Flax Bourton railway station was a railway station on the
Bristol to Exeter line
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in S ...
, from , serving the village of
Flax Bourton
Flax Bourton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The parish, with a population of 715, is situated within the unitary authority of North Somerset, on the edge of Nailsea Moor on the A370 road south west of Bristol city centre.
...
in
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non ...
. It opened in 1860, and was closed by the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
in 1964.
History
Opening
The first sections of the
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...
, those between
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and and the branch to , opened on 14 June 1841. The station was first opened in 1860 as ''Bourton'' roughly half a mile from the village of
Flax Bourton
Flax Bourton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The parish, with a population of 715, is situated within the unitary authority of North Somerset, on the edge of Nailsea Moor on the A370 road south west of Bristol city centre.
...
in Somerset. Located in a deep cutting by the B3130 road from
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
to
Nailsea
Nailsea is a town in Somerset, England, southwest of Bristol, and northeast of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea had a populatio ...
, just west of the short tunnel at the summit of the climb from Bristol, it was from the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
terminus at
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 Paddi ...
in London and from the B&E's northern terminus at Bristol Temple Meads.
[Railways in the United Kingdom are, for historical reasons, measured in miles and chains. There are 80 chains to the mile.] When it opened it was the first station out of Bristol, taking the claim from , and remained so until opened in 1871.
The station was renamed ''Flax Bourton'' on 1 September 1888.
The line, engineered 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 "one ...
, was built as
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
. The line had been reconstructed as a
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 ...
line to accommodate local gauge traffic by 1 June 1875, and broad gauge trains ceased operation on 20 May 1892.
The original station's main building was at the Bristol (east) end of the eastbound platform, built of wood. A signal box was towards the centre of the platform. The platforms were accessed by paths from both north and south, linked by a timber footbridge on brick pillars. A station master's house was built on the road above the eastbound platform.
Expansion
Due to being in a cutting, expansion of the station was not possible, and when a need for larger facilities arose, a new station was built further west ( from Paddington, from Temple Meads), closer to the village.
The new station opened on 2 March 1893, with the old station closing the same day. A large brick building was constructed on the eastbound platform with a large canopy, and a smaller building on the westbound platform. A covered footbridge linked the two platforms. There was a short relief line just east of the station, a siding on the west side led to a goods shed with canopies on both track and road sides,
with a signal box adjacent. In 1956–7 the private Tyntesfield Sidings were laid just beyond the B3129 Station Road bridge, to serve a
Ministry of Fuel and Power
The Ministry of Power was a United Kingdom government ministry dealing with issues concerning energy.
The Ministry of Power (then named Ministry of Fuel and Power) was created on 11 June 1942 from functions separated from the Board of Trade. ...
underground fuel depot.
Closure and dilapidation
![Flax Bourton signal box](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Flax_Bourton_signal_box.jpg)
The station closed to passengers on 2 December 1963, a victim of the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
. Goods traffic continued until 1 July 1964,
although the private siding continued in use for some time. Of the first station all that remains is the footbridge (although the deck has been replaced with concrete), but it is just possible to make out the old paths down to the platforms. The station master's house is now in residential use.
More survives of the second station – the main building and goods shed on the eastbound platform are still in situ, albeit boarded-up and crumbling, at the end of a private residential road.
The building on the westbound platform has been demolished, the platforms have been removed and the running lines slewed closer to the remaining station buildings. The relief line to the east has been removed. The fuel sidings were disconnected and the adjacent crossover points removed in February 2004.
One of the station buildings was damaged by arson on 7 April 2003.
Services
![Flax Bourton railway station MMB 11 150XXX](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Flax_Bourton_railway_station_MMB_11_150XXX.jpg)
Services were originally operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, continuing until the company was subsumed into the Great Western Railway in 1876. When the railways were
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
under the
Transport Act 1947
The Transport Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 49) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under the terms of the Act, the railway network, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were nationalised and came under ...
, control passed to the
Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex- Great ...
.
Future
![Flax Bourton railway station MMB 37](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Flax_Bourton_railway_station_MMB_37.jpg)
The old Tyntesfield Sidings were considered by the
Mineral Industry Research Organisation
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
as a possible
railhead
In the UK, railheading refers to the practice of travelling further than necessary to reach a rail service, typically by car. The phenomenon is common among commuters seeking a more convenient journey. Reasons for railheading include, but are ...
for the nearby
Tarmac Tarmac may refer to:
Engineered surfaces
* Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902
* Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...
-operated
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
quarry at
Stancombe. Such a plan would require a conveyor, crossing the
A370 and railway line. Reconnection to rail was listed as "feasible", but the scheme was not recommended for shortlisting, instead being listed as an "other possibility". A similar scheme was stopped in 1999 after local protests.
The Bristol to Exeter line through Flax Bourton is not currently electrified. The
21st Century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line will see the line from London to Bristol electrified, but electrification will not extend beyond Bristol to .
The group
Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways
Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FoSBR) is a Bristol-based campaign group, calling for better rail transport in the Bristol area.
Formation
FoSBR was formed in 1995 as ''Friends of Severn Beach Railway'', to protest against the potential ...
supports the electrification continuing to Weston,
as does
MP for
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...
John Penrose
John David Penrose (born 22 June 1964) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Weston-super-Mare since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Champion at the Home Office fr ...
.
Many local travel groups have called for the reopening of Flax Bourton station. Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways in their Autumn 2011 newsletter called for the reopening to be considered in the reletting of the Greater Western passenger franchise.
Campaign for Better Transport Bristol/Bath Travel Area submitted a statement to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
Transport Committee, which was published in 2008's ''Delivering a Sustainable Railway''. In it, they called for the reopening of Flax Bourton railway station to serve
Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...
.
Railfuture in the South West also called for the reopening as a way to serve the Airport.
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non ...
Council also suggested the reopening of Flax Bourton station to help with the sustainability of new housing in the area.
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964
Disused railway stations in Somerset
Beeching closures in England
Bristol and Exeter Railway