Part of the original line near Bristol was closed in 1970, trains being diverted over the ex-Great Western Railway route through Filton.

There were good-quality quarries already in existence at Leckhampton, high above the town, and Forest of Dean coal was available at Gloucester, nine miles away, brought there on the River Severn and later by canal.

[6][7] In November 1837 the C&GWUR reported that the condition of the money market was such that they were going to be unable to build all of their line in the foreseeable future, and that they proposed to concentrate on the Swindon end.

The development of railways in Great Britain was gaining momentum, and it soon appeared obvious that a line between Bristol and Gloucester was appropriate.

Negotiations were quickly opened with the Great Western Railway to acquire the C&GWUR's line, and after some delay, this was agreed in January 1843.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel had become the company's engineer (on 12 September 1839), and in April 1843, the Bristol and Gloucester decided to make its line on the broad gauge instead.

[7] Nevertheless, the saving in capital on building the Bristol station and other facilities, as well as the avoidance of living in proximity to a hostile GWR, were powerful in persuading the Bristol company to select this option; and Brunel had explained that transshipment of goods at the break of gauge to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway would be simple: "a very simple arrangement may effect the transfer of the entire load of goods from the waggon of one Company to that of the other".

[2] The Avon and Gloucestershire Railway had its standard gauge fish=bellied rail track between Mangotsfield and Coalpit Heath, and this was preserved by the 1839 act.

The negotiation was simply a matter of cash; on 24 January 1845 a Great Western deputation offered £60 of GWR stock for £100 of Birmingham and Gloucester, at market values equating to about £123 for £109.

He was aware of the inconvenience of the break of gauge and motivated by fear of that approaching too near to his own business location in Leicester.

Ellis soon offered them a perpetual lease at 6% on the £1.8 million capital of the two Gloucester companies, in addition taking on the half-million pound debts.

The Coalpit Heath branch of the old Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway was converted to broad gauge and upgraded for locomotive use; this was ready on 9 June 1847.

This enabled it to lay standard gauge tracks alongside the GWR between Standish Junction (which was near Stonehouse) and Tramway Junction, at the east end of the Gloucester stations, and to lay narrow (standard) gauge rails on the Bristol and Gloucester line between Bristol and Standish.

These were never used by the Great Western, and it was not until the GWR converted the gauge of its own lines in the area in 1872 that the Midland was able to discontinue their maintenance.

Midland Railway trains could at last run through on the narrow gauge from Bristol to Birmingham, but they needed to back in to the station to make the passenger call.

The tramway was of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge and in street running in Gloucester it made some extremely sharp turns at road junctions.

A very short stub from the Bristol and Gloucester goods station to a location alongside the plateway was made in 1840; transshipment was necessary there.

Independent railway access to the docks was made in 1848 when the High Orchard Branch was opened, from the Tuffley Loop.

[4][9][21] The Avoiding Line, now known as the Cheltenham Loop, was reinstated and opened for goods traffic on 25 November 1901; through passenger operation over it followed on 1 July 1908.

[4] From 1858 the Midland Railway established its own goods facilities at St Philips, and on 2 May 1870 a single platform passenger station was opened there, dealing chiefly with Bath trains.

Although the promoters had hoped to create a new trunk route, the limited carrying capacity of the Severn Bridge frustrated plans to run heavy main line trains across it.

[4] At the turn of the century, the Great Western Railway was under pressure to improve its route from South Wales to London.

The GWR decided to build a cut-off line between Patchway, on the approach to the Severn Tunnel and Wootton Bassett[note 3] which shortened the route and relieved the section at Bath.

the GWR obtained running powers to Sharpness, and a south curve was made at Berkeley Road (above) to give direct access.

For the time being the GWR was obliged to use the Fishponds line, attracting a greater toll charge for the running to the Midland.

Consequently, the LMS was now the controlling company for the former Bristol and Gloucester line, but the process imposed little other change on practices locally.

[39] Following the publication of the Beeching Report (the Reshaping of British Railways) widespread closures of unremunerative stations and lines took place in the latter years of the 1960s.

[9] At Bristol, the section of line between Lawrence Hill Junction (just north of Temple Meads)) and Yate was closed on 29 December 1969.

1, 3 & 7 excepted) were sold by the MR to Thomas Brassey, who had secured the contract for working the North Devon Railway from 28 July 1855.

The locomotives were built at Stothert and Slaughter's workshops in Bristol using parts supplied by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy.