Mangotsfield Railway Station

Mangotsfield railway station was a railway station on the Midland Railway route between Bristol and Birmingham, 5.1 miles (8.2 km) north-east of Bristol Temple Meads and 82 miles (132 km) from Birmingham New Street, serving what is now the Bristol suburb of Mangotsfield. The station was opened in 1845 by the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, but had very little in the way of passenger amenities. The station was resited in 1869 to serve the new Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line, and became an important junction station with extensive facilities and six platforms. Passenger footfall however failed to match the station’s size, though at its peak eight staff were employed. The station closed in 1966 when services to Bath ended as part of the Beeching cuts, and the line through the station closed in 1969. The railway became a cycle path in the 1980s, and is a popular resting point on the route as several of the station’s walls and platforms are still in situ.
The first railway through Mangotsfield was the Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway, which opened in 1828. The line, which was horse-drawn, was built to convey stone and coal to Bristol Harbour. The line was built as single track 4 ft 8 1?2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, but with space for double track. A connecting branch, known as the Avon and Gloucestershire Railway, was built from Mangotsfield south towards the River Avon in the 1830s. The Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway was purchased by the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in the early 1840s, as part of a plan to connect Gloucester with the Great Western Railway at Bristol Temple Meads. The line was converted to locomotive operation and 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad-gauge, with services beginning in July 1844.(p78)(p135) There was initially no station at Mangotsfield, which was a small village in an area of farmland