Filton Bank 4-tracking visualisation

[takno]

I was at Stapleton Road on Friday, first time for some years. I wondered whether platforms 3 and 4 would be reinstated to serve trains to/from Gloucester. The wall supporting platform 3 appears to have been reconstructed during the track work so reinstating the platform should involve relatively little work.

Fairly sure the lines are supposed to be paired by fast/slow rather than direction. Adding platforms at a point where you'd want a fast cross country or London train to be able to pass the Gloucester local would seem to defeat the purpose

 

[59CosG95]

Fairly sure the lines are supposed to be paired by fast/slow rather than direction. Adding platforms at a point where you'd want a fast cross country or London train to be able to pass the Gloucester local would seem to defeat the purpose

Yes, the pairings have been done by speed (that is, Slows/Reliefs on the west, Fasts/Mains on the right), rather than by direction (that is, northbound trains on the west, southbound trains on the east).

 

[HowardGWR]

Yes, the pairings have been done by speed (that is, Slows/Reliefs on the west, Fasts/Mains on the right), rather than by direction (that is, northbound trains on the west, southbound trains on the east).

It's the nature of the traffic that has altered over the decades plus the closure of the Midland route to Yate that brought about changes. Steam coal traffic from south Wales to Southampton / Portsmouth used to use the 'mains' from north of Stapleton Road to Dr Days. Local Gloucester trains went via the Midland as did what are now called XC services, except there were also also north south services that went via the Welsh Marches route so might keep to the reliefs (the original South Wales Railway) if there was a path.