Pilning railway station is a minor station on the South Wales Main Line near Pilning, South Gloucestershire, England. It is from and is the last station on the English side before the Severn Tunnel through to Wales. It is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide the two train services per week from the station.
The station was opened by the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway in 1863, but was resited in 1886 when the Severn Tunnel was opened. The station had an extensive goods yard, boasting one of the largest railway communities in the Bristol area, and operated a motorail service to Wales. The goods yard was closed in 1965, and the station buildings later demolished, with very little in the way of facilities. Passenger services also declined, to two trains per day in the 1970s and the current service level of two trains per week in 2006.
The station's footbridge was removed in 2016 as part of Great Western Main Line electrification project, meaning that only eastbound trains can now use the station. Campaigners have alleged this is part of an attempted closure by stealth, although the incident raised the station's profile nationally. Pilning is one of the least-used stations in Britain, but passenger numbers have increased in recent years due to efforts by the Pilning Station Group.
History Bristol and South Wales Union Railway Pilning railway station first opened on 8 September 1863 when services began on the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway (BSWUR). The railway ran from to , north of Bristol on the banks of the River Severn, where passengers could transfer onto a ferry to cross the river into Wales. The line, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was built as single track broad gauge. Pilning was from Temple Meads, initially the fifth station along the line, between east and west. There was a single platform on the north side of the line, and a siding to the south. Few details are known about this iteration of the station, nor are there any photos from its time in use. The station was east of the village of Pilning in Gloucestershire, on Pilning Street, a road between Pilning and Easter Compton, which was further south. The immediate area was farmland with little in the way of housing, although there was a pub, The Plough, across the road from the station. To the east the line crossed the road at a level crossing, which was operated from the station using levers. There were initially six trains per day on weekdays in each direction, with three trains per day on Sundays.
In 1868 the BSWUR was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR), which had from the beginning operated all BSWUR services; and in 1873 the line was converted to standard gauge.
High Level station
Although the BSWUR made travel from Bristol to Wales easier, the change from train to ferry to train was inconvenient, and so plans to build a tunnel under the Severn were considered even before the railway opened. Parliamentary permission was gained in 1872, with construction beginning in 1873. GWR chairman Daniel Gooch and other directors visited Pilning in 1884 as part of an inspection tour of the works. The route to the tunnel diverged from the New Passage line east of Pilning, necessitating the building of a replacement station on the new line, approximately south of the original. The new station opened with the first passenger services through the tunnel on 1 December 1886. The New Passage branch, including the original station, was closed to passengers the same day, despite requests from local residents that a reduced service continue to operate. The route remained in goods use to allow trains to deliver coal to the Severn Tunnel pumping station, which was on a spur off the New Passage route.
The new station was built on an embankment, and would eventually become known as Pilning High Level. The railway crossed the road via a bridge east of the original station's level crossing, and the new station entrance adjacent to that level crossing. To the west the line went into a cutting descending towards the Severn Tunnel. The station embankment also crossed a small irrigation channel at Gumhurn Bridge. The new station was further along the line from Bristol at , with Patchway now to the east, having been resited in 1885. The next station west was , away the other side of the Severn. There were two platforms, either side of the two running lines, although double-tracking to Patchway was only completed in 1887. The northern platform served eastbound trains, the southern one was for westbound trains. The station buildings were of a standard GWR design with chimneys and a fretted canopy; however this design bore no resemblance to the other stations along the line. The main station building was on the northern platform, containing the station master's office, booking office, parcels office and toilets. There was a smaller waiting room on the westbound platform. The platforms were wooden, with gas lamps and wooden bench seats. A large covered footbridge connected the platforms east of the buildings. In 1905 there were 30 staff employed by the station – 14 signalmen, 6 signalmen/porters, 8 porters, a tunnel inspector and the stationmaster – making it one of the largest railway communities in the Bristol area. Staff members were given first aid training and examinations by St John Ambulance, with an annual awards event.
The station had a large goods yard to the south and east of the station, including a cattle pen and loading bay at the east end of the northern platform. A siding between the platforms and the junction was converted to a goods loop in 1904, a westbound goods loop south of the station was laid in 1905, and a further eastbound loop just west of the station in 1906. The station had two signal boxes: Station Box was sited at the western end of the southern platform and had 54 levers; Junction Box was east at the eastern end of the goods yard and had 68 levers. As the final station before the Severn Tunnel, the yard was used to inspect wagons before they entered the tunnel, and also to house an emergency rescue locomotive. Heavier trains had a special brake van added, as the standard Great Western brake van had an open veranda and thus exposed the guards to choking fumes while in the tunnel. Banking locomotives were also kept at Pilning to help trains with the steep slopes between the Severn Tunnel and Patchway.
In 1910, the GWR introduced a Motorail service through the Severn Tunnel, operating between Pilning and Severn Tunnel Junction. Vehicles were loaded onto special wagons which were then attached to passenger trains using two dedicated shunting locomotives. Waterproof covers were available to protect cars from the conditions inside the tunnel, while passengers travelled in a coach hauled by the same train. There were usually two or three such trains per day. The service continued for more than fifty years, barring a cessation during World War I. The opening of the Severn Bridge in 1966, allowing direct road travel between Bristol and South Wales, brought about the end of the service, with the final train running on 6 October 1966.
Pilning Low Level
In 1900, the GWR built a new branch from the route to New Passage, running along the banks of the Severn to the docks at Avonmouth. This allowed trains to travel via the original station at Pilning and avoid congestion along the line via central Bristol. The line was single-track throughout, but Pilning had a passing loop and two loop sidings adjacent to the line. The loop was capable of holding a train of 60 wagons, while the sidings could hold 52 and 48 wagons. A brick signal box, Pilning Branch Box, more commonly known as Low Level, was opened adjacent to the level crossing in 1917. It had ten levers controlling the crossing and the eastern end of the passing loops, the western end being controlled by a ground frame. The level crossing had manually-controlled gates, requiring the signaller to leave the signal box in order to operate them. The crossing was also at the bottom of a gradient, with train operators advised to approach it cautiously. Trains working from Wales to Avonmouth required elaborate shunting moves – there was no path between the two without reversing – and so the level crossing was frequently closed, leading to traffic jams. A new route to Avonmouth, via , was opened in 1910, but no direct connection between South Wales and Avonmouth was built until 1971.
In the early 1900s the nearby village of Severn Beach became a popular seaside resort, with a station opening there in 1922 for trains via Avonmouth. This spurred the upgrading of the line from Pilning to Avonmouth to passenger traffic: inspections occurred in 1927, approval was granted on 24 April 1928, and the first passenger services ran on 23 June 1928. The station at Pilning on this line opened on 9 July 1928, referred to variously as Pilning Halt, Pilning Low Level Halt and Pilning Low Level, although the latter was the most common. The station on the route via the Severn Tunnel was renamed Pilning High Level, with the station boards noting "Junction for Severn Beach and Avonmouth". The total cost of construction of the new stations at Pilning, and was estimated at £502.
The new Low Level station was on the site of the original station, from Bristol Temple Meads. Patchway was the next station east, away, while to the west Cross Hands Halt was distant. The station had a single -long wooden platform on the north side of the line, with no facilities or lighting. The shortness of the platform meant that only two carriages could be accommodated, and so passengers were required to travel in the correct part of the train in order to alight. Tickets were sold from the High Level station, whose stationmaster oversaw the Low Level also. The Low Level station handled parcels traffic, unlike other halts on the route. The station had no water tower, and so locomotives were required to travel to High Level to use the facilities there. A small shelter and platform lighting were added by 1959. The initial service along this loop was nine trains per day on weekdays and four on Sundays, mostly running circular trips to and from Bristol Temple Meads via and Patchway.
British Rail
When the railways were nationalised in 1948, Pilning came under the aegis of the Western Region of British Railways. In 1949 there were seven trains towards South Wales and eight towards Bristol from Wales each day, with two each way on Sundays. The Low Level station saw an additional five trains per day towards Bristol via Patchway, and seven per day towards Severn Beach, with some continuing to Bristol from there. Many trains via Severn Beach would terminate at Pilning Low Level. Passenger services between Severn Beach and Pilning were withdrawn on 23 November 1964, causing the closure of the Low Level platform. The line to Avonmouth continued in freight use, however in 1968 a work to rule incident precipitated the closure: a signaller at Pilning Branch Box took a sick day and train staff refused to work the crossing gates themselves. The line was officially closed on 1 September 1968 following this incident, with the Divisional Movements Manager stating it was surplus to requirements. The tracks and signal box remained in place until at least August 1970, but were eventually removed. The site is now in agricultural use, and the only remnants of the station are level crossing gates: one remaining in situ, the other now used at the Didcot Railway Centre.