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Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
, England. It is located away from
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city and surrounding districts, with a ferry to the city centre. Bristol's other major station, Bristol Parkway, is a more recent station on the northern outskirts of the conurbation. Temple Meads was opened on 31 August 1840, as the western terminus of the Great Western Railway. The railway, including Temple Meads, was the first to be designed by the British engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
. Soon, the station was also used by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the
Bristol and Gloucester Railway The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was a railway company opened in 1844 to run services between Bristol and Gloucester. It was built on the , but it was acquired in 1845 by the Midland Railway, which also acquired the Birmingham and Gloucester Ra ...
, the
Bristol Harbour Railway The Bristol Harbour Railway (known originally as the Harbour Railway) was a standard-gauge industrial railway that served the wharves and docks of Bristol, England. The line, which had a network of approximately of track, connected the Floati ...
and the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway. To accommodate the increasing number of trains, the station was expanded in the 1870s by
Francis Fox Francis Fox (born December 2, 1939) is a former member of the Senate of Canada, Canadian Cabinet minister, and Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, and thus was a senior aide to Prime Minister Paul Martin. He also worked as a ...
and again between 1930 and 1935 by
Percy Emerson Culverhouse Percy Emerson Culverhouse (20 August 1871 – 7 May 1953) was the chief architect of the Great Western Railway from 1929 to 1945. Career He was born on 20 August 1871 to Eli Culverhouse (1828-1911) and Jane Mary Jones (1840-1919). At age 21 ...
. Brunel's terminus is no longer part of the operational station. The historical significance of the station has been noted and most of the site is Grade I listed. In ''Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations'' by Simon Jenkins, the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars. Thirteen platforms are in use, numbered between 1 and 15, but passenger trains are confined to just eight tracks. Most platforms are numbered separately at each end, with odd numbers at the east end and even numbers at the west. Platform 2 is a bay platform at the west end which not used by passenger trains and there is no platform 14. Temple Meads is managed by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...
."Two more stations for NR" '' Today's Railways UK'' issue 150 June 2014 page 13 Most services are operated by the present-day Great Western Railway, with others by CrossCountry.


History

The name ''Temple Meads'' derives from the nearby Temple Church, which was gutted by bombing during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The word "meads" is a derivation of "mæd", an
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
variation of "mædwe",
meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
, referring to the water meadows alongside the River Avon that were part of Temple parish. As late as 1820 the site was undeveloped
pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...
outside the boundaries of the old city, some distance from the commercial centre. It lay between the Floating Harbour and the city's cattle market, which was built in 1830.


Brunel's station

The original terminus was built in 1839–41 for the Great Western Railway (GWR), the first passenger railway in Bristol, and was designed by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
, the railway's engineer. It was built to accommodate Brunel's broad gauge. The station was on a viaduct to raise it above the level of the Floating Harbour and River Avon, the latter being crossed via the Grade I listed
Avon Bridge The Avon Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Avon in Brislington, Bristol, England. It was built in 1839 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and has been designated by Historic England as a Grade I listed building. The contract was originally awa ...
. The station was covered by a train shed, extended beyond the platforms by into a storage area and engine shed, fronted by an office building in the Tudor style. Train services to
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
commenced on 31 August 1840 and were extended to
Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
on 30 June 1841 following the completion of
Box Tunnel Box Tunnel passes through Box Hill on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) between Bath and Chippenham. The tunnel was the world's longest railway tunnel when it was completed in 1841. Built between December 1838 and June 1841 for the Great We ...
. A few weeks before the start of the services to Paddington the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) had opened, on 14 June 1841, its trains reversing in and out of the GWR station. The third railway at Temple Meads was the
Bristol and Gloucester Railway The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was a railway company opened in 1844 to run services between Bristol and Gloucester. It was built on the , but it was acquired in 1845 by the Midland Railway, which also acquired the Birmingham and Gloucester Ra ...
, which opened on 8 July 1844 and was taken over by the
Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
(MR) on 1 July 1845. This used the GWR platforms, diverging onto its own line on the far side of the bridge over the Floating Harbour. Both these new railways were engineered by Brunel and were initially broad gauge. Brunel also designed the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway, but this was not opened until 25 August 1863, nearly four years after his death. It terminated at Temple Meads.


Bristol and Exeter Railway station

In 1845 the B&ER built its own station at right angles to the GWR station and an "express platform" on the curve linking the two lines so that through trains no longer had to reverse. The wooden B&ER station was known locally as "The Cowshed"; but a grand headquarters was built at street level on the west side of its station in 1852–54 to the Jacobean designs of Samuel Fripp. The Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway opened a branch off the Bristol and Exeter line west of the city on 18 April 1867, the trains being operated by the B&ER and using its platforms at Temple Meads., P 19. In 1850 an engine shed had been opened on the south bank of the River Avon on the east side of the line to the B&ER station. Between 1859 and 1875, 23 engines were built in the workshops attached to the shed, including several distinctive Bristol and Exeter Railway 4-2-4T locomotives.


Goods stations

The GWR built a
goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
on the north side of the station adjacent to the Floating Harbour, with a small dock for
transhipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...
of goods to
barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...
s (not seagoing ships, as the wharf was upstream of Bristol Bridge). Wagons had to be lowered to the goods shed on hoists. On 11 March 1872, a direct connection to the harbour was made in the form of the
Bristol Harbour Railway The Bristol Harbour Railway (known originally as the Harbour Railway) was a standard-gauge industrial railway that served the wharves and docks of Bristol, England. The line, which had a network of approximately of track, connected the Floati ...
, a joint operation of the three railways, which ran between the passenger station and the
goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...
, across the street outside on a bridge, and descended into a tunnel under the churchyard of
St. Mary Redcliffe St Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church located in the Redcliffe district of Bristol, England. The church is a short walk from Bristol Temple Meads station. The church building was constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, and i ...
on its way to a wharf downstream of Bristol Bridge. The southern end of the tunnel can still be seen between the bottom of Guinea Street and the Ostritch public house. The footbridge across the entrance to Bathhurst Basin is on the site of the railway bascule bridge. The B&ER had a goods depot at Pylle Hill (south of the station) from 1850, and the MR had an independent yard at Avonside Wharf on the opposite side of the Floating Harbour from 1858.


Effects of the change of gauge

On 29 May 1854 the Midland Railway laid a third rail along their line to Gloucester to provide
mixed gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...
so that it could operate standard gauge passenger trains while broad gauge goods trains could still run to
collieries Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...
north of Bristol. Sidings at South Wales Junction allowed traffic to be transhipped between wagons on the two different gauges. The GWR continued to operate its trains on the broad gauge, but on 3 September 1873 it opened the standard gauge
Bristol and North Somerset Railway The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with Radstock, through Pensford and further into northern Somerset, to allow access to the Somerset Coalfield. The line ran almost due so ...
. This had a junction nearly from the station on the London line and so mixed gauge was extended to that point. During the following year mixed gauge track was continued beyond Bath in connection with the conversion of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway to standard gauge. Mixed gauge was laid through
Box Tunnel Box Tunnel passes through Box Hill on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) between Bath and Chippenham. The tunnel was the world's longest railway tunnel when it was completed in 1841. Built between December 1838 and June 1841 for the Great We ...
on 16 May 1875 and so standard gauge trains could run to London, although broad gauge was retained west of Temple Meads and through trains from London to Penzance and other stations in
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
and
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
continued to be broad gauge. Goods traffic was transhipped between the two gauges in the B&ER yard at Pylle Hill. The B&ER converted the line to Taunton to mixed gauge by 1 June 1875, but the remainder of the line to
Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
was not done until 1 March 1876, three months after the B&ER had
amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...
with the GWR. The remainder of the lines beyond Exeter were converted to standard gauge on 21 May 1892 so the extra rails at Temple Meads fell into disuse and were removed to leave a purely standard gauge layout. This allowed the through station to be rebuilt with two additional platform faces.


1870s expansion

The additional railway routes put the two short platforms of Brunel's terminus under pressure and a scheme was developed to extend the station. An enabling
Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...
for a new Bristol Joint Station was passed in 1865, and between 1871 and 1878 the station was extensively rebuilt by a committee formed of the three principal railway companies that used the station. Brunel's platforms were extended by towards London, and a new three-platform through station was built on the site of the express platform, while the B&ER station was closed and the site used for a new carriage shed. From the 1960s, the work was usually attributed to Brunel's former associate Matthew Digby Wyatt, but in 2020 it was established to be by Bristol architect Henry Lloyd under the superintendence of
Francis Fox Francis Fox (born December 2, 1939) is a former member of the Senate of Canada, Canadian Cabinet minister, and Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, and thus was a senior aide to Prime Minister Paul Martin. He also worked as a ...
, the engineer of the B&ER. The curved wrought-iron train shed over the new through platforms was long on the platform wall. The goods depot was rebuilt, with the inconvenient wagon hoists replaced by a steep incline from the east end of Temple Meads, which meant that the sidings in the goods shed were at right angles to their original alignment; and the barge dock was filled in. Trains on the Bristol and South Wales Union and the Midland routes operated from the terminal platforms, while the GWR used the new through platforms. The
capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
costs of the new work were split 4/14 GWR/B&ER and 10/14 MR, and operating costs were split GWR 3/8, MR 3/8 and B&ER 2/8. Hence, when the GWR absorbed the B&ER in 1876 the split became GWR 5/8 and MR (later LMS) 3/8, until nationalisation on 1 January 1948.


Twentieth-century changes

In 1924 the goods depot was rebuilt with 15 platforms, each long. Large warehousing and cellar space was provided to store goods, although by this time another city centre goods depot had been opened at Canons Marsh. Between 1930 and 1935 the through station was expanded under the direction of the GWR's chief architect P E Culverhouse, in
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
style, both eastwards over the old cattle market and southwards on a new wider bridge across Cattle Market Road and the New Cut of the River Avon. This made room for the addition of five through-platform faces, while the removal of the narrow island platforms in the middle of the train shed allowed the main Up and Down platforms to be both widened and lengthened. All the routes approaching Temple Meads were widened to four tracks to allow more flexibility. As part of this work, four
manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer ...
signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...
es were replaced by three power signal boxes, and the semaphore signals and mechanical point linkages were replaced by colour light signals and point motors. The new Bristol Temple Meads East box was the largest on the GWR, with 368 miniature levers operated by three signalmen assisted by a "booking boy". The other two boxes were at Bristol Temple Meads West, and controlling the movements in and out of the new Bath Road Depot, which replaced the old B&ER locomotive works in 1934. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
the station was bombed, which led to the destruction of the wooden spire of the clock tower above the ticket office on 3 January 1941. Gas lighting was replaced by
fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, ...
electric lights in 1960. Bristol Panel Signal Box was built on the site of Platform 14. When opened, it controlled 280 multiple-aspect signals and 243 motor-worked points on of route, the largest area controlled by a single signal box on
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...
at the time. The construction of this signal box, completed in 1970, involved the demolition of almost half of the 1870s extension to Brunel's terminus and completely blocked rail access to the Old Station. A second main-line station serving the city, , opened in 1972. It is on the northern outskirts of the conurbation close to the M32 motorway and was designed as a park and ride facility for long-distance travellers. In the late 1960s the Royal Mail built a mail conveyor at the northern end of the station, with significant aesthetic impact. This was out of use for many years following the transfer of Royal Mail's activities to the West of England Mail Centre at Filton and the opening of the short-lived Railnet Hub next to Bristol Parkway station in May 2000. It was finally dismantled in stages and removed between October and December 2014. In 1990/91, £2 million was spent by
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
on a renovation of the main train shed and another £7 million on restoring some of the older areas of the station, including the refurbishment of the subway and construction of new retail outlets. The shorter of the two 1935 platform islands had been used only for parcels traffic since the 1960s but was temporarily brought back into passenger use during this work. It was fully restored for passenger use in 2001. In August 1998, a 15-month, £7 million project commenced with work performed on the external facade, clocktower, roof and paving. As part of this work, the quarry from which the
dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
stone had originally been extracted was reopened in
Abbots Leigh Abbots Leigh is a village and civil parish in North Somerset, England, about west of the centre of Bristol. History The original Middle English name was ''Lega'', and the village became Abbots Leigh in the mid-12th century when Robert Fitzhar ...
.


Closure of lines

Passenger traffic on the old North Somerset line ceased on 2 November 1959, and many more closures followed after the publication of Dr Beeching's '' The Reshaping of British Railways'' in 1963. The connection to the Bristol Harbour Railway was closed on 6 January 1964; passenger trains to Portishead were withdrawn on 7 September 1964; and most local services in the north of the city were withdrawn on 23 November 1964. The following year saw local services on the Midland route to Gloucester withdrawn and the Midland route to via was closed on 7 March 1966. and on the line towards Bath survived until 5 January 1970. On 12 September 1965, the terminal platforms were closed. This allowed the platforms to be renumbered with the order reversed (see list below). The redundant train shed became a covered car park in February of the following year, but from 1989 until 1999 the original (Brunel) part was an interactive science centre known as The Exploratory and an exhibition space. From 2002 to 2008, it housed the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. , the shed, now known as the Passenger Shed, is a venue for events such as conferences and weddings.


Enterprise zone and station redevelopment

Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone is an enterprise zone in Bristol, England, focused on creative, high-tech and low-carbon industries. Covering an area of , it is based around Bristol Temple Meads railway station, which is being redevelope ...
, an enterprise zone with an area of centred on Temple Meads, was announced in 2011, and launched in 2012. Network Rail is a partner in coordinating development in the zone. In November 2012, Network Rail announced a £100 million redevelopment of the station, with two unused platforms to be opened up. Station Approach Road will be turned into a public square and the station's main entrance moved to the north side. A large bridge above the tracks at the east end of the station which was erected in the 1970s for postal traffic was demolished at Christmas 2014. In November 2016, the
University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...
announced that it plans to build a Temple Quarter Campus to the east of the station, replacing the derelict sorting office which was formerly connected to the station by the bridge. Bristol and Exeter House has been redeveloped by TCN UK as a business hub for small and medium-sized enterprises. Part of Brunel's station has found a new use in a redevelopment by the City Council, the
University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...
and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership. Opened in 2013 as the Engine Shed, it hosts
business incubators Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture cap ...
for startups. Plans to build a 12,000-capacity arena on the former site of the
Bristol Bath Road Traction Maintenance Depot Bristol Bath Road depot was a railway traction maintenance depot in central Bristol, England, which was in use from 1852 until 1995. History The Bristol and Exeter Railway opened workshops at Bath Road in January 1852. 35 locomotives were built ...
, to the south of the station, were cancelled in 2018.


21st century

In 2011, First Great Western exercised a break clause in the
Greater Western franchise Greater Western is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services from London Paddington to the Cotswolds, West of England, South West England and South Wales. The current holder is Great Western Railway. History In 2003, as part of ...
, thus avoiding large premium payments to the Department for Transport. With the franchise due to conclude in March 2013, it was put out to tender, but the process was scrapped as part of the fallout from the collapse of the InterCity West Coast franchise competition. Subsequently, a new contract until September 2015 was negotiated between First Great Western and the Department for Transport and later extended until March 2019. During this time, it was expected that High Speed Trains would be replaced with new Class 800/ 801 Intercity Express Trains, increasing capacity. The Great Western Main Line from London to Bristol is part of
electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...
plans first announced by the UK government in 2009. However, because of cost overruns and delays, on 8 November 2016 the government announced that several elements of the programme would be deferred including electrification south-west of Thingley Junction near
Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement i ...
, and between Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway. Although this will leave Temple Meads un-electrified, the
Hitachi Super Express The Intercity Express Programme (IEP) is an initiative of the Department for Transport (DfT) in the United Kingdom to procure new trains to replace the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 fleets on the East Coast Main Line and Great Western Main Li ...
trains are bi-mode so can operate on diesel around Bristol and can use electricity where the electrification work is complete. The electrification plans do not extend west of Bristol, so local services will continue to be provided using diesel trains, with Class 165/ 166s cascaded from Thames Valley services scheduled to replace the
150 150 may refer to: *150 (number), a natural number *AD 150, a year in the 2nd century AD *150 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *150 Regiment RLC *Combined Task Force 150 See also * List of highways numbered 150 The following highways are numbered ...
/ 153/ 158s on local services. The Portishead branch line, which runs along the south side of the River Avon from a junction just beyond is proposed to be reopened. There is an aspiration of two trains per hour between and Temple Meads in peak periods, possibly calling at and Parson Street. The line was built in the 1860s but closed to passenger traffic in 1964, leaving Portishead as one of Britain's largest towns without a railway station. The line was reopened for freight traffic to serve Royal Portbury Docks in 2001, and the restoration of passenger traffic is considered part of the Greater Bristol Metro scheme, which was given the go-ahead in July 2012 as part of a City Deal, whereby local councils would be given greater control over money by the government. The Metro scheme could also see the reopening of the Henbury Loop Line to passengers, with the possibility of services from Temple Meads to via and . Plans for a loop were rejected by the West of England Joint Transport Board, but in July 2015 Bristol City Councillors voted to send the decision back to the board for further discussion. The station roof is to be refurbished as part of a scheme to transform the station over the 25 years commencing 2013. On 1 April 2014,
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...
took over management of the station from First Great Western.


Description


Approaches

Although it is now possible to reach the station through the Temple Quay office development (on the site of the
goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
) or from the Bristol Ferry Boat Company landing stage on the Floating Harbour, the traditional and main approach is from Temple Gate.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
's Tudor-style offices, later used by the former British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, face this road and are flanked on the north side by an archway that used to be the main station for departing passengers; a matching arch on the other side was the arrivals gateway but was removed when the station was expanded in the 1870s. Opposite these offices are the Grosvenor Hotel and the derelict George Railway Hotel, which were built in the 1870s, on either side of the site of the
Bristol Harbour Railway The Bristol Harbour Railway (known originally as the Harbour Railway) was a standard-gauge industrial railway that served the wharves and docks of Bristol, England. The line, which had a network of approximately of track, connected the Floati ...
bridge. A modern pub named The Reckless Engineer as a tribute to Brunel faces the approach road to the station. On the right of the Station Approach but at a lower level is the B&ER office building designed by Samuel Fripp; the 1930s offices known as "Collett House" (named after Charles Collett) and a disused parcels depot lie beyond. On the left is Brunel's original station building. The train shed is wide with a wooden box-frame roof and
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
columns disguised as hammerbeams above Tudor arches. It is believed to be the widest hammerbeam roof in England and, along with most of the station, is a Grade 1
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
, and forms part of a proposed Great Western Railway
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
. At the top of the slope an entrance on the left to the covered car park marks the junction between the original terminus and Fox's 1870s extension. Ahead is the turreted main station building, and to the right a flat area marks the site of the B&ER station. The tunnel beneath this area was the route for passengers to and from the Down platform from 1878 until the station was enlarged in 1935. Outside the old station building is a statue of Brunel, moved here in 2021 but first erected in the city centre in 1982.


Station

Entering the main building, the ticket office and ticket machines are immediately ahead, and the route from Temple Quay and the ferry is on the left; a newsagent is on the right, next to the platform entrance. Customer Information System screens by the entrance show arrival and departure information for all platforms, as do displays on each of the platforms. There are 13 numbered platforms serving 8 tracks. The platforms are numbered from 1–15 with 2 and 14 omitted. Platforms 1, 13 and 15 do not share tracks with any other platform. Platforms 3–12 consist of five tracks that are each subdivided into a pair of numbered platforms. Of those, the odd numbered platforms are at the north end of the station, while even numbers are at the south end. All platforms are signalled for trains in either direction and the flexible layout means that trains on any route can use any part of the station. Entrance to the platforms is controlled by automatic ticket gates on Platform 3, which is used by many northbound CrossCountry trains and local services to Bristol Parkway and
Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...
. The main station restaurant and bar is on the left and the short Platform 1, a
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...
, is beyond this. This is most frequently used by Severn Beach Line trains but is long enough to handle any four-car Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU). Behind Platform 1 is a brick wall that forms part of the signal box and on this are some metal artworks created by artists with learning difficulties to celebrate Brunel's 200th anniversary in 2006; an interpretation panel is nearby. The High Level Siding beyond Platform 1 is the rump of the Bristol Harbour Railway, and
Bristol Barton Hill TMD Bristol Barton Hill TMD is a traction maintenance depot located in Barton Hill, Bristol, England. The depot is located on the Great Western Main Line to the north-east of Bristol Temple Meads station. History Bristol Barton Hill TMD opened 1 ...
can be seen in the distance alongside Bristol East Junction (formerly South Wales Junction) where the lines to Bristol Parkway and Bath diverge. On the right of the entrance is the subway that links all the platforms, reached either by steps or lift; it houses the main public toilets,
automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...
s (ATM) and several catering outlets (there is catering on all platform islands except 13–15). A passenger information office and lounge are above the subway, the British Transport Police office and cycle racks are beyond, and at the western end is Platform 4, used by only a few trains. Alongside this is Platform 2, another bay platform but not signalled for passenger trains and used only for stabling empty trains, as is the former Motorail unloading bay alongside. At the far end of this track is the old Fish Dock, occasionally used for stabling engineers' on-track equipment. Beyond the end of the platform the tracks swing to the right (the west) and pass out of sight beneath Bath Road Bridge, a girder bridge that carries the A4 out of the city. The first island platform comprises platforms 5 to 8. Platform 5 is inside the main train shed while 6 is a southerly extension and 7 and 8 were added outside the supporting wall in the 1930s. Platform 5 is used by trains towards
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
and platform 7 to
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...
; platforms 6 and 8 are the main platforms for Weston-super-Mare and stations to Penzance. Between platforms 5 and 7 are the two spur sidings that are long enough to stable a single Class 153 DMU. The third island platform comprises platforms 9 to 12 and also dates from the 1930s. It is longer than platforms 5–8 but the rear of a High Speed Train on the west end platforms will block part of the east end platform. A wide variety of trains use these platforms, including to and from
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
and Weymouth. The final island platform is shorter and only has east-end platforms 13 and 15: 15 is used by most trains from Paddington that continue westwards to Weston-super-Mare or beyond. Platform 13 is a terminus platform and is used by many trains from Paddington, some local services and occasionally by CrossCountry. There is another siding beyond platform 15 that used to be the In/Out Road for Bristol Bath Road TMD. This depot has been demolished. Between platforms 3/4 and 5/6 are the Up Through line and the Middle Siding, the latter is often used to stable Mark 1 carriages between ''
Torbay Express The ''Torbay Express'' is a named passenger train operating in the United Kingdom. The Torbay Express departs from Bristol Temple Meads railway station on summer Sundays at approximately 09:15 with arrival back in Bristol at about 20:10 (depe ...
'' duties in the summer months. The Down Through line runs between platforms 11/12 and 13. To the north of the station lies
Arriva TrainCare Arriva TrainCare (formerly LNWR) is a railway rolling stock maintenance company. Formed in 1993 by Pete Waterman, it is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. History In 1993, Pete Waterman formed LNWR to provide maintenance for locomotives and r ...
's Barton Hill TMD, and to the south-east of the station lies St Philip's Marsh depot which services the Great Western Railway fleet. This is accessible from both ends of Temple Meads station. Other facilities include pay phones, public
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...
, a post box, photo booth, and passenger assistance such as information points, waiting rooms, a lost property office, first aid room, and CCTV.


Passenger volume

Temple Meads is the busiest station in the Bristol area. Official statistics show it to have the 35th-largest number of people entering or leaving any national rail station, the 14th busiest outside London. Comparing the year from April 2009 with the year from April 2002, estimated passenger numbers increased by 52%. The statistics cover twelve-month periods that start in April.


Services


Rail

Great Western Railway operates main line services between Bristol Temple Meads and
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
, some of which continue beyond Bristol to or . The company also operates other routes through Bristol such as between and , Cardiff Central and including extensions as far as , / and /, and and . Regular CrossCountry services run south to , and and north to , , , and
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. A limited number of services operate to other destinations in the north such as , and .


Bus

Temple Meads is served by many buses including: *A1: to Bristol Airport *1: to Broomhill and Cribbs Causeway *2: to
Stockwood Stockwood is a residential area and council ward in south Bristol, between Whitchurch and Brislington, and west of the Somerset town of Keynsham. Geography Stockwood forms an outermost southern suburb of the city with much green space; the u ...
and Cribbs Causeway *2a: to
Stockwood Stockwood is a residential area and council ward in south Bristol, between Whitchurch and Brislington, and west of the Somerset town of Keynsham. Geography Stockwood forms an outermost southern suburb of the city with much green space; the u ...
and Brentry *3X: to
Aztec West Aztec West is a business park in South Gloucestershire, England, situated in the north of Bristol, near Bradley Stoke and Patchway. It is close to the M4 and M5 motorways and the Almondsbury Interchange. Adjacent is the A38 trunk road. Hist ...
business park *8: circular route to
Clifton Clifton may refer to: People * Clifton (surname) * Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town ** Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong * Clifton, Western Australia Canada * Clifton, Nova Sc ...
and Bristol Zoo *39/X39: to
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
via Brislington, Keynsham (39),
Saltford Saltford is a large English village and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Bath, and adjoins Keynsham on the same route. Saltford Manor House (built about 116 ...
*70: to UWE Frenchay Campus via City Centre and Filton Avenue *72/72a: to
University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...
and UWE Frenchay Campus via City Centre (72) and Redland * 73: to Cribbs Causeway via City Centre, Filton, Bradley Stoke, Patchway *178:
Radstock Radstock is a town and civil parish on the northern slope of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, about south-west of Bath and north-west of Frome. It is within the area of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset. The Radsto ...
via Keynsham *349: to Keynsham *376: to Street via Wells *462: to Emersons Green *m2 metrobus: to Long Ashton Park & Ride *Brislington Park & Ride


Ferry

Harbour ferry services, operated by
Bristol Ferry Boats Bristol Ferry Boats is a brand of water bus services operating around Bristol Harbour in the centre of the English city of Bristol, using a fleet of distinctive yellow-and-blue painted ferry boats. The services were formerly owned by the Bristol ...
and Number Seven Boat Trips, call at a landing stage in the Floating Harbour outside the station. The service links Bristol Bridge, St Augustine's Reach in the City Centre, the '' SS Great Britain'', and Hotwells.


See also

* Rail services in Bristol * Commuter rail in the United Kingdom


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links


Detailed historic record for Bristol Temple Meads railway station
English Heritage
Bristol Temple Meads Station (excerpts from original plans)
Network Rail Archive

{{good article Railway stations in Bristol DfT Category A stations Grade I listed buildings in Bristol Grade I listed railway stations Former Great Western Railway stations Bristol and Exeter Railway Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Great Western Main Line Isambard Kingdom Brunel railway stations Network Rail managed stations Railway stations served by CrossCountry Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Bristol Harbourside Art Deco railway stations History of Bristol Severn Beach Line Art Deco architecture in England