The Day we went to Pilning
The Day we went to Pilning - and returned to Bristol via Newport
The day began when Jill Carr and Martin Garrett caught the 12:08 (from
Temple Meads) train at Montpelier. They left the train at Avonmouth and
walked to St Andrew's Road where they arrived with plenty of time to spare.
Derek Carr and Bryony Carr took the 13:08 (from Temple Meads) train at
Montpelier.
Meanwhile Simon Meeds and Alison Leach arrived at St Andrew's Road where they met Jill and Martin. St Andrew's Road is a request stop, so they were poised to hail the train bound for Severn Beach. They were surprised to see the Bristol-bound train slow down and the driver invite them to hail him -they politely turned him down and waited for the correct train.
There was no trouble attracting the attention of the driver of the Severn
Beach service, and they joined Derek and Bryony in the front coach.
On their arrival at Severn Beach station, Peter Gould of the Ramblers'
Association and Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways, introduced himself. I assume he had been on the train from Clifton Down, but he seemed to appear from nowhere.
The group of seven made their way on foot down Church Road, over the M49 footbridge and to the A403. They passed through Pilning village, with a brief stop at the Post Office for some, and then down Bank Road, admiring various remaining artefacts from the old low level railway line, to The Plough where they managed to catch a quick drink before closing time (3pm).
A short walk brought them to Pilning (formerly High Level) Station, where some young men in a car were engaging in no-doubt nefarious activities.
There was some surprise to see a bicycle at the station locked to a very
smart, new rack - maybe we weren't the only people to use the station today?
There was time for a group photograph before the train arrived. One person was seen to leave the train - so there was another customer today! We boarded to find that our reserved seats had not been marked and were
therefore taken. Undaunted we found a group of seats and occupied them. One of our party overheard another passenger saying that she intended to leave the train at Pilning; it would be a long and expensive taxi ride for her, since the next train to stop at the station was not for another seven days!
Unlike the rest of us, Peter had not pre-booked his ticket and needed to buy one on the train. Honesty being the best policy, he went looking for the guard. Apparently though, she had left her machine at Westbury and wasunable to issue him with a ticket. He would have to buy his ticket on the Newport to Bristol leg of the journey - we anticipated some fun!
The train arrived at Newport with no further fuss. We made our way to the new Platform 4 and Martin remarked how smart and well-kept the station was. Derek pointed out that, being in Wales, it had nothing to do with FirstGreat Western, although their trains run through it.
The train to Bristol Temple Meads arrived on time and we boarded coach A, where most of us had reserved seats. Again there were no reservation tickets on the seats and the coach was fairly full. Martin went into coach B to find his reserved seat; he later reported that this coach was half empty and he didn't even bother to check whether or not his reserved seat was occupied.
Coach A was stiflingly hot, with some people reporting burnt ankles from theunder-seat heating. When the guard came around there was none of the
expected drama; Peter was able to buy his ticket from Pilning to Clifton
Down with no more than a little jollity ("...that's the Severn Beach
Express?"). The guard didn't even seem to look twice at the rest of our
tickets.
We arrived at Bristol Temple Meads and joined the Severn Beach Train. The others left at Montpelier and Clifton Down while Alison and I remained until St Andrew's Road. Alison informed the guard that we needed St Andrew's Road while the train was stationary at Avonmouth; apparently he was about to ask whether anyone wanted to stop there. At St Andrew's Road we left the train,thanked the guard and drove home to Easter Compton.
Despite (or maybe because of) a few small excitements, I think an enjoyable afternoon was had by all, and just maybe we increased Pilning Station's customer figures by a few hundred per cent this week!