2 January 2026, ‘The Rise and Fall of Bristol Bath Road Depot’ by Roy Kethro.

For our first meeting of 2026 Roy Kethro presented, ‘The Rise and Fall of Bristol Bath Road Disel Depot’.  In the nineteen thirties the GWR built the depot just west of Bristol Temple Meads.  In 1960 it was decided to convert it into a diesel Depot.  All remaining steam locomotives were transferred to St Philips Marsh and Barrow Road Depots.  The main shed had an overhead crane capable of lifting engines out of locos. The of locos that were serviced included Warships, Westerns, Peaks, Class 22’s, and Hymeks.  In 1971 the Warships and Class 22’s were withdrawn. In the ninety seventies and eighties several open days were organised consisting of several classes of diesels and a couple of steam locos, Clun Castle being a regular exhibit.  In 1976 the first nail in the coffin was the introduction of the HSTs. As they were treated as sets, they were serviced at St Philips Marsh as they were too long for Bath Road, which became responsible for servicing Class 31/4s and later Class 33s on the Cardiff – Portsmouth services. Thirty-three ETH Class 47s were used for Cross-country services.  Six Class 37/6s arrived to be used on proposed sleeper trains serving regions of the uk through the channel tunnel; however, the service was dropped before it even started. In privatisation cross-country services were increasingly using HST sets making many Class 47s redundant.  In the 1990s Bath Road was modified for a ’Level five’ service depot enabling locos to have full overhauls without sending them works thus saving a lot of time.  On 26th May 1995 Bath Road Depot officially closed.