Readers of this blog may be interested to know there will be an exhibition of photographs at Underfall Yard as part of Bristol Photo Festival 2021.
The exhibition opens on June 18 2021 and depicts the harbour in decline in the late 1970s, as buildings were being torn down and business was moving away or closing for good.
A fascinating insight into the city’s past before the rejuvenation of recent years.
Read more about the exhibition here.
Thanks to Archie Beale for these photos of Portbury ex-works in either 1988-89 or the 1990s doing passenger trips on the harbourside.
The four electric cranes have been moved down to the Prince Street end of the quayside in readiness for painting. This should help protect them for years to come, as you can imagine painting something of this size is no easy task!
These 2 photos courtesy Bob Edwardes
In order for this to happen, the M Shed station platform had to be moved down to the far end of the quay, near the cafe. Here it is midway through reassembly (while the cranes were being moved).
On Wednesday 21st April, Henbury moved under its own steam for the first time since 2014. Bob drove it off shed and on a short test run, all seems well so far.
Thanks to Bruce Davies for these photos.
Work on Henbury progresses as Coronavirus restrictions are relaxed. The majority of the loco has been reassembled and today it was pulled out of the shed to have a warming fire lit. Over the next few days the loco will steadily be brought up to pressure and every joint checked.
Thanks to Rob Skuse for the photos and information.
Following on from last week’s post about Ashton Avenue Bridge, it features in the background of this photo (with thanks to Jonathan and Bob Edwardes for sending the photo).
Details are scant but a pannier tank has clearly come to grief after striking a truck (looks like it may be an ex-military workshop truck) on the old level crossing at the end of Cumberland Road.
Judging by the recovery truck the scene looks to be 1950s although the loco is likely still in GWR livery (no smokebox numberplate).
Also of interest are the layout of sidings in the background. The proposed new station layout is quite close to this setup. The old signal box is still extant, guarding the junction to Canon’s Marsh.
If you have any information about this scene please do let us know!
This photograph was published on Geograph.co.uk by Martin Tester and is shared here under a Creative Commons Licence.
It is dated around 1966-1967 and shows the upper deck of Ashton Avenue Bridge in the process of being dismantled. At this time the lines across the bridge were still double track, the West line was not removed until some time later.
“At one time this bridge over the New Cut was a really extraordinary structure – it had 2 decks, road above rail, & swung, using power supplied from the City Docks hydraulic system. The control cabin was on an elevated structure spanning the roadway. Built by Bristol Corporation & opened in 1906 it allowed the GWR’s line to Wapping Wharf (from Temple Meads) to be extended to serve more wharves, a new goods shed at Canon’s Marsh, & to connect with the Portishead Branch. A swing bridge was needed because the New Cut was used by river traffic to access Bathurst Basin. It was last swung in 1934 & formally fixed in 1951. The roadway & control cabin were removed in 1965-66 as part of major road changes around Cumberland Basin.”
This photo (source unknown) shows the bridge when both decks were in use. Note the tracks crossing left to right to access to other sidings next to A Bond, where the Create Centre car park now is. The diverging line at the bottom of the photo is the one to Canon’s Marsh.
On 8th July 2000, visiting loco No.1338, built by Kitson for the Cardiff Railway and later absorbed into the GWR, was used in a photo charter down the New Cut branch. This locomotive is now based at Didcot on static display.
Youtube channel ‘Classic Traction’ published a slideshow of the event.
From the 24-27th May 1996, Bristol Harbour was host to the International Festival of the Sea. This was a huge event featuring many guest ships and attractions, and of course the BHR played a part. A shining and fully-lined out ‘Henbury’ and ‘Portbury’ were joined by LB&SCR E1 class 0-6-0T No.B110, then based at the East Somerset Railway (Now being restored to service on the Isle of Wight as No.W2 ‘Yarmouth’). The two locos operated a shuttle service between the station at Ashton Meadows and the Bristol Industrial Museum with 3 loaned coaches.
Thanks to Eric Gates for these photos.
Phil Cass was also there to capture these photos, thanks to Phil for sharing them.
The Coles Crane has already begun to prove useful as this week it was used to get Portbury and Henbury out of the shed, so that the tank and cab could be reunited with the big Peckett. They had been undergoing restoration in the main workshop and were craned into position using one of the museum’s working electric cranes on the dockside.
The repositioning also allowed the two Bristol-built stablemates to be positioned alongside the steam crane for the first time in years.
This operation was done with minimum amount of staff and volunteers in line with coronavirus precautions.
Thanks to Bob Edwardes for the photos.
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