-Trym, Broomhill

54 - Cribbs Causeway, Southmead, Stockwood

References

1. The Atlas of Historic Towns, Volume 2, , MD, Lobel, The Scolar Press in conjunction with The Historic Towns Trust, 1975,
2. Bristol, , THB, Burrough, Studio Vista, 1970,
3. Temple Meads Station
4. Temple Meads Station

Further reading

★ John Binding: ''Brunel's Bristol Temple Meads'' ISBN 0-86093-563-9

★ A. Gomme, M. Jenner, B. Little: ''Bristol: an Architectural History'' ISBN 0-85331-409-8 (out of print)

See also

★ First Great Western

★ List of all UK railway stations

★ Rail services in Bristol

External links

★ Panorama of Bristol Temple Meads railway station

★ Photos of Bristol Temple Meads railway station