[6] A few weeks before the start of the services to Paddington the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) had opened, on 14 June 1841,[7] its trains reversing in and out of the GWR station.

[8] In 1850 an engine shed was opened on the south bank of the River Avon on the east side of the line to the B&ER station.

[9] Between 1859 and 1875, 23 engines were built in the workshops attached to the shed, including several distinctive Bristol and Exeter Railway 4-2-4T locomotives.

On 11 March 1872, a direct connection to the harbour was made in the form of the Bristol Harbour Railway, a joint operation of the three railways, which ran between the passenger station and the goods yard, across the street outside on a bridge, and descended into a tunnel under the churchyard of St. Mary Redcliffe on its way to a wharf downstream of Bristol Bridge.

The B&ER had a goods depot at Pylle Hill (south of the station) from 1850, and the MR had an independent yard at Avonside Wharf on the opposite side of the Floating Harbour from 1858.

[5] The additional railway routes put the two short 140-yard (130 m) platforms of Brunel's terminus under pressure and a scheme was developed to extend the station.

[12] From the 1960s, the work was usually attributed to Brunel's former associate Matthew Digby Wyatt, but in 2020 it was established to be by Bristol architect Henry Lloyd under the superintendence of Francis Fox, the engineer of the B&ER.

The new Bristol Temple Meads East box was the largest on the GWR, with 368 miniature levers operated by three signalmen assisted by a "booking boy".

The other two boxes were at Bristol Temple Meads West, and controlling the movements in and out of the new Bath Road Depot, which replaced the old B&ER locomotive works in 1934.

[11] During World War II the station was bombed, which led to the destruction of the wooden spire of the clock tower above the ticket office on 3 January 1941.

[22] Passenger traffic on the old North Somerset line ceased on 2 November 1959, and many more closures followed after the publication of Dr Beeching's The Reshaping of British Railways in 1963.

[11] The redundant train shed became a covered car park in February of the following year, but from 1989 until 1999 the original (Brunel) part was an interactive science centre known as The Exploratory and an exhibition space.

Part of Brunel's station has found a new use in a redevelopment by the City Council, the University of Bristol and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.

[31] Plans to build a 12,000-capacity arena[32] on the former site of the Bristol Bath Road Traction Maintenance Depot, to the south of the station, were cancelled in 2018.

[33] The Great Western Main Line from London to Bristol was part of electrification plans first announced by the UK government in 2009.

[34] However, because of cost overruns and delays, on 8 November 2016 the government announced that several elements of the programme would be deferred including electrification south-west of Thingley Junction near Chippenham, and between Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway.

Although this left Temple Meads un-electrified, the Hitachi Super Express trains are bi-mode so can operate on diesel around Bristol and can use electricity where the electrification work is complete.

[37][38] The Portishead branch line, which runs along the south side of the River Avon from a junction just beyond Parson Street station is proposed to be reopened.

[39] There is an aspiration of two trains per hour between Portishead and Temple Meads in peak periods, possibly calling at Bedminster and Parson Street.

[40][41][42][43][44] The line was built in the 1860s but closed to passenger traffic in 1964, leaving Portishead as one of Britain's largest towns without a railway station.

The line was reopened for freight traffic to serve Royal Portbury Docks in 2001, and the restoration of passenger traffic is considered part of the Greater Bristol Metro scheme, which was given the go-ahead in July 2012 as part of a City Deal, whereby local councils would be given greater control over money by the government.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Tudor-style offices, later used by the former British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, face this road and are flanked on the north side by an archway that used to be the main station for departing passengers; a matching arch on the other side was the arrivals gateway but was removed when the station was expanded in the 1870s.

The train shed is 72 feet (22 m) wide with a wooden box-frame roof and cast iron columns disguised as hammerbeams above Tudor arches.

It is believed to be the widest hammerbeam roof in England and, along with most of the station, is a Grade 1 listed building,[56][57] and forms part of a proposed Great Western Railway World Heritage Site.

[58] At the top of the slope an entrance on the left to the covered car park marks the junction between the original terminus and Fox's 1870s extension.

This is most frequently used by Severn Beach Line trains but is long enough to handle any four-car Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU).

Behind Platform 1 is a brick wall that forms part of the signal box and on this are some metal artworks created by artists with learning difficulties to celebrate Brunel's 200th anniversary in 2006; an interpretation panel is nearby.

Between platforms 3/4 and 5/6 are the Up Through line and the Middle Siding, the latter is often used to stable Mark 1 carriages between Torbay Express duties in the summer months.

[67] Official statistics show it to have the 35th-largest number of people entering or leaving any national rail station, the 14th busiest outside London.

[51][75] Regular CrossCountry services run south to Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance and north to Birmingham New Street, Derby, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.