please empty your brain below
The towers at the central span of the second Severn Crossing are designed to look like rugby goal posts.

I think the major disadvantage "Severn Beach" has it that the foreshore is mostly mud.

Ian | 11.02.18 - 7:33 a.m. | #

Whilst £3.00 may compare favourably with the £5.60 it costs to use the Second Severn Crossing (what an unimaginative name for such a magnificent structure), us Welshfolk have to pay this iniquitous amount both just to get home and to endure a view of Avonmouth.

The toll is being scrapped at the end of 2018 and I hope the exact date will be a bit before the end of December as a welcome Christmas present.

Ken | 11.02.18 - 7:39 a.m. | #

Am I right in thinking that, Severn Beach,boasts not one, but two two significant civil engineering structures, with the mainline to South Wales plunging into Severn Tunnel a stone's throw from the start of the bridge and presumably burrowing right under DG's feet? I always wondered if there was a vantage point from which to observe the deep cutting and portal, but perhaps the lack of a mention here confirms its absence.

Robert | Homepage | 11.02.18 - 7:45 a.m. | #

Even before making my own gadabout trip to Severn Beach a couple of years ago, I was intrigued by the claim about the run 'alongside the Severn Gorge' being one of the most scenic trips in the world! So, I timed it and that bit took well under 2 minutes. Your were lucky to get a photo with the view not masked by trees. Hardly the Swiss Alps or Glasgow to Mallaig is it? The Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable (who might have been the ones to make the claim) still lists Liskeard to Looe in that category. The part along the river - similarly muddy at low tide - lasts about the same time, though at least there is something nice at the end.

Don't bother with any of the West of England branches other than Plymouth to Gunnislake (forget the last bit and get off at Calstock and enjoy a lovely walk) and St Erth to St Ives (a long way to travel for a ten minute trip, though, once again, good when you get there).

Martin | 11.02.18 - 8:46 a.m. | #

You could have walked to Pilning station. You really missed a treat there.

kev | 11.02.18 - 9:16 a.m. | #

Sounds like my kind of scenic.

Sarah | Homepage | 11.02.18 - 9:27 a.m. | #

The line along the other side of the Avon, to Portbury/Portishead, is a lot more scenic, but even then, the best bits are screened by trees.

Jimbo | 11.02.18 - 9:47 a.m. | #

More background to the Severn Beach Line can be found at:-
http://discoversevernbeachline.co.uk/

If DG had walked to Pilning, as suggested by kev, he would have had to ensure his trip was on a Saturday as trains only stop there on that day.

Richard | 11.02.18 - 10:42 a.m. | #

Severn Beach is a childhood memory, my grandparents lived there and one could see the railway line to Pilning from their kitchen.
A special treat was to go for a walk along the sea wall to see the pumping station which had two beam engines, only one in use, which drained the Severn Tunnel. Further down the beach was the outlet pipe pouring water back into the river. I remember being invited into the engine house and shown the little electric pump which was going to replace the beam engines. The coal siding leading up to the engine house had the most amazingly rotten sleepers.
Robert is quite right that the entrance to the tunnel was nearby and when I was young it was possible to stand at the top of the cutting and watch the trains but the last time I visited it was heavily fenced off.
Is the Lido still there? It was used in the Shoestring TV series.

Bill G | 11.02.18 - 11:45 a.m. | #

@Martin I thought the Tarka Line (Exeter to Barnstaple) was scenic. But not enjoyable if window was open, because of the diesel fumes.

Another Martin | 11.02.18 - 1:07 p.m. | #

I did this line last year almost by accident (a few hours to spare while passing through Bristol so thought I might as well just to say I had). I found the cafes really friendly (and very welcome on a bleak March day), and the way the Severn is hidden by the sea wall makes for a real "wow" moment when you climb it and suddenly see the vast expanse in front of you.

Andrew S | 11.02.18 - 1:42 p.m. | #

Surely St Andrews Road is a conventional two platform station, with footbridge? Whatever else the place is, it's very bleak.

dg writes: Footbridge yes. Two platforms no.

Chris P | 11.02.18 - 1:47 p.m. | #

Pilning is closing in a few months' time.

Returns from Pilning to Bristol are valid to Severn Beach.

I visited both by car (after taking the train, but not getting off) as I didn't want to spend 2 hours in Severn Beach.

John | 11.02.18 - 3:59 p.m. | #

@another martin

A lot (most of) Exeter to Barnstaple is in a cutting or between overgrown trees. A problem with many lines, I suppose since the end of steam, as there is no need to cut them back because of the risk of fire. The main line south of Exeter, as far as Teignmouth is nice, but again, you're through it all in ten minutes, and the line to Exmouth on the other side of the estuary lets you see some of it from the other side for a few minutes

There are probably only ten to a dozen lines which give you an hour or more of great scenery (Whitehaven to Barrow-in-Furness; Settle to Carlisle; Esk Valley; some of the 'preserved' lines, several in Scotland and Wales); in most cases it's one or two highlights among several hours of comparative dullness.

DG could do them all for us (you'll find he's done some of the 'highlights' like Harrignton Viaduct) and make a list.

Martin | 11.02.18 - 4:28 p.m. | #

I have so much to reply to!

@Richard "he would have had to ensure his trip was on a Saturday as trains only stop there on that day. "
Even on Saturdays there are only two, both eastbound as the footbridge has been removed so there is no access to the westbound platform.

@John "Pilning is closing in a few months' time"
Surely not possible - a consultation process is required before any closure, and there has been none so far. Even if the procedure were to be initiated today, it would take longer than a few months to take effect.

@Robert "I always wondered if there was a vantage point from which to observe the deep cutting and portal,"
The cutting can be seen on Google Street view, from vantage points on the B4064 or the M49 almost directly above the portal

Ordnance Survey indicates there is a public footpath from which views of the portal itself are possible.

The "fortuitously-located rocky outcrop" on which part of the Second Severn Crossing now stands has been identified as a likely candidate for the location of the "Hut-on-the-Rock" where Harry Potter saw in his 11th birthday - Severn Beach being the station from which he and Hagrid took a train later that morning. The story is set in 1991, the year before construction of the crossing started.

timbo again | Homepage | 11.02.18 - 4:52 p.m. | #

@Chris P
The reason for the oddity of needing a footbridge despite only having one platform is because there are several sidings between the road and the track serving the platform. Incidentally, the National Rail website shows the road as "un-named", although the name of the station itself should be a clue as to the road's identity!

timbo again again | Homepage | 11.02.18 - 5:01 p.m. | #

Pilning doesn't need a Westbound platform as tickets are valid Eastbound, reversing at Bristol Parkway back through the station. Seems like a perfectly valid way to run the railways which could eliminate many superflous platforms.

kev | 11.02.18 - 5:45 p.m. | #

@Kev
Neither train goes to Bristol Parkway (they both turn right at Patchway and go to Taunton), but you could double back at Filton Abbey Wood.

timbo again | Homepage | 12.02.18 - 5:20 p.m. | #

Kev, technically, you go straight on at Patchway, not turn right, for Filton Abbey Wood - going right takes you to St Andrew's Road - the "main freight line" referred to in the post.

Colly | 15.11.22 - 10:00 a.m. | #











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