page_title: Pill railway station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pill railway station / History
caption_attribution_description: Pill Viaduct. Pill was made famous by Adge Cutler's song 'Pill, Pill I love thee still'. The loco is 82032. The railway was derelict for some years but was reopened to serve Portbury Docks.
context_page_description: Pill railway station was a railway station on the Portishead Branch Line, 7.8 miles west of Bristol Temple Meads, serving the village of Pill in North Somerset, England. The station was opened by the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company on 18 April 1867. It had two platforms, on either side of a passing loop, with a goods yard and signal box later additions. Services increased until the 1930s, at which point a half-hourly service operated. However the Portishead Branch was recommended for closure by the Beeching report, and the station was closed on 7 September 1964, although the line saw freight traffic until 1981. Regular freight trains through the station began to run again in 2002 when Royal Portbury Dock was connected to the rail network.
  The station is due to be reopened to passenger traffic as part of MetroWest, a scheme to increase rail services in the Bristol area. The new station will have a single platform, an accessible footbridge and a car park, with trains running between Portishead and Bristol.
context_section_description: Pill railway station was opened on 18 April 1867 by the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company, when services began on their line from the Bristol and Exeter Railway at Portishead Junction to a pier on the Severn Estuary at Portishead. The station served the village of Pill on the south bank of the River Avon. The line was built as 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad-gauge, and was largely single track. The station was sited in a cutting close to the old centre of Pill, 3 miles 73 chains (6.3 km) from the line's terminus at Portishead, 7 miles 61 chains (12.5 km) from Bristol Temple Meads and 126 miles 12 chains (203.0 km) from the Great Western Railway's terminus at London Paddington. To the east, the railway passed through the village and crossed a valley on the brick-built Pill Viaduct, while to the west the line was largely through flat, open countryside. The station was initially the second along the line from Portishead Junction, after Clifton Bridge and before Portbury.
  The station at Pill was aligned roughly north-west/south-east, with the line bridged to the east by Station Road and Myrtle Hill. There were two platforms, separated by two running lines, forming a passing loop. The southern "down" platform was for trains towards Portishead, the northern "up" platform for trains towards Bristol. Each platform was provided with a brick shelter and steps up to Station Road. The station building was sited on Station Road, west of the platforms.
  There were initially six trains per day in each direction on weekdays and one on Sundays, operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway. The Great Western took over the Bristol and Exeter in 1876, and in 1884 took over ownership of the Bristol and Portishead. Services increased to nine trains per day on weekdays by 1889. The line was relaid as 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in 1880, coinciding with a lengthening of the platforms, and by 1909 there were 13 trains per day on weekdays and two trains on Sundays.
  The double track loop through the station was extended at both ends in March 1912, with the platforms also extended. A small goods yard and coal depot was built at the north-west end of the station at the same time. A signal box was built on the southern platform at the end of the First World War. By 1929, services had increased to 21 trains per day on weekdays and eight per day on Sundays. This allowed a train every half-hour, with one train per hour running to Bristol Temple Meads and the other terminating at Ashton Gate. Passenger traffic was mainly commuters, to both Bristol and Portishead, as well as people who wished to use the Pill ferry across the river to Shirehampton. During the Second World War, many evacuees from Bristol commuted into the city from Pill. The station staff at this time consisted of a station master, two porters and two female signallers.
  When the railways were nationalised in 1948, Pill came under the aegis of the Western Region of British Railways. Passenger services had reduced by 1949 to 13 trains per day on weekdays and seven on Sundays. In 1963 the Beeching report suggested the complete withdrawal of services along the line as a cost-saving measure, and so goods services at Pill were ended on 10 June 1963; with the station closing completely on 7 September 1964. In the final year of operation, there were only six trains on weekdays and none on Sundays. Freight trains continued to pass through the station, but their number decreased over time, and the line fell out of regular use after 30 March 1981. The line however was kept intact by British Rail, with occasional freight trains, and in 2002 a single track was relaid to allow rail access to Royal Portbury Dock, which brought regular freight traffic. At this time remnants of both platforms could be seen and the station buildings were in commercial use.
caption: A train crosses the Pill Viaduct in 1960. This is a service from Portishead, which has just left Pill.
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