Save the Railway Path

The Bristol section of the Bristol & Bath Railway Path was originally opened in 1835 as a single track horse drawn tramway to bring coal from the south Gloucestershire coal field down to Bristol. It was the first railway in Bristol, predating the opening of the GWR by about 6 years. In 1844 it was reconstructed as a double track broad gauge line by Brunel and extended to Gloucester. Yet the West of England Partnership’s consultants recently rated the railway route as being of little heritage value!

Although in the heart of GWR territory the new railway was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1846 and subsequently converted to standard gauge. In 1869 a branch was constructed from the Bristol & Gloucester line at Mangotsfield to Bath, so creating an alternative, if much less direct, Bristol to Bath route to that of the GWR. At Bath the railway joined the Somerset and Dorset Railway and so the route became part of the national railway network.

Due to the development of road transport and the post war growth in car ownership the railway ceased to be viable and was closed in the 1960s and by the early 70s the track and sleepers had been removed. In 1977 a new cycle campaign group was formed in Bristol called Cyclebag (Channel Your Calf and Leg Energy Bicycle Action Group!). The founder members included John Grimshaw who was a civil engineer by training but with a very pragmatic, hands-on approach, not to mention boundless energy. He was to shape the future direction of the group’s work.

The creation of a cycle/walkway along the Bristol section of the disused railway was first proposed by Cyclebag in 1978 as one of a number of potential cycle and walking routes radiating from Bristol. It was originally intended to make use of the Bristol section of the disused Midland railway line to create a route to Yate. A separate route was proposed by Cyclebag to reach Bath using another section of the disused Midland railway between Bitton and Bath, but linking to Bristol along the River Avon towpath.

Thanks to the energy and initiative of John Grimshaw rapid progress was made on the Bitton to Bath route with construction by volunteers underway in 1979, but in Bristol the Council seemed reluctant to consider such development. A planning application for the Bristol route was lodged to try to force the Council to address the issue, but they refused the application as “premature”.

Other councils in the Avon area were more forward thinking and the Bitton to Bath section was progressively extended through Kingswood along the old Midland line as far as Staple Hill tunnel, near the Bristol City council boundary. The construction work was carried out by work experience teams, under the direction of Grimshaw, using the simple, low-tech approach of rolling stone dust into the railway ballast to create a smooth surface.

Meanwhile in 1983 Cyclebag decided to focus on a campaign to persuade the City Council to support the Railway Path project. A petition was started which got over a thousand signatures and the Council received 99 letters in support. Finally after passing the proposal backwards and forwards between various committees for five years the City Council decided to support it.

The council bought the bulk of the disused railway route and various missing links were provided through the initiative of Grimshaw. Construction went ahead in 1984 and into 1985, ready for a formal opening of the complete Railway Path on the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of the opening of the original railway in August 1985.