IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Merritt Way, BRISTOL, BS16 9QR

Only the walls remain of the building of Mangotsfield Station. Two cycle paths run either side of the station where the trains once ran.

The platforms still remain but its now the Bristol to Bath Cycle Path that passes through.

Flood plain for Siston Brook

The Midland Railway built lines in this part of Bristol from 1845, based on earlier horse-drawn coal trams from 1828. The station became an important junction between two lines to Bath and the Midlands, but never really achieved great success. It finally closed in 1966 under the Beeching axe. Today the trackbed and platforms are used by less polluting and slower traffic.

Mangotsfield station started life as a horse-drawn coal line, then was part of the Midland Railway of old. Now it has been converted to the Bristol-Bath cycle route.

The old Mangotsfield station closed in the 1960s; over the next two decades the tracks were converted into a cycle path by Sustrans. As homage to the station (which is now just a shell) the organisation planted trees where iron columns used to hold up an elaborate canopy. See Image] for a closer look at the window decorations. As an abandoned station, Mangotsfield has more of a ghostly look these days. Quite apropriate, considering the story that this place tells: Most people will remember the actor Arnold Ridley as the dozy Private Godfrey in the TV series Dad's Army. He had trained to be an actor but his career was ruined after being injured in WWI. In fact, Ridley became a successful playwright and he penned 'The Ghost Train' in 1923, which had a long run in London's theatres. While en route he stopped here one dark night and waited for his connection. Due to the close proximity of a number of lines here, trains often passed close by but were not always visible from certain platforms, creating an eerie sensation that Ridley used for the play.

Mangotsfield station was a busy junction of the old Midland Railway (Mangotsfield and Bath branches). It was the major station of three locally that sent trains west, north and south, with Mangotsfield Junction and North Junction close by and forming a triangular connection. To complete the 'triangle' the old dramway from the collieries linked up the latter stations. Given that the lines are now long lost, the station wall and platform remain as ghostly reminders. Naturally, the old beds are now cycle routes.

Mangotsfield Station would have seen many such different locomotives. They are the only ones you will see nowadays.

Mangotsfield station closed in the 1960s and has become converted into the very popular Bristo to Bath cycle path. The old station building is now just a shell and the empty windows are filled with metal silhouettes. Appropriately, they have bikes as well as trains.