Ashley Hill : Ashley Down (3)

Frankly, there was little to see of Ashley Hill station once the site had been cleared post the 1964 closure. Above is a general shot before the Filton Bank route reverted to four tracks.

Fortunately, Google Streetview and/or Google Earth sites have not been well updated to record the building of the new Ashley Down station which opened last Saturday 28th Sepember. So we can explore on-line, if not on the ground.

At the bottom of the hill, Station Road veers sharp right to a dead end (with the fence, remember?). Here the ever probing eye of the Google satellite shows a pathway leading direct to the logo for the new station.

It doesn’t!

The path leads to a tunnel under the tracks, but before plunging into the dark and dismal depths, you have a choice of a right hand or left hand turn. 

This is the junction with the nobly named Concorde Way, not yet labelled when the Google noddy car nodded past.

It is a series of linked footpaths and side roads which leads, eventually, to the development on Filton Airfield, the one-time home of Concorde. The start of the route is at the top of Hopetoun Road, itself accessed by the graffiti tunnel on Mina Road “visited” by fbb yesterday.

Part of Concorde Way runs alongside the new Ashley Down station …

… just as the pathway ran alongside the old Ashley Hill Station.

It has been upgraded with dire warnings about mowing down passengers entering and leaving the new station.

The station entrance/exit is next to the pathway under the tunnel but now much more spectacular.

Quite a motorway style junction!

The hi-vis suits are actually at the gate to the station.

The good news for troglodyte rail explorers is that the tunnel still remains, seen below from the non-station side.

Access from the east is via Station Lane …

… which is not the most inviting approach to the new station.

The route was signposted even before the station arrived …

… with a wider aerial view showing all sorts of pathways and tracks in the area.

Whether at least one of these led up to an eastern entrance to the old station before the Filton route went four track, is not certain – wll not to fbb, anyay.

And The New Station

Like most of these new-built “halts” (because that is how the real GWR would have named them) …

… there is nothing much there except a very expensive accessible footbridge costing millions.

Would it not have been better to use the existing foot tunnel, well refurbished, and provide good quality ramps? It would have saved a lot of cash and might have made it possible to have a proper shelter or two on the platforms (see below).

There are several videos on-line of the first train, but fbb will refrain from showing any of them. They are mostly made by over excitable rail enthusiasts (aren’t they all?).

But the crowds at Ashley Down station were massive …

… some of whom actually travelled all the way (just one stop) to Filton Abbey Wood …

… which really exposed the farce of this reopening. One day, somewhere over the rainbow, this station will be part of a half hourly service between Bristol and Henbury. 

But until then these trains are a very nominal hourly shuttle between Filton and Temple Meads.

It’s called Strategic Planning!

As far as “facilities” are concerned, the station has display screens, one of which was showing this for much of the opening day:-

It has a timetable poster …

… but no staff, no toilets, no maps and no information for, say, connecting trains at Filton.

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Maybe you might be honest and strive to buy a ticket?

Fair enough, but the machine does not take cash, so really great for those without bank cards, on line bank acounts or apps for crypto currency!

It is called Customer Service!

However, the residents of Ashley Down have gained one bonus from the opening of their station. The Concorde Way path has re-opened (at last) after four years of closure and a very inconvenient set of diversions.

Closed bits are in RED, the lengthy diversion via some busy roads …

… shown in BLUE.

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