As a matter of interest, this was Pilning yesterday (7th September 2024). Picture and comment taken from a FB post by Ashford Clark and reproduced here with permission.

 

I am very much aware of http v https issues - what comes of being an 18 month project that's been running 18 years.  Much work underway but I beyond comments already made not saying anything more at present. The thing about R&D is that you don't know for sure if you'll succeed until you do!

 

Bah, tapping the link brings up the message "file can't be downloaded securely" on my android phone.
If it's the New Passage pier at Severn Beach, as I believe it is, I'll actually be down that way later this month so might incorporate that into my stroll.

 
"On this day" flags up the opening of New Passage Pier on 8th September 1863, but the web site that hosted the original article is no more.  We do host (for members only due to copyright) a list of stations bypassed at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/bypass_stations.pdf which makes fascinating reading.

 

Excellent point.  That's what's been pointed out to various developers who want to build more houses to the west and north of Nailsea.

It's lovely pasture in the summer, but in the winter much of it is under surface water. 

 

Perhaps I'm being a pessimist, but not sure that building 9500 new homes around 22 feet above sea level would be the smartest move in the world.

By contrast, there's plenty of land between Yate/Chipping Sodbury/Coalpit Heath/Winterbourne and the M4 which would be be ideal for housing if the railway could  have another pair of tracks to enable a 15-minute service. 

 



I - err - wrote with a degree of sarcasm about Pilning there, Chris - the Severnside Industrial Park would neighbour the new housing to the south east, with its own special junction off the M49.

Now Chetnole is very much lanes, and Achnashellach is too far from just about everything!

Edit to correct my spelling - five mistakes in two sentence was bad even for me!

 
That'll be the problem with Finstock too.

Better those go at Worcester Parkway (even more) or say Moreton-in-Marsh.

 

I think I can see a couple of rural lanes and the odd lock-up unit nearby.

 
The 8 stations I picked out to map at http://www.passenger.chat/28888 were Narberth, Buckenham, Finstock, Pilning, Chetnole, Langwathby, Achnasellach and Swale (I think, it's a few days back and a lot has happened).

 

So that's roughly 20,000 residents (at 2.3 to 2.4 per home).  The 800 metre radius circle looks like:



P.S. - but is there any employment or road infrastructure anywhere near?

 
Source: Ship shape? How the planning system is holding back Bristol’s economy, centreforcities

 
Flagging up "on this day" - 7 years since the removal of the Pilning footbridge.

 
Driving around the Culm valley the other day was a nightmare with the numerous potholes camouflaged as puddles in the rain. Slow progress in order to avoid them where possible!

 

The station approach road looks in far better condition than many of Devon’s rural roads, where
reduced Govt. funding, heavier lorries and bigger agricultural vehicles together with the reduced quality of materials and standards of Contractors’ repairs, not helped by water/ frost ingress has resulted in tens of thousands of Potholes, that currently the Counties Highways Department can’t keep up with.  There are noticeably far fewer potholes in better funded Cornwall !

 

Yes, of course!











Mark A's hefty timber work is well hidden in the undergrowth, and there are a few fence lines around too.  The old bridge just to the north of Piling village remains in use with an 18 ton limit, but with signs of settlement on the footpath.

 
The first picture is the stub that's left of the railway pier at New Passage.

 
Also, in the hedge at the site of the level crossing at Pilning, some fairly hefty timberwork with iron castings, relics from one of the level crossing's gate posts and hinge mechanism. They may be there still.

Mark

 
It's going to be the vehicle loading ramp there shirley...

Along the old line to Redwick, near a cemetary, a lovely little surviving footpath gate crafted by a long-forgotten blacksmith.

Mark

 
Pilning perchance?

 
I don't know which former station it is, but I think the location is on the recently-electrified main line to Cardiff (from the style of masts and their bases) and with a clear view from South Wales over the Bristol Channel to north Somerset/Devon.

 
Probably one of the easiest "where was I today?" questions in a long time

 
Have just seen this thread, so congratulations to the 21 signatories mentioned above. Looks like the start of some low-scale guerrilla action from our Pilning activists.

As it was Angel Road station, did any of the 21 suggest some sort of heavenly intervention to fly the bridge westwards? 

 
Network Rail removes footbridge at Chatham Station says the headline in Kent Online and my thoughts turn to Pilning.

"Here we go again?" I wonder. But then the article detail read ...


Access for all at Chatham;  access for none at Pilning. Yes, I understand that Chatham is a different case to Pilning,

 
You have another here.

 

I wouldn't like to speculate as to who the other 20 were, but i have no.problem whatsoever with the world knowing that one of them was me.

 

Indeed it does as it has not miraculously appeared at Pilning. My curiosity is more to who those 21 respondents were, and my guess is they they weren't from NE London but somewhat further west. I presume part of the action group to get their bridge, platform and service restored.

 

The report hints ...


and that suggests to me that the inputs were too significant to ignore, but not overwhelming enough for anyone to follow the suggestions. So the DfT were seen to be "helpfully" kicking the ball to someone else (actually their own agency!) who had a patch of long grass / filing cabinet waiting for it.

 
Whilst looking at other stuff - as one does these days - I came across a DoT paper concerning the Proposed closure of Angel Road station in NE London dated 2018. In the responses to the proposed closure, 21 respondents called for the footbridge there (an overhead electrified line) be relocated to Pilning (page 3). Don't know what subsequently became of this as Angel Road closed in 2019.

 

Apparently Olga used the count to inform the newly re-elected councillor of the importance of Pilning Station 

 
Olga Taylor, a vocal campaigner for Pilning Station, stood for election as an independent in the new Pilning and Severn Beach Ward. She beat the Labour, Lib Dem and Green candidates, but came second with 271 votes (23% of the poll). The Conservative candidate, Robert Griffin, won with 483 votes.

 

Very much so. One is accustomed to "gratuitous" sex, violence, and/or profanity in modern motion pictures, but not "gratuitous" timetables.

 
Interesting example of subtle shift in word usage. 

 

Correct. 1952. Front cover:

 
Today, allowing for inflation, that single fare for an 8hp+ car would be around £25.

I suppose the calculation back then would have been the time/cost of the trip through the tunnel, versus the time/cost for the Aust Ferry. Or versus the drive via Gloucester. Other influences would be one's susceptibility to seasickness, the vagaries of tides in the estuary that sometimes stopped the ferries from running, and ultimate destination.

The Severn Bridge certainly reduced the cost of the crossing. Today, that cost is zero.

Anyone know how much the ferry cost in the early 1950s? I've tried Google but no joy.

 

...but interestingly the price of having your paint scuffed off by a gritty tarpaulin had fallen from 2/2 to 2/-...

 
The Railway Executive was abolished in 1953, so must date between 1948 and 1953

Records of the Railway Executive, 1947-1953 in the National Archive
‘The Transport Act of 1953 provided that the British Transport Commission should prepare and submit to the Minister of Transport a scheme for the re-organisation of that part of their undertaking which consists of the operation of the railways.
This scheme provided, inter alia, for the abolition of the Railway Executive which was abolished as from 1st October 1953 under the British Transport Commission (Executives) Order 1953, dated 19th August 1953 (No. 1291). The rights, powers and liabilities of the Railway Executive, in force immediately before the 1st October 1953, were transferred to the British Transport Commission.’

 
The prices had gone up by 1959 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/18926681565/

 

Well, it mentions the Railway Executive (Western Region) at the top so later than 1948.

 
How old is that? Not many motorcycles less than 120lbs now.

 

 
Change at Pilning!
Well not really,but yesterday afternoon saw the arrival of the first High Speed Train (HST) to stop at Pilning a short 4carriage slam door set formed the /15:34 to Taunton from Cardiff.

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

 
It might be because of one-way trains.

 
Passengers double at Pilning station despite one-way trains - https://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/17378127.passengers-double-at-station-despite-one-way-trains/

 
GWR send a return taxi from Bristol Parkway to Pilning in the morning and afternoon.
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/PIL/2018/12/29/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=GW

 

Last train of 2018 ... there are only a few other stations across the whole of GB who's services have already ceased for the year.

There should be a rail replacement service available at Pilning next Saturday, right?

 

I'm slightly confused with that statement. There are no trains next week due to the engineering works, so rail replacement taxi, but the week after its back to the 08:34 and 15:34?

 
Noticed today one last train at 15:34 to Taunton, What a shame.

 

Indeed ... I was there and it's a sad shadow of what it used to be.  Quite a flurry of activity for that short period that the train called there at 15:24 - multiple passengers off and on, including a long distance "meet and greet" with heavy luggage; genuine traffic there in amongst those of us who were there because of the transport / stations issues.

I have written up - separate thread at  http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=20784.0 - an update concerning the whole line from the Parkway area until it dives down under the Severn.  Much of what's there regulars will know; the new thread is intended to start looking at all the possibilities under the same ground rules.

 

I have taken a look at that idea over recent months, and the conclusion has been that using the bidirectional line for services stopping at Pilning would put a significant strain on capacity.   You might be able to timetable it for a handful of trains each day, but trains are nothing like as reliable in running to timetable as you might like - especially freight ones - and the whole thing could go pear shaped far too often and easily.   Sadly, don't think it flies. 

 
I Think I have sorted it?, No need to spend loads of money on new bridges or platforms, Make it nice and tidy like Melksham Then just fit a position 4 junction indicators to signals BL1533 And BL1566 Then trains can just cross back over via NT1613. Sorted and up to 7 trains each way could then stop Mondays to Saturdays, with 4 each way on Sundays. these would be timed as to not block the lines for other trains needing the line.

Note. These trains would also call at Patchway on the other Platform also.

 

You have an excellent question.  From a business case viewpoint, a new site proposal a few hundred yards up the track will attract a new look at the case for build and service calls from the experts who have already laughed off the idea of doing more than legally needed at the current site.  There are the precedents such as station moves from Filton Junction to Filton Abbey Wood ... also Abercynon North and South combined in Abercynon. 

 

Which raises the question, would a possibly relocated Pilning station in the future be seen as continuity or a different station? Many stations have changed dramatically over the years. Would a small shift in the site be seen as just another change over time or do we have to look at it as something new?

 
Saturday December the first  is the One Hundred and Thirty Second Anniversary of the opening of Pilning Station what's left of it .

 

Just this morning, I've received an email containing the new FOSBR newsletter - not seeing it online yet, so I guess it may be at the early members-only release stage - which includes some good discussions on Pilning and how a station at Pilning could play a major part in daily passenger transport in the area once again.

I will add a link once available

 
Just to wake this thread up Today is the 2nd Anniversary of Pilning having its Footbridge removed !
So With that in Mind , https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=asfMseyPCOI.
Hope you enjoy.

 

I am not sure that is what is being said in the quote.  The wording implies it includes works costs.

 
As a follow up ... I note that Denton, which has had a one way service on one day of the week only only for a number of years has had its service doubled in the new Northern timetable with trains in both directions on Saturdays.

08:46 Stockport to Stalybridge calls at Platform 1 at 08:55
09:45 Stalybridge to Stockport calls at Platform 2 (brought back into use) at 09:55.

Reddish South also has an extra train - one in each direction again now - though that's a single platform that's used in both directions.

 

The money talked about looks like a virtually complete rebuild of the platforms and station to modern standards.  And if you have been to Pilning station, you'll probably appreciate that it's not really suitable in current form to handle traffic several orders of magnitude more than use it today this Saturday.   

For the same money, you could rebuild the station a couple of hundred yards down the track at a suitable over bridge, with slopes down to new platforms.  With the existing over bridge on the road (the B4055 springs to mind) eliminating the  need for that extra Network Rail £2 million pound thing.  The platforms and approaches at Oldfield Park make a suitable comparison.

 
Far better to put that sort of money,towards the scheme for SEWWEB ,and the replacement station at Pilning Westgate.😁

 
It seems crazy that it would cost £2m to build a footbridge. And stupid that full GRIP could more than double that cost.

 

A year on ... and a FOI request has revealed the cost of these demolition works, and estimates of what the costs would have been to replace the bridge, to provide a DDA compliant bridge, and of associated works.   FOI is a wonderful way of learning after the event - though this one dates from December 2016 and so wan't all that long after the event, though  have only just been sent a copy


No questions in this FOI request about the decision processes under which the decision to change the station such that only the one (Bristol bound) platform remains in operational use for passengers.

 
A year on ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDqz-KLH_2E

 
Thanks for posting that pictorial record here, Kempis. 

 

Here is a photo, taken on the afternoon of Sunday 6 November:

 

There's a couple of reports I found based on the idea - not sure how far they got / where it went.

From Herald Scotland


And from the St Austell Voice


Also reports / a suggestion of relocating a bridge that is / was at St Erth.

If you're looking for one for Lostwithiel, I suspect you'll have the best chance if you find one which (a) is in known (and reasonable condition and (b) who's removal from its original site doesn't involve a controversial closure of facilities which the bridge serves.

 
Well now, you could have a word with the GWSR - they are currently rebuilding the old Henley-in-Arden footbridge at Broadway. See here, for example: http://broadwaystationgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/finishing-off-few-jobs.html

 
The one at Patchway may be a good candidate..it was redecked and refurbished several years ago but I cant imagine it surviving the electrification - may get a footbridge like Stapleton road. May be worth makong some serious enquires before they cut that up aswell!

 

Shame, we are after a footbridge.....!

Seriously though, it does make me wonder if there is any mileage in relocating and refurbishing disused/ unwanted footbridges, or if the logistical challenges force it into the 'too difficult box' ?

 
Thanks for posting, Sprog: I've simply added your update observation to our ongoing discussion here. 

 
FYI - Pilning footbridge appears to have been gas-axed during the weekend  ...only half of the stair structures still standing when I passed today @ approx 1630. Couldnt take a photo as up the front & had lost the light on the way back.

Assume the rest will dissapear over the next few nights.

 
Pilning return tickets are valid to Severn Beach from Bristol on all trains as I understand.

 
Plenty of options but still few trains. Unless tickets to Pilning are now valid on all trains to Severn Beach?

 

This. Network Rail have imposed this change upon GWR by removing the footbridge (NR property) and choosing not to replace it.

Customers may also return from Bristol to Severn Beach (New easement along with via STJ) so travelling Pilnonians still have plenty of options.

 

Not really a case of GWR being allowed to vary SLC. Rather GWR being effectively forced to. 

 
Any questions to GWR on the SLC will probably be countered with ticket sale information.

I suspect they'd state that no one was making the return journey. With just 68 recorded journeys last year...

I'd just hope that the proper legal derogation of thr SLC has been obtained. Pilning may be a special case, but if a TOC is allowed to vary SLC arbitrarily, this case could be the thin end of the wedge.

 

Perhaps -- though at Stapleton Road, where the footbridge also had to be raised to allow clearance for electrification, a new footbridge without ramps was installed. However, there is currently level access to both platforms there; I'm not sure how access will be provided to what will become the island platform after the four tracking.


Yes -- such parapets have recently been installed on the bridge carrying the railway path (on the old Midland line) over the railway near Lawrence Hill.


As stuving has said, passengers have been advised to travel via Severn Tunnel Junction. There doesn't appear to be a formal easement in place, but I understand tickets to Pilning will be accepted without the need to pay an extra fare.

For the outward journey, one can still depart Pilning at 08.32 and arrive at Temple Meads at 08.53 as before.

For the return journey:

• Previously, one could depart Temple Meads at 15.21 and arrive at Pilning at 15.40.
• Now, one must depart Temple Meads at 12.21, change at Severn Tunnel Junction (arrive at 12.48 and depart at 13.25) and arrive at Pilning at 13.34 (an extra Pilning stop in the Bristol-bound direction has been provided on this train).

So a return journey is still possible, but with a double-back at STJ and a much shorter time in Bristol (or for journeys elsewhere). I don't know whether that is enough to ensure compliance with the SLC.

 

There are two Up trains now calling on Saturday; so would they say, if pressed, that you "just" need to change (at BRI or STJ, presumably)? The timings kind of work in some cases, but not for all four directions.

 
Or institute a bus replacement? That would count

 
Maybe they will continue to call but for pick-up only!   

 
Now that the down platform is closed, how are GWR complying with their Service Level Commitment? That requires one call in each direction on Saturdays.

Have the got the necessary derogation to ignore the SLC, or has it been amended? 

 
Of course if you lift it, you have to provide new steps, so you are probably classed as new construction which has to meet modern regs and accessibility requirements.

Note also that the new safety rules relating to electrification also require parapets to be higher to keep people away from wires, so the bridge would probably require modification anyway. 

 
Latest news is that the brick staircases of the footbridge have been demolished, with removal of the metal part scheduled for Saturday 5 November.



Inspired by last week's demonstration in Buckinghamshire of a new technique for bridge lifting (see below), campaigners are asking for the metal part of the bridge to be removed intact for future reinstatement.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/infrastructure/single-view/view/bridge-lift-to-increase-clearances.html

http://www.railengineer.uk/2016/08/19/planning-for-a-worlds-first-elevarch-masonry-arch-jacking-trial/

 
So the actual last train to call at the northbound platform at Pilning is scheduled for today, leaving Temple Meads at 15.21 and arriving at Pilning at 15.40, with removal of the footbridge perhaps commencing later this weekend. We won't be there, but would be interested to hear any reports.

 
It was a change it plan, but this was made around a month ago.

The other poster you saw is dated up to the end of the Severn Tunnel works (21 October) so its validity doesn't cover whatever is beyond it.

 

Thanks, grahame.

I think that's a change in plan -- when I was at Pilning, I saw one poster showing the new arrangements from 5 November, as shown earlier in the thread, and another poster showing replacement bus services in the interim.

Anyway, just as well the event was called NotTheLastTrain!

The local people did well to decorate the platform with English and Welsh flags, I thought.

 

Many thanks for those links and pictures.   

As an update (or is that downdate?) removal of the footbridge has slipped back a few weeks in Network Rail's schedule, and the final train towards Cardiff probably calls on 29th October.  See http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C47762/2016/10/29/advanced . This is inline with Bobm's post earlier in this thread (sat month) which tells of alternative arrangements from 5th November.

 
BBC Radio Bristol covered the Pilning story on Emma Britton's breakfast programme on Monday.

Audio available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p045m19m -- advance clip to 38:05 for interviews with Olga Taylor of Save Pilning Station and Julian Burnell of Network Rail, and to 1:32:35 for a further contribution from another local resident.

There is a report on NotTheLastTrainFromPilning here: http://fosbr.org.uk/files/20160910_pilning_notlasttrain_blog.pdf.

And more photos on FOSBR's Facebook page: http:www.facebook.com/FOSBR:

 

Yes.  Bridge removal not happening during the blockade. Your post includes the "From 5th November" poster that's up at Pilning. I didn't wonder "why" at the time, but it was recently confirmed that there are the trains calling towards Wales for a couple more Saturdays after the blockade.

 
Journey planners are showing Wales bound trains calling at Pilning on the 22nd and 29th October (the two Saturdays after the Severn Tunnel blockade) and the poster at the station - shown above - shows changes from 5th November.  So are there two more trains?

 
Video from yesterday:
https://www.facebook.com/PilningSevernParishCouncil/videos/1168164809907482

A still captured from that video (with permission):


I would strongly encourage Bristol / FOSBR / Pilning 'lurkers' on this form to register (if not already registered) and login to add your own 'take' on Bristol and wider events.

Whilst I can (and will on occasions) post news that comes to me as messages / emails, we do provide facilities here for free public posting on subjects just such as this. Neither I nor the rest of the moderator / admin team really has the time to be everyone's personal assistant for routinely cutting and pasting contributions. We are not like a normal newspaper / radio show where (yes) you do have to submit by email for them to use.

Think about it - you get to describe things in your own words, your own editorial decisions, and your own timing of what you post. And by setting up notifications, you can trigger email alerts to inform you when a follow up has been posted so that you don't even have to visit us on a very frequent basis.

 
I was at Pilning today to catch one of the last westbound trains.

I was the only one joining, but two got off.




A large poster advertises the changes to the service

 
From The Gazette:

 
Something I hadn't noticed before - a new footbridge at Brigg Station, which has some similarities to Pilning - low-use Saturday only trains, two platforms ...  the newspaper article here is about increased station use rather than the bridge, but I couldn't help noticing than shiny bridge;   looks like a complete new structure, and I suspect there's room for overhead wiring underneath it.

http://www.marketrasenmail.co.uk/news/local/rail-walk-at-brigg-1-7502634?

further research leads to a story from last year (Feb 2015):

http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/row-erupts-disabled-access-station-bridge/story-25978267-detail/story.html


Just adding a comparison case in to this thread - it's very difficult to justify large investments in low-use stations, even where the station has been there since Victorian times and it's just an investment to keep it available.

 

The former young Miss FT, N! lives in Carterton, adjacent to RAF Brize Norton. Mrs FT, N! visits occasionally on child minding duties. The normal route is - was - train BRI to SWI then bus. The problem is that the bus begins its journey in Wiltshire, then serves destinations in Gloucestershire before proceeding into Oxfordshire. That gives three possible funding authorities. Any one dropping out will kill the service. As has happened. As Mrs FT, N! does not drive, then in the absence of someone collecting her from SWI, the alternative will be a much longer journey via OXF. That said, I have done the bus trip once, and was the only passenger after Highworth, something I am told is far from unusual. Must cost a fortune.

The more likely solution will involve me and the FT, N!mobile spending my retirement on or near the M4...

 
Fair point that TOCs shouldn't be able to close stations at the drop of a hat, but what I want to say is that if a station is not being kept open with a reasonable service, it should be closed. The process of closing it should be preceded by extensive, well advertised consultations while a decent service continues. Then either close it down completely or carry on. Parliamentary services are a waste of everyone's time and money.

And yet... the point has been made that sometimes Parly stas act as a sort of mothballing from which it's easy to rejuvenate a station when circumstances change, eg major new developments. So... 

 

As this topic continues to be debated on the Coffee Shop forum, I've now moved a discussion of the closure of the Pilning down platform and merged it here - simply in the interests of continuity and ease of future reference. 

 

I quite agree that it's no good for anyone and farcical that money is being spent on the upkeep of, say Polesworth, where there's just the one call a day but quite a long platform that needs lighting, cleaning, maintaining and posters updated and so on, for a handful of passengers a year.  However, it's good that legislation to close a station is so complicated that it's not worth it otherwise TOC's would probably want to close hundreds of lightly used stations which provide a lifeline for local communities but would never make any money - compare the handful of Parliamentary stations across the country with the wide-scale culling of rural buses in Oxfordshire later this month, where it seems that, without any recourse, scores of local villages are having there bus services completely removed.

 
I'm unconvinced that Pilning is worth saving (but admit that I don't really know) but clearly the closure by stealth, and in fact the whole Parliamentary station concept, is no good for anyone. The fact that it does seem easier/cheaper for ToCs to do this than have a proper, open inquiry followed by either total closure or a decent service does seem to indicate that procedures are not right, neither in closing nor opening stations.

 

There are - thank goodness - all sorts of optimism factors built in to forecasting models in an attempt to be realistic; in practise, indeed,modelling comes in distinctly on the negative side.

You correctly identify the expense and hassle of a 'proper' closure test.  It's right that it shouldn't be easy to close something until the avenues have been explored, but when that exploration is so contorted that it leads to what's been described as 'closure by stealth', it's a sign of a system that'n not working.   And indeed, the expense and hassle of closing something are somewhat of a barrier to re-openings, although the 1984 Speller Act for five year trials with a simplified closure procedure if the trial hasn't worked has been a lifeline for many stations and services at the restart point.   Mind you, we lost a service in May at the end of the five years - since to continue it would have meant it couldn't easily be withdrawn at a future date.