Thornbury Railway

The Last Train

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The Day the Railway came

Last Train to Thornbury

The Station Masters

The Site of the Railway

 Sadly the high hopes for the railway line between Thornbury and Yate were never realised.  The link to Wales never materialised and the route to Bristol via Yate never compared well to the bus route into central Bristol.

The Gazette of 24th June 1944 described the last trip to Yate on the previous Saturday; the number of Thornbury people who "came to see the train make its last trip to Yate made it a gala occasion but there was too, an undercurrent of sentimental melancholy at the severance of an old  link.  The engine was decorated with bunting round the sides and a flag on front, while round the funnel was placed a laurel wreath.  The engine driver Mr E Mills, and his mate Mr J Williams entered into the spirit of the occasion by wearing gaudy paper hats."  The Tytherington people who had fewer transport options were not so cheery.  The newspaper report went on to say "At Tytherington whose residents are most deeply concerned at the cutting off of the train, it was met by people carrying a black flag."

Although this was the last regular passenger journey, the line continued for the use of coal and freight for another 22 years up to 20th June 1966.

For more information see also   “The Yate to Thornbury Branch” Colin G. Maggs published by The Oakwood Press. 2002". The Bristol Railway Archive also  has an excellent section on their website about the line to  Thornbury with some photographs of  the old station, its turntable (the train had to be turned round to head back towards Yate) and the water tower.  The site also shows the remnants of the old line that are still visible in Thornbury, the track which is now public footpath and the railway bridges which still act as underpasses and which describes the Grovesend tunnel (although we have not seen the tunnel itself and have been told that access is difficult).