New station at Ashley Down, Bristol

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

I note in that Bristol Rail Campaign diagram that they've got the former Horfield station down as Lockleaze.  Why not it's original name of Horfield?  Also wasn't Horfield station along with Ashley Down stations originally planned to reopen around 2016 or 2017?  But the rebuilding/reopening of Horfield station was quietly dropped for some reason!   Could do with a rethink on that really!

My understanding is that the proposed location of any potential Lockleaze station is on Constaple Road rather than on the original site of the old Horfield station, so that probably has something to do with it.

As for why it was dropped - again my understanding is that it was essentially and either / or between Ashley down and Lockleaze / Horfield and Ashley Down won. Probably a bit more complicated than that mind you!

Yes, the proposed location for Lockleaze Station is to the south of the old Horfield Station (or was it Horfield Halt?), approximately midway between Ashley Down and Filton Abbey Wood. Lockleaze was just a farm when Horfield Station opened. The area known as Horfield is to the west of Filton Avenue; Horfield Parish Church is some 1300m to the west of the railway. The area around the new station is very much Lockleaze. So it would be confusing to call a new station 'Horfield'.

Bristol Rail Campaign supports the local campaign among Lockleaze residents for a station. Although Ashley Down was put forward ahead of it, a station at Lockleaze has not been ruled out - but like Ashton Gate, Saltford and St Anne's Park it is currently an unfunded aspiration.

The previous incarnation of Ashley Down Station was Ashley Hill - again, the old station was developed before much of the surrounding area. The old name would have caused confusion because most people would now associate that name with a road 800m to the south of the station.

[XPT]

I note in that Bristol Rail Campaign diagram that they've got the former Horfield station down as Lockleaze.  Why not it's original name of Horfield?  Also wasn't Horfield station along with Ashley Down stations originally planned to reopen around 2016 or 2017?  But the rebuilding/reopening of Horfield station was quietly dropped for some reason!   Could do with a rethink on that really!

My understanding is that the proposed location of any potential Lockleaze station is on Constaple Road rather than on the original site of the old Horfield station, so that probably has something to do with it.

As for why it was dropped - again my understanding is that it was essentially and either / or between Ashley down and Lockleaze / Horfield and Ashley Down won. Probably a bit more complicated than that mind you!

Yes, the proposed location for Lockleaze Station is to the south of the old Horfield Station (or was it Horfield Halt?), approximately midway between Ashley Down and Filton Abbey Wood. Lockleaze was just a farm when Horfield Station opened. The area known as Horfield is to the west of Filton Avenue; Horfield Parish Church is some 1300m to the west of the railway. The area around the new station is very much Lockleaze. So it would be confusing to call a new station 'Horfield'.

Bristol Rail Campaign supports the local campaign among Lockleaze residents for a station. Although Ashley Down was put forward ahead of it, a station at Lockleaze has not been ruled out - but like Ashton Gate, Saltford and St Anne's Park it is currently an unfunded aspiration.

Ah right I see.  I see the point of opening a new Lockleaze station on Constable Road.  Though reopening Horfield station on the original site on Bonnington Walk would also be very beneficial.  If both stations can't be agreed on to be built, then perhaps some compromise can be made of a new station half way between Constable Road and Bonnington Walk, perhaps called Horleaze or Lockfield!(only joking about this suggestion!)

I just looked on Google Maps for a reminder of the road the original Horfield station was located, and bizzarrely it's got Horfield railway station on the map!  If only it was the case that the station is actually there!

As for proposals for old stations to be rebuilt and reopened/new stations to be built and opened in the region, it is surprising just how long this can take just for simple two platform stations to be built and the bureaucracy involved.  It can take several years or even decades, if atall.  I remember back in 1993 watching the Video 125 HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) Great West Driver's Eye View VHS video.  During the passing through of the site of the old Saltford station, the late Anton Rodgers mentioned in the commentary "Saltford station closed along here back in 1970.  Future reinstatement is on the cards.".   Over 30 years later, the station still hasn't been reopened!

[johnneyw]

Right up until redoubling the Filton Bank you could still see some of the old platforms in the cutting at the Bonnington Walk site.  Even now there's tell tale signs of the station having been there.  The street level ticket office was of wooden construction, supported on posts sunk into the cutting bank.  On the southern side of the road bridge, from the trains, you can still see the holes in the brickwork where horizontal joists affixed the building to the roadside.

[Noggin]

The problem with Filton Abbey Wood is that it's set back from the main road and not really much use unless you work for the MoD.

A Lockleaze Station off Constable Rd would be right on the route of the 7x busses which run through Lockleaze/Stoke Park/Cheswick Village to UWE on the eastern side, not to mention all the Filton Ave housing on the west side, and much nicer/safer to walk to than Abbey Wood.

Whilst it would undoubtedly abstract some traffic from the busses, it would likely take a lot of traffic off the Gloucester Road and make the area much more livable.   

[Red Squirrel]

Abstraction is only a problem if buses and local trains are in competition. If they are managed together as an integrated system, both can benefit - as will the people who use them.

[XPT]

The problem with Filton Abbey Wood is that it's set back from the main road and not really much use unless you work for the MoD.

A Lockleaze Station off Constable Rd would be right on the route of the 7x busses which run through Lockleaze/Stoke Park/Cheswick Village to UWE on the eastern side, not to mention all the Filton Ave housing on the west side, and much nicer/safer to walk to than Abbey Wood.

Whilst it would undoubtedly abstract some traffic from the busses, it would likely take a lot of traffic off the Gloucester Road and make the area much more livable.   

If there was a Lockleaze station, journey times between there and Temple Meads would only be 11/12 minutes.  Much quicker than the journey times on the buses.   Indeed at peak times in the late afternoons/early evenings it can take the service 70 bus about 10 minutes or more just to get along Ralph Road heading to UWE.  Due to heavy traffic and those traffic lights at the junction of Ralph Road and Muller Road that stay on green for only about 10 seconds at a time and then staying on red for about 3 minutes!  And then there's the service 72 bus than runs between Temple Meads and Constable Road.  But only runs every hour, and runs via a very "round the houses" route taking 40 minutes(or longer if there's traffic problems!)

Bristol really does need somewhat more stations than just the recently opened Ashley Down and Portway Park & Ride stations.  I know that Filton North and Henbury stations are due to be opened in 2026, but that's ages away yet and will it actually be that year or delayed until 2027?!  I'm pretty sure originally these two stations were also due to be opened way back in 2016 or 2017!

[WelshBluebird]

Bit of a cross post hereas I also posted this in one of the ask the manager threads (as this concern was a question I had asked about before the station opened).

Sadly it looks like what I was worrying about in the leadup to the station opening is happening. The reliablility of the Filton shuttle (i.e. the fact it seems to get cancelled all the time) seems to be getting in the way of Ashley Down being a useful station.

Yesterday late afternoon / early evening had a few services cancelled (and whilst they were able to stop a couple of Gloucester stoppers, it doesn't look like anything was added towards Temple Meads) and it looks like the same today.

Sadly if this continues it is going to put people off using the station as they aren't able to rely on it. Certainly for me if it carries on I may just default to getting the numbeer 70 bus to Temple Meads instead. Having the station is great but people need to actually be able to rely on the service too.

[XPT]

Bit of a cross post hereas I also posted this in one of the ask the manager threads (as this concern was a question I had asked about before the station opened).

Sadly it looks like what I was worrying about in the leadup to the station opening is happening. The reliablility of the Filton shuttle (i.e. the fact it seems to get cancelled all the time) seems to be getting in the way of Ashley Down being a useful station.

Yesterday late afternoon / early evening had a few services cancelled (and whilst they were able to stop a couple of Gloucester stoppers, it doesn't look like anything was added towards Temple Meads) and it looks like the same today.

Sadly if this continues it is going to put people off using the station as they aren't able to rely on it. Certainly for me if it carries on I may just default to getting the numbeer 70 bus to Temple Meads instead. Having the station is great but people need to actually be able to rely on the service too.

Indeed.  This is what I expressed concern about in my posting a month or so ago.  A lot of times when I've been at Temple Meads over the year or so, I've noticed that the Filton Abbey Wood services have been cancelled.  And when at home looking on live departures on the National Rail website or Realtimetrains website, that a fair number of these have been cancelled. 

As you said, some cancellations yesterday.  The 1804 Bristol Temple Meads-Filton Abbey Wood, the 1851 Filton Abbey Wood-Bristol Temple Meads, and the 1904 Bristol Temple Meads-Filton Abbey Wood services were cancelled for "unknown reasons".  https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/simple/gb-nr:ASD/2024-10-10/1900

And looking now, the 1504 Bristol Temple Meads-Filton Abbey Wood is currently showing as delayed.  But will probably be cancelled.  If so, the 1551 Filton Abbey Wood-Bristol Temple Meads will be cancelled too.  EDIT:  Yes, both those services were cancelled "due to a shortage of train crew"!!  Additionally, the 1604 Bristol Temple Meads-Filton Abbey Wood and 1651 Filton Abbey Wood-Bristol Temple Meads services are cancelled too!  What an absolute joke of a service!

Just one train an hour in each direction and frequent cancellations is just not good enough.

As you say, if this carries on I can see many people giving up on using Ashley Down station and going back to using the 70 bus instead.

[Red Squirrel]

The Severn Beach Line service was pretty shambolic today too. An incident south of Bristol, plus points failure at Weston S M didn’t help.

[infoman]

This suggestion will not solve the problem,
if South bound services are cancelled but could I suggest boarding the North bound train  and get off at Filton Abbey wood to come back to Bristol?.

As long as you have sufficient time to change at FAW.

As most of us on this forum know how to get around the railway network,
suggest advising any one on the south bound platform to board the North bound train.

[anthony215]

I hoping we will in.the future see TFWs proposed Cardiff to Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) service especially now as the green lights been given go upgrade the SWML^▸ (South Western Mail Line) between Cardiff and Severn tunnel junction along with 6 new stations

[WelshBluebird]

I'm aware Sundays are a mess on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) in general right now, so ASD is not unique here, but how is having only two northbound services run today anywhere near acceptable? Especially when one of them was 40 mins late and it doesn't look like there was any effort to add stops to other services to make up for any of it.

[johnneyw]

Quite encouraging.  Nearly 30 passengers waiting for the 10.13 southbound service from Ashley Down today, including what looked like a few families.....well it is half term and pleasant weather too.
Good to see people have already caught on to using the service for leisure purposes.

[johnneyw]

As a footnote to my post above, alighting off the 18.01 from Temple Meads today at Ashley Down were approximately 15 passengers heading off in various directions from the station.
Even a family member studying at Cardiff Uni has started using it on her visits back and she's relatively new to rail travel.
It'll be interesting to see the official passenger figures as and when they come out.

A quick additional observation.  My outbound service this morning had come from Cardiff and my even return service went on to Cardiff.  The aforementioned family member also managed to travel direct from Cardiff Central to Ashley Down a day or two ago.  Are GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cottoning on that stopping their Cardiff service at Ashley Down might free up the units used for the Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood shuttle?

[Chris from Nailsea]

As Sir Humphrey Appleby might say: "What a ridiculous idea!"