Parson Street railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Parson Street
code = PSN


manager = First Great Western
locale = Bedminster
borough = Bristol
latitude = 51.43320
longitude = -2.60860
lowusage0405 = 7,231
lowusage0506 = 14,293
lowusage0607 = 19,172
platforms = 2
start = 29 August 1927

Parson Street railway station serves the western end of Bedminster in Bristol, England. It also serves other surrounding suburbs including Bishopsworth and Ashton Gate, along with Bristol City FC.

History

The Bristol and Exeter Railway was opened on 14 June 1841 but there was no station between Bedminster and Flax Bourton until the Great Western Railway opened Parson Street Platform on 29 August 1927. This was situated in a cutting and access to the two platforms was by steps from the bridge that carried Parson Street across the east end of the cutting. [cite book | last = Oakley | first = Mike | title = Bristol Railway Stations 1840-2005 | publisher = The Dovecote Press | date = 2002 | location = Wimbourne | id = ISBN 1-90434-909-9]

On 21 May 1933 the station was reopened after significant alterations that saw the cutting widened to accommodate four tracks and two island platforms, one for trains in each direction. From north to south the tracks were the Up Relief and Up Main (towards Temple Meads), Down Main and Down Relief. A booking office was provided on a widened Parson Street bridge and so the station became known as Parson Street - the "Platform" denoting a minor stopping place being no longer appropriate.

Immediately east of the station was Malago Vale Carriage Sidings, while to the west was Parson Street Junction. This gave access to the Portishead branch line and a large marshalling yard – Bristol West Depot – was laid out on the south side of the line.

The Bristol Area Resignalling Scheme in the 1970s saw the Down Relief line converted to a siding linking Malago with West Depot where the marshalling yard had become carriage sidings, but this was lifted when West Depot closed sometime after the opening of a new depot at St Philips Marsh to service High Speed Trains. A small road/rail container terminal was operated from the opposite side of the line during the 1980s. The Up Relief line is still used for trains coming off the branch. Trains running on the Up Main from the west can only move across to the Up Relief after passing through Parson Street.

ervices

This station and all trains serving it are operated by First Great Western. The basic pattern of trains is an hourly train calling at all stations between Bristol Parkway and Weston-super-Mare.There are also peak hour services from Cardiff to Taunton.

The station is unstaffed but push-button information point is provided giving details of train services from the station. A payphone is located nearby.

References

ee also

*Public transport in Bristol