Thornbury Branch Line

There has been much interest on local Thornbury and rail online forums over the last few weeks as line clearance was carried out on the Thornbury branch line. Local residents have been asking “Can the Thornbury line be opened to passengers ASAP?” As Tina (FOSBR secretary) responded “ASAP is not in the WECA vocabulary!”

In 2017 freight traffic is due to return to the line after a 4 year absence. Network Rail have cleared the Thornbury branch line as far as Hanson’s Tytherington Quarry. The has further been cleared past the quarry sidings from Grovesend Overbridge to form the headshunt for long . The freight track west of Grovesend Overbridge does not follow the original alignment of the passenger route; it runs along the south of the cutting embankment between Grovesend Overbridge as far as the A38 bridge. This level was created by gravel infill for a level formation for quarry trains.

The track along the base of the cutting was lifted after Thornbury line closure in 1966. A new passenger line would need to follow this (deep) original alignment to meet the central arch of the A38 bridge and Grovesend Tunnel west of the A38 (Grovesend Bridge to A38 bridge is 0.4miles).

Thornbury station was originally located opposite Screwfix on the Midland Way If Thornbury were to have a new railway station, it would likely be located east of town near the Midland Way/Grovesend Road roundabout (A38 to Midland Way is 0.3miles). The West of Combined Authority (WECA) have used the difficulty of siting a town centre station as evidence that a re-opened railway would not be well used. The WECA preferred transport solution for Thornbury is a MetroBus extension from .

This is the full WECA response sent to Luke Hall, MP for Thornbury, in June 2017: “As part of the work and consultation on the Joint Spatial Plan and Joint Transport Study suggestions were raised to introduce new rail services to Thornbury, making use of the line serving Tytherington Quarry. There are, however, several challenges in delivering this proposal. The former rail alignment into Thornbury is now occupied by an industrial estate and there is no practical routing into the town. The station would, therefore, need to be located on the edge of Thornbury, a significant distance from the town centre, which would constrain the potential catchment area within walking distance. Under the A38 the Grovesend tunnel would need to be reopened, and its current condition is unknown. Experience with MetroWest Phase 1 and the Portishead Line demonstrates that this is a major risk for rail projects. It would also be necessary to upgrade the whole line from Yate to cater for passenger services in addition to capacity constraints at . There is only capacity for one more rail service through the junction, and this is currently proposed to serve Yate and stations to Gloucester. Comparison of potential demand demonstrates that there is a much stronger case for the additional to serve a new station at Charfield, as proposed in the Joint Spatial Plan, and other stations to Gloucester. Hence unfortunately there is little realistic prospect of introducing new rail services to Thornbury and for this reason it is not going to be included in the final Joint Transport Vision. A more effective means of connecting Thornbury to the North Fringe and Bristol will be provided by the proposed extension of MetroBus.”

Despite lack of WECA support, FOSBR hear great enthusiasm for rail re-opening from Thornbury residents. Accidents or breakdowns on the Midland Way “ring road” cause gridlock in the town and commuters are badly affected by incidents on the A38, M5 and M4.

A previous report by Halcrow for WEP (forerunner to WECA) in April 2012 estimated that re-instating the line would cost £38million, but this figure included the cost of running the railway into town (which FOSBR are NOT advocating). The report states “Extending the service to Thornbury from Yate would require further alterations at Yate Middle Junction, as at present trains from Thornbury cannot reach the southbound platform at Yate from the junction. The line from Tytherington to Thornbury would need to be re-established, a distance of just over a mile; however this work would require the re-opening of a tunnel to traffic, the demolition of approximately a dozen residential properties and the relaying of track along a footpath. Single platform stations are envisaged at Thornbury and Tytherington.”

In the meantime, rail enthusiasts are pleased to see freight return to the line. The likely freight movements are as below.

Class 59 will bring 42 empty 100 ton wagons from Avonmouth to Yate Middle Junction. It will run off the main line until clear. The empty train will then split and the front half will proceed to the quarry loading road. The loco will run around the train via Grovesend and attach to the Bristol end. This loaded portion will be pushed back towards Grovesend and stabled. The runs light back to Yate to attach to the rear portion. This portion is brought up to Tytherington and loaded as per the front portion. When loading is completed this portion is then reversed back towards Grovesend and couples up to the first portion.

The whole loaded train will then depart Tytherington for Avonmouth via Yate Middle Junction and Bristol Parkway. From Avonmouth the stone will be transported by ship/barge to Hinkley Point. This movement will address a shortfall in supply from Whatley Quarry in Somerset for the ongoing construction of the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.

FOSBR are interested to hear the opinions of local residents about rail to Thornbury, please contact us via email to [email protected]

Looking west to A38 bridge, deep cutting to right (l), from A38 bridge looking east, deep cutting to left (r)

In deep cutting, freight line at head height, looking west (l), from Grovesend overbridge, looking west (r)

From Grovesend Overbridge, looking east to quarry sidings (l), refurbished over B4058 Iron Acton ring road (r)

Photo credits to Oli South, Garry Checksfield, FOSBR