Wrington Vale Light Railway

c. 48) was passed to enable low-cost local railways to be built, and a line from Blagdon to Congresbury was promoted.

At this time the Bristol Waterworks Company were building a reservoir at Blagdon,[note 1] and they supported the scheme.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) agreed to finance the scheme and manage the actual construction.

The Order was confirmed on 18 March 1898, and the Great Western Railway was authorised to finance, construct and work the line.

[1] The railway's primary purpose was to bring construction materials for the building of the Blagdon Lake reservoir.

The GWR used it to trial various innovations to reduce the cost of lightly used passenger services, such as the push-pull system where driving controls are provided in a trailer coach, enabling the locomotive to propel its train backwards without turning around at the end of a run and reducing time.

In 1926, the service was increased again to five trips a day in response to competition from the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company's buses.

The only buildings on the line to have survived until the present day are at Blagdon station, which is now part of a private residence, and the stationmaster's house at Burrington, although it has been much extended.

North Somerset council has marked the former railway as a future key cycle route in the local plan.

[8] In 2016, the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership produced a report outlining the possibility of using the old trackbed of the railway for the proposed Bristol Airport Rail Link.