St Andrews Road is within the yard, and to the north the Henbury Loop Line diverges to the east.

[5] Services along the line are operated by Great Western Railway, mainly using diesel Class 166 Turbo units.

Instead, a link was proposed from the BPRP at Sneyd Park, running under Clifton Down and through the suburbs to connect to the main lines of the Midland and Bristol and South Wales Union railways.

The Great Western provided services from Clifton Down to Bristol Temple Meads, the city's major station, where passengers could change for trains to London, Exeter and Wales, among others.

[17] The Clifton Down Tunnel, the final link to the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, was opened in 1877, initially allowing freight trains to reach Avonmouth Docks.

There was a trial Midland service between Bristol St Philip's and Avonmouth in September 1885, but this was ended after a month.

[19] There was not initially a station at Redland, but there was local support, with several petitions submitted to the line's Joint Railway Committee.

The Bristol Chamber of Commerce petitioned for a station in 1892, but the Committee again rejected the request, stating that estimated traffic levels would not justify the expense.

[18] The Hotwells section of the Bristol Port Railway and Pier closed in 1922, so to compensate, an additional six trains were provided from Clifton Down to Avonmouth, and four back.

[17] From 1924, many trains to Avonmouth were extended to Severn Beach, a growing seaside resort, and some on to Pilning, then back to Temple Meads via Patchway.

[18] By 1947, just before the start of the British Rail era, there were 33 services each direction between Avonmouth and Temple Meads, and 18 on Sundays.

Following meetings with staff, it was decided to keep the line open to Severn Beach, but to close the section to Pilning, and also end services via Henbury.

[12][13] British Rail was split into business-led sectors in the 1980s, at which time operations passed to Regional Railways.

Cecil Parkinson MP, then-Secretary of State for Transport, replied that the line was using "out-of-date, worn-out rolling stock" due to late deliveries from manufacturers, and that British Rail would not encourage people to use it until there was a better service.

It was the line that got bus substitution whenever they were short of trains or queues, when a rugby match in Cardiff needed a special.

It has a problem in that the route is slow and not very direct; for years it was invisible, short of marketing and lacking a regular interval timetable.

[12]When the railway was privatised in 1997, local services were franchised to Wales & West,[25] which was succeeded by Wessex Trains in 2001.

[26] Following action by Friends of Severn Beach Railway (FOSBR, later renamed Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) and a string of protests, services had increased to 10 per day in each direction by 2005,[18] with Bristol City Council paying a subsidy of £138,000 per annum to fund services.

[29]Protesters would chant "The Severn Beach is a mighty fine line; Clean and friendly and sometimes on time.

[24][33] In 2007, the council agreed to subsidise a service of at least one train every 45mins in each direction along the line,[34] unanimously agreeing to pay £450,000 per annum to fund extra services from May 2008 for three years, which resulted in a 60% increase in passenger numbers along the line,[24][35] and a 25% year-on-year increase between June 2009 and June 2010.

[38] An additional evening service was agreed in February 2012, to start in September 2012, after protests about a 100-minute gap in the timetable.

[55] Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR) supports the electrification of the entire Severn Beach line.

[57][58] There is an aspiration for half-hourly services, however due to the large sections of single-track and the congested main line from Temple Meads, such frequency is not currently feasible.

[59] However, it is expected that with the four-tracking of Filton Bank, including the Severn Beach line between Temple Meads and Narroways Hill Junction, that there will be sufficient capacity to allow half-hourly services.

[62] The metro scheme was given the go-ahead in July 2012 as part of the City Deal, whereby local councils would be given greater control over money by the government, but it is as yet unclear which elements will be implemented.

[63] FOSBR and other local groups lodged concerns with the Department for Transport that the reopening of the Henbury Loop was not included in the ITT for the new Greater Western franchise.

[69] The high usage at Clifton Down is due in part to its proximity to Bristol Zoo (though that closed in September 2022) and a major shopping area.

On the branch line, the stations with the biggest changes were Severn Beach, St Andrews Road and Clifton Down with 363%, 228% and 178% respectively.