It's Izzy's Fault!

Izzy Who?

fbb guesses that his readers are all familiar with the short-in-stature man with a silly hat, a cigar and a strange preponderance to stand in front of huge anchor chains! Isambard was a crude corruption of the German word for iron road "eisenbahn" QED rail way. Kingdom was his mother's maiden name.

Without hat, cigar and chains, but still little, he looked like this.

His London and Bristol Railway was a huge technological triumph and its terminus is still standing. He chose to built in on the "meads" (meadows) belonging to the Temple Church at Redcliffe. The church was badly damaged by fire during WW2 but its distinctive tower still stands proud ...

... but bent! The bend happended as the tower was under construction and the masons simply adjusted the top half of the building to compensate for a sinking feeling on one side. And all done without CAD!

There was no Temple at Temple Meads. 

The original ecclesiastical edifice served a branch of the Knights Templar, the military wing of the Church which supplied troops (yes, really) to fight in the Crusades to the Holy Land. Their full title was ...

Poor Fellow-Soldiers

of Christ

and of the Temple of Solomon

... but they were actually very good soldiers and, embarrassingly for today"s church, very good at slaughtering people.

Brunel's station was a terminus and a modest affair which still stands at the foot of the current station access ramp.

The buildings are no longer part of the railway ...

... but are well restored. The train shed, most recently used as an events venue ...

... (hence the flat floor) used to house broad gauge trains from London Paddington.

At one stage, recently and ignominiously, it was a car park!

Next arrival, railway-wise, was the Bristol and Exeter Railway, initially a distinctly separate operation from the London lines. Its platforms were at right angles to Brunel's station ...

... and initially of wooden construction. It was known as "the cowshed"! But it did gain an opulent terminal building which housed the company's HQ offices.

That building, too, still stands ...

... and a grainy pictures exists showing the relationship between the two terminals.

Brunel's station peeps in on the right. Through trains would call at Brunel's platforms, then reverse back on the London tracks, before pulling forward to set off round the curve and on to Exeter. There was a through platform at the Bristol and Exeter station.

There were several developments as both business and rail links burgeoned. This blog is not the place to go into calendric detail but Wikipedia will supply dates in profusion.

Suffice it to say that a big station was developed on the left hand turn.

A magnificent new station building was constructed in the apex of the triangle of trackwork.

Note that, as built, the tower had a timber spire to elevate its imposingness even further.

A huge goods depot appeared to the north of Brunel's modest shed ...

... which had access to shipping on an arm of the River Avon, the so-called floating harbour (which does not float!). Between the goods shed and the station were sidings and through tracks which led to the main dockside.

Brunel's train shed was significantly extended by what is known as the "Midland Shed" ...

... which was used for terminating trains from the former Midland Railway lines.

That section is still a car park ...

... with the join between it and Brunel's overall roof clearly visible in both pictures.

The Midland Shed was partially demolished at its eastern end ...

... to make way for a new power signalling centre replacing three "manual" boxes in the station area.

"Manual" is not the right word as the signalling at Temple Meads was renewed with electro-pneumatic control in 1935. The main box for the station area was Bristol East ...

... equipped with all the latest 1935 technology.

Historically, the "old station" had its own box incorporated into the arched wall of the Midland Shed.

Pop into the car park and it is still there - but for how long?

On  Friday , fbb will tackle the proposals for "improvements" at Temple Meads, which may explain the unhelpful removal of buses from outside the main station entrance!

 Next Bristol bus blog : Thurs 5 June