Chittening Platform railway station

51°31′30″N 2°40′30″W

Chittening Platform railway station was a station on the former Great Western Railway between Filton and Avonmouth.

The station was opened on 5 March 1917 to serve a large government munitions factory at Chittening. The factory project was abandoned when the United States entered the First World War, 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.[1] It was closed on 23 November 1964, when passenger traffic ceased on the Avonmouth and Filton line.[2] The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann.

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.[3][4][5] 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 Bristol Parkway via Clifton Down and Henbury.[6] 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.[7]

Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways are also campaigning to get Chittening reopened along with Henbury and North Filton.[8]

References
  1. Avon County Planning Department (1983). Railways in Avon: A Short History of Their Development and Decline. County of Avon.
  2. Maggs, C. (1981) Rail Centres: Bristol Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1153-2 p.22
  3. White, James (13 March 2009). "Item 04: Greater Bristol Metro" (PDF). West of England Partnership. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  4. "Campaign for trains from Bristol Temple Meads every half hour". This is Bristol. Northcliffe Media. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  5. "Transport Minister hears calls for better Bristol train service". This is Bristol. Northcliffe Media. 17 October 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  6. "Our Case". Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  7. Ribbeck, Michael (6 July 2012). "£100 million Bristol Metro train network by 2016". The Post, Bristol. Northcliffe Media. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  8. "FoSBR Plan for Rail". Retrieved 8 February 2022.


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