Was Bristol Parkway originally to have been named Bristol North?

[Western Sunset]

In the back of my mind, I've a feeling that before the "Parkway" suffix was coined, Bristol Parkway was originally to have been called Bristol North. Can anyone confirm this please?

 

[Ashley Hill]

The Bristol Evening Post in May 1970 announced a new station being built at Stoke Gifford. That of coarse was the name of the yard that was there so perhaps it was assumed at the time that the station would have the same name.

 

[coppercapped]

In the back of my mind, I've a feeling that before the "Parkway" suffix was coined, Bristol Parkway was originally to have been called Bristol North. Can anyone confirm this please?

Yes, that was the name BR used during the planning stages. I can't now remember whether the Parkway name - the result of a public competition that BR(WR) ran to suggest a name - was already used during construction or whether the Parkway name was first announced when the station opened.

 

[Western Sunset]

Yes, that was the name BR used during the planning stages. I can't now remember whether the Parkway name - the result of a public competition that BR(WR) ran to suggest a name - was already used during construction or whether the Parkway name was first announced when the station opened.

Many thanks; thought I'd not dreamt it.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Yes, that was the name BR used during the planning stages. I can't now remember whether the Parkway name - the result of a public competition that BR(WR) ran to suggest a name - was already used during construction or whether the Parkway name was first announced when the station opened.

I worked at Paddington RHQ at the time of the competition and I remember someone saying that the name was quite clever because, as well as relating to a station primarily for passengers arriving by car to park and travel on the railway, there was also a nearby road or area called 'Park Way'. Possibly someone with local knowledge could add more?

Of course, it's a name that was subsequently used by BR though perhaps sometimes to make a virtue of 'a station nowhere near its town', e.g. Mansfield (& Alfreton).

 

[EveningStar]

Of course, it's a name that was subsequently used by BR though perhaps sometimes to make a virtue of 'a station nowhere near its town', e.g. Mansfield (& Alfreton).

About as logical as in former times making a virtue out of a station on the road to a town I suppose ... yet despite the marketing people, I still think of a certain station as Bodmin Road.

 

[Western Sunset]

I worked at Paddington RHQ at the time of the competition and I remember someone saying that the name was quite clever because, as well as relating to a station primarily for passengers arriving by car to park and travel on the railway, there was also a nearby road or area called 'Park Way'. Possibly someone with local knowledge could add more?

Of course, it's a name that was subsequently used by BR though perhaps sometimes to make a virtue of 'a station nowhere near its town', e.g. Mansfield (& Alfreton).

Very interesting. "Parkway" was the M32.

 

[Taunton]

The road now the M32 was being built around the time the station was proposed, out from central Bristol to the M4 motorway, and was known as "The Parkway", as from by Stapleton Road station it had been threaded between developed areas, through Eastville Park and Stoke Park, out to the open country. Where nowadays environmental groups would have apoplexy about such a project, this was seen at the time as an advantage, giving road users nice views along the way. The road became commonly known as The Parkway in Bristol, although nowadays it's normally called the M32 instead.

Contrary to much belief, it's not particularly convenient to get to Parkway station, although running only about a mile away, and requires quite a convoluted, and often congested, series of turns to get to the station. In fact it's more tortuous now than it was when the station opened. What used to be a dead straight line from Filton to the station, New Road (not actually that new), has been completely lost to development.

Urban development spreading out from Bristol had encroached on the South Wales main line, which passed closer to urban Bristol than just about any other main line in the country "just missing" a major city. Temple Meads station meanwhile is probably the least convenient for its centre of any major city in Britain, so people were used to needing a car anyway to start journeys, plus the M4 to M5 road junction being built nearby gave a station at that location quite a hinterland. Places like Chepstow in Wales find it far more convenient than Newport for getting to London. The only downside is trains coming through from South Wales completely full, and nobody boarding at Parkway getting a seat to London.

 

[edwin_m]

In America a Parkway is usually a highway for cars only, often with bridges deliberately built too low for other vehicles. I'm not sure whether the M32 got its name from that or from the aforementioned parks. But it has resulted in the word having a totally different meaning in Britain.

 

[56 1/2]

For many years I would ask for tickets to Filton Coal Yard just to annoy BR, parking charges were far to high when it was partially surfaced and windswept

 

[Merle Haggard]

Thank you Western Sunset for the confirmation of a memory from 45 years ago.

And, as Evening Star alludes to, ---- Road was a theme only used by the GWR, although in fairness it was used in (when the line was opened, at least) sparsely populated areas. A trivia quiz question would be 'which ---- Road station is furthest from the town named?'

Wandering away further from the original question, sometimes towns or villages grew up around stations some distance from their town. I encountered 'Bedlington Station' as a place name and Verney Junction is also now a small settlement although the station was originally surrounded by open countryside

 

[Western Sunset]

Was "General" only used by the GW as a suffix too?

 

[randyrippley]

..........And, as Evening Star alludes to, ---- Road was a theme only used by the GWR,..............

Not so: Chard Junction as originally built by the LSWR was named Chard Road.
It was only changed to Chard Junction after the short link to the GWR Taunton-Chard line was built

 

[edwin_m]

And, as Evening Star alludes to, ---- Road was a theme only used by the GWR, although in fairness it was used in (when the line was opened, at least) sparsely populated areas. A trivia quiz question would be 'which ---- Road station is furthest from the town named?'

There are other "Road" stations named after an actual road not because they are vaguely near to the place named, Oxford Road and London Road being examples, and many companies used this form of naming.

 

[Merle Haggard]

There are other "Road" stations named after an actual road not because they are vaguely near to the place named, Oxford Road and London Road being examples, and many companies used this form of naming.

Wandering even further from the original topic, but how was it that while the Midland Railway's stations were often on Midland Road (probably quite easily done, they built it) the London North Western managed to get quite a few of theirs on London Road? (amongst others, it was the previous name for M/cr Piccadilly)

 

[Western Sunset]

Also Nottingham London Road (Low Level) - originally GN but used by LNWR trains from the LNWR/GN Joint.

Re-General stations. Maybe not entirely GW as there was Perth General..........

 

[Taunton]

LSWR also had a number of remote Roads. Seems to have been a West of England thing.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Wandering even further from the original topic, but how was it that while the Midland Railway's stations were often on Midland Road (probably quite easily done, they built it) the London North Western managed to get quite a few of theirs on London Road? (amongst others, it was the previous name for M/cr Piccadilly)

In any given town, 'London Road' is presumably the road to London (so in Slough, the A4 on the east (London) side of town is the London Road, while the A4 on the west (Reading, Bath) side of town is the Bath Road). And given the name of the company (i.e for trains from London to the North West) it seems likely that LNWR stations, or at least their terminals, would be on the side of town nearer to London - why build through the town if you can stop at its edge? Since that would be the side of the town nearest to London, then there'd be at least some chance of the station being on London Road.

 

[John @ home]

LSWR also had a number of remote Roads. Seems to have been a West of England thing.

In my opinion, Steele Road had a good claim to be the most remote "Road" station. It was between Newcastleton and Riccarton Junction on the Carlisle - Galashiels - Edinburgh "Waverley Route".