Chittening Platform railway station was a station on the former Great Western Railway between

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church ...

and

Avonmouth Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Es ...

. The station was opened on 5 March 1917 to serve a large government munitions factory at

Chittening Chittening is an industrial estate in Avonmouth, Bristol, England, bypassed by the A403 road, near the River Severn. It lies within the city boundary of Bristol, in Avonmouth ward, but used to be beyond it, in historic Gloucestershire, on forme ...

. The factory project was abandoned when the United States entered the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but the station remained open to serve employees at the Chittening Trading Estate until 1923. It was reopened unadvertised for workers on 27 October 1941, and opened to the public fully on 31 May 1948. The station never served goods trains. It was closed on 23 November 1964, when passenger traffic ceased on the

and

line. The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song " Slow Train" by

Flanders and Swann Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a scho ...

. The line past the site remains open for goods traffic, and is now known as the Henbury Loop.

Future

Improved services on the Severn Beach Line are called for as part of the Greater Bristol Metro scheme, a rail transport plan which aims to enhance transport capacity in the Bristol area. It has been suggested that the Henbury Loop Line be reopened as part of the scheme, with the possibility of services running from Bristol Temple Meads to via and Henbury. The Metro scheme was given the go-ahead in July 2012 as part of the City Deal, whereby local councils would be given greater control over money by the government.

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 ...

are also campaigning to get Chittening reopened along with

Henbury Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...

and North Filton.

References

Disused railway stations in Bristol Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1917 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1923 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1941 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Beeching closures in England {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub