Barton Road 2mm N
Barton Road – Brief Layout Description
Barton Road is a DCC operated, BR Western Region, triangular junction layout located in the run-down suburbs of Bristol.
Set in the period of 1968 through to 1971, this formerly significant junction originally provided a link between the GWR Bristol/South Wales mainline and the Midland Railway’s Mangotsfield/Bath Green Park line. However, the closure of the MR route in the 1960s rendered the link redundant, and it was subsequently lifted. What remained was retained to serve the local freight concentration depot, which itself is now obsolete, outmoded and in the process of being rundown. Rationalisation has begun, with the closure of Barton Road Station Up and Down Slow platforms and lifting of the Fast to Slow lines junction along with Barton Road Dock Junction, which allowed trains to run off the GWR mainline directly onto the Dock Branch on the east-facing side of the triangle.
The Goods-only sides of the triangle converge into a set of exchange sidings which lie on the track bed of the former MR chord line. Here, rakes of wagons are shunted to the various railheads for loading or unloading; a local cement distribution terminal, a scrap metal merchant which now occupies the former fresh produce siding, and van traffic for the goods warehouse as well as P-way traffic and passing trains arriving and collecting wagons for onward distribution. The small goods yard adjacent to the station handles parcels traffic, as well as wagons for the local coal merchant.
Traction consists of BR(WR) Diesel-Hydraulics and newly introduced Diesel-Electric classes, plus a 6-car DEMU Pullman set recently transferred from the BR Midland Region. Local services are provided by Diesel Multiple Units. Barton Road features several Sound Fitted locomotives and DMUs.
