Gas Works
Weston Clevedon & Portishead Railway Home

Copyright © 2004-2015

Paul Gregory  


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After leaving Clevedon Station towards Portishead, the line crossed Kenn Road, then Parnell Road (see The Line Today), and headed along where Teignmouth Road now runs. From here a siding of a quarter mile in length curved around to the Clevedon Gas Works. Coal was brought to the Gas Works from South Wales via the wharf on the River Yeo but mostly from the Midlands via the Portishead GWR branch and the connecting link line.


By 1940 the works was consuming 7600 tons of coal per annum. Gas WorksThe Gas Works were a major source of revenue for the railway, including the transport of coke and tar. The Gas Works siding passed through what was then rural country, unfenced and backing onto allotments.


The Gas Works had its own wagons originally painted red with white lettering, but they were lost in the Charfield rail disaster of Oct 1928. (ref: Colin Maggs’ book).


These were replaced by 12 wagons painted grey with white lettering. The works also had a rectangular tank wagon for carrying tar to Butler’s Chemical Works in Bristol.


Once the WC&PR closed, the GWR took the traffic until Clevedon was connected to the gas grid in 1951.


The Gas Works had a weighbridge which after the railway closed was used into the 1960s for lorries (H K Carey).


The location of the Gas Works can be seen in the detail map or the Old OS map for Clevedon in 1932 where it is just left of centre.


Picture shows No. 1 Clevedon in 1937. Photo reproduced with permission from Branch Lines to Clevedon & Portishead by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith published by Middleton Press


Gas Works