
Bristol Temple Meads is the main railway station for Bristol, SW England. Bristol has another Intercity station at Bristol Parkway, which is in the northern fringes of the conurbation near the M5 & M32 motorway junction. The sim also covers the busy suburban and Intercity corridor towards Weston-super-Mare.

Now Grade 1 listed, Bristol Temple Meads opened in 1840. The western terminus of the GWR line from Paddington was designed by the 'Reckless Engineer', Isambard Kingdom Brunel. As other railways were built, it was also used by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, the Bristol Harbour Railway and the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway, which resulted in major extensions to the station in the 1870s and 1930s. Brunel's original terminus is no longer part of the operational station and now forms a conferencing/ exhibiton centre and a sizeable quantity of the station's car-parking facility. 

Currently the First Group franchise 'Great Western Railway' are the majority operator and provides all trains to Paddington, plus local and regional services to Cardiff, Gloucester, Avonmouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Weston-super-Mare & Taunton. Long-distance services westwards to Plymouth, Paignton & Penzance, and northwards to Birmingham, Manchester, the north-east & Scotland are provided by the DBS/Arriva 'CrossCountry' franchise. A far smaller number of trains to/from Waterloo via Salisbury are provided by Stagecoach's 'South West Trains' franchise.

Goods trains operated by most freight operators pass through the area, as well as some Charter (both steam & diesel), Engineering, Railhead Treatment and Fleet transfer operations. Even the UK Pullman stock of the VSOE (Venice Simplon Orient Express) is a fairly regular visitor.

The platforms are numbered from 1 to 15. The numbering system involves several through platforms divided into two ends with odd numbers at the east end, and even numbers at the west end. To further complicate matters, platform 2 is not signalled for passenger trains, platform 14 does not exist, platforms 13 & 15 are full length and also platforms 1 and 13 are east-facing dead-end bay platforms. Remember that platform 13 is full-length, but platform 1 is far shorter (see below).

The railway signalling system at Bristol is Track Circuit Block with multiple aspect signals controlled from Bristol Panel Signalbox which is situated beside the station just off platform 1. Bristol Panel signalbox fringes with other boxes at Gloucester, Westbury, Exeter & St Andrews Road, plus now with the far more modern Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot and the Wales Rail Operations Centre at Cardiff, which have recently taken over the control area of the former Swindon and Newport panel-boxes respectively. Bristol Panel signalbox itself will probably close entirely by 2020; it is already seeing sections being transferred gradually into Didcot's TVSC.

Full Bi-directional signalling is not extensively provided and hence appears only where operationally essential, as can be seen on the diagram. Also simplified Bi-directional signalling exists on the main-lines to/from Bath Spa; this however is not able to be used in the simulation as it was considered too large an area of control to also include the other end at Bath. 

There are 'overlaps' at both ends of Bristol Temple Meads due to the proximity of junctions to the platform so as to prevent the risk of collision caused by possible signals passed at danger. Owing to the complexity of the overlaps and flank locking these are omitted from this simulation.

The lines are not electrified, although the routes to/from Bath and Filton are being electrified as part of the Great Western route upgrade.

Reversing trains at Bristol Temple Meads are usually routed into the first section of platform (routing to the X3 thru X12 indications facilitates this). The even numbered west end platforms are very remote from the subway and main facilities so are only normally used for westbound services, with some exceptions. Booked platforms are shown in the timetable. Note that the even numbered west end platforms are much shorter than the odd numbered east end platforms, and particularly westbound HSTs in these platforms will overhang back into the odd numbered platform. This is perfectly normal, prototypical and does not affect the operation of the simulation at all.

Note that platform 15 (due to more stringent regulations when it was reopened) is not 'permissive' for arriving movements (although multiple unit trains can detach in the platform if the units form separate out-going services). Locomotive hauled train detachments and/or run-rounds are therefore not possible in platform 15.

Trains to/from the Taunton/ West of England direction which do not call at Weston-super-Mare should be routed via the main Weston SM avoiding lines and will incur time penalties if routed through Weston-super-Mare itself as the Weston-super-Mare loop has a far slower line-speed than the avoiding lines.

A quicker approach to/ exit from Bristol TM can be achieved by using the Filton Reliefs as opposed to the Filton Mains between Bristol East and Dr Day's whenever practicable, due to the slow diverging junction speeds at Dr Days Jn.

Bath Rd depot, although now closed, has been provided with an inlet/outlet to facilitate the future potential development of 'heritage' timetables. The inlet line is still used as a stabling point for units, but movements in and out are not possible when platform 15 is occupied.

Freight trains usually pass via the Down or Up Through lines, but can use the platforms if necessary. NB some stop for a while for crew changes or pathing purposes, so blocking a passenger platform with a freight train will not be a very good idea at certain times, and several could over-hang out 'foul' of the platform! The designated stopping points are adjacent to the platformed areas, i.e. on the Down Through line between signals 32 and 51 (do not stop at 578 or 549) and on the Up Through line between signals 42 and 41.

When routing empty stock trains from the West exit of St Phillips Marsh depot to the station, although there are numerous reversing options at the West end, the usual way is to route the train from 330 to one of the Carriage Lines (578, 586 or Buffers) or (580 or 588) via 46 signal.  

Puxton & Worle Level Crossings between Worle & Yatton have a local 'Crossing Keeper' who operates the crossings and clears the signals (prefixed 'BP') as required on behalf of the main panel operator, however in this simulation the main panel operator assumes that role as well. Remember not to block the local roads for too long, but also not to delay trains which are timetabled to pass through at upto 100 mph!

Platform lengths (in Chains)
Bristol TM Platform 1 ...  4
           Platform 2 ...  8 (Non-passenger, stabling only)
           Platform 3 ... 11
           Platform 4 ...  9
           Platform 5 ... 11
           Platform 6 ...  4
           Platform 7 ... 11
           Platform 8 ...  4
           Platform 9 ... 11
           Platform 10 ..  8
           Platform 11 .. 10
           Platform 12 .. .8
           Platform 13 .. 13
           Platform 15 .. 15
Weston SM  Platform 1 ... 10
           Platform 2 ... 15

Timetabled Stopping Places and Timing Points (T)
Places which do not have a timetabled time for trains which do not stop are indicated by #.
Location Name		Code
Bristol Temple Meads
Weston-Super-Mare # ... W
High Level Siding # ... H
Motorail Platform 2 # . m
Loco Spurs # .. ... ... s
Lawrence Hill # ... ... L
Montpelier # .. ... ... M
Uphill Junction (T) ... U
Stapleton Road  ... ... S
Yatton for Clevedon # . Y
Nailsea & Backwell # .. N
Worle Parkway # ... ... O
Weston Milton # ... ... T
Parson Street . ... ... P
Bedminster # .. ... ... B
Keynsham .. ... ... ... K
Clifton Down .. ... ... C
Redland # . ... ... ... R

Note that Bedminster Location includes the Carriage Lines between Bedminster and West Junction.
Capacity of these sidinga in coach lengths are:
Between Buffers and 525 Signal ... 14
Between Signals 586 and 529 .. ... 15
Between Signals 578 and 529 .. ...  7
Between Signals 588 and 531 .. ... 15
Between Signals 580 and 531 .. ...  7 

Opening picture

On 4th Nov 2009 a DBS class 67 loco leads the 1400 Cardiff - Taunton into Temple Meads through platform 3 towards platform 4 whilst a CrossCountry Voyager waits in platform 5 with the 1500 to Manchester. At this time loco-hauled trains were being hired-in to augment the local 'sprinter' train fleet, providing a bit more comfortable and spacious 'heritage' solution!

Acknowledgements 

Thanks to Richard Harrison who carried out the initial work on which this simulation is based, to Peter Dean who carried out detailed data checking and to Dave Howell who checked and finalised the included timetable. Also as always to those who devoted time to the testing of the simulation.
