Bristol and North Somerset Railway

The WS&WR found raising money for its ambitious network difficult, and the company sold its lines, not all of which were complete, to the GWR on 14 March 1850, confirmed by an act of Parliament[which?]

c. clxviii) received royal assent on 21 July 1863: it was to be called the Bristol and North Somerset Railway, with capital of £275,000 and borrowing powers of £91,000.

In 1866 the GWR and the Bristol and North Somerset Railway (B&NSR) jointly submitted a bill for a line from Mells to through Nettlebridge, south of Radstock to Chilcompton.

[note 3] The Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR) was independent at this time, and the B&NSR made overtures to that company about an alliance or merger.

The company itself was desperately short of money as subscribers had failed to respond to calls, and land acquisition was proving unaffordable; then on 27 June 1864 it was announced that Lawrence and Fry had become bankrupt.

In July 1866 the banking firm of Overend, Gurney and Company failed, and this triggered a financial crisis; many people lost large amounts of money, and obtaining share subscriptions for new construction became, for a time impossible.

As well as doing so, he proposed a simplification of the route at Radstock making a northerly sweep and avoiding housing in the town centre, and joining more directly into the GWR terminus.

[note 4] On getting the Bristol and North Somerset Railway Act 1870, the company sought offers from contractors and John Perry and Sons of Stratford quoted £90,000 to complete the line, and was awarded contracts.

Further problems were encountered with the quality and rate of progress of the construction, but at length the line was ready for the Board of Trade inspection.

The opening of the B&NSR activated a neglected obligation on the GWR: in February 1874 the GWR board recorded that: By the terms of an Agreement with the Bristol and North Somerset Company and the principal Colliery Proprietors of the Radstock District, this Company is under engagement to lay the narrow gauge between Radstock and Salisbury on or before 3rd September next ...

In view of this obligation, the Directors ... consider that the convenience of the public will be best met, and the interest of the Proprietors best secured, by the alteration from Broad to Narrow Gauge of all the Lines in the district which these railways accommodate.

[4] MacDermot summarises the events from the GWR point of view in stark terms: The opening of the Bristol and North Somerset Railway, a line with a tragic financial story too involved to be recounted here, and of little interest nowadays, created a new break of gauge at Radstock, where it joined the old Great Western mineral branch from Frome; so, until the latter was converted to narrow gauge in June 1874, the 23 miles between Bristol and Frome had of course to be worked in two distinct sections, the southern of which was not adapted for passenger traffic until the 5th July 1875.

[9] The opening of the line gave easy rail access to cheap Midlands coal which was now brought into the area.

Easier coal seams were exploited and deep pits at Pensford and Dunkerton were sunk in the period 1901 – 1920, resulting in a 25% increase in the area's production.

For the entire life of the reconstructed Bristol and North Somerset Railway Company, money had been short and the line had been worked by the GWR.

[note 5][4] A remarkable parliamentary bill was submitted for the 1883 session: a Bristol and South Western Junction Railway was to be created.

From a much more convenient Bristol station, the journey to London over this route and the LSWR was only 12 miles longer than by the Great Western Railway (GWR).

Although the proposal had some popular support, all the directly affected parties opposed the scheme, and during its passage in Parliament it was considerably scaled down.

The original stations were in most cases built to a standard but distinctive design by the architect William Clarke, featuring large canopies and three tall chimneys.

Rising again, the line climbed at 1 in 65 and then fell again to Farrington Gurney Halt, where passengers obtained tickets at the Miner's Arms public house.

Somerset coal continued to be transported to the Bristol area, although not in the former volumes, until the embankment near Pensford was washed out in the summer of 1968.

Nonetheless, the coalfield was in terminal decline, and the last pit closed in 1973; the final revenue movement of coal on the line was on 16 November 1973.

[7] The Camerton branch had been authorised by the original act of Parliament for the Bristol and North Somerset Railway, but not proceeded with by the impecunious company.

Only after the passage of the act of Parliament was Clarke, the company's engineer, told to prepare detailed estimates for the construction.

It appears that the GWR had funded the construction on the basis of a promise of reimbursement by the B&NSR, for Vincent records that "a special meeting was held of the North Somerset's board of directors on 31 March 1882 which then allowed the company to raise the Camerton branch capital".

[10] Although authorised for opening in 1881, no colliery company applied for a siding connection, and for a period the line remained in suspense.

[7] A passenger service was operated on the Camerton branch from the time of opening as a through line; but despite serving mining communities, there was little business.

Goods and mineral traffic continued, accessed at the Limpley Stoke end only, but that finally closed too on 15 February 1951[7][11] and the track was taken up in 1958.

A consultation report produced by Halcrow Group in 2014 outlines the feasibility reinstating service on that branch[12] which was estimated to cost £40 million in 2013.

[15] In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line from Frome to Radstock as Priority 2 for reopening.