The book I read to research this post was Rail Centres: Bristol by Colin G Maggs which is a very good book which I bought from a secondhand bookstore. This book is of course part of the Rail Centres series of books about important destinations on the rail network in Britain. Bristol was at one time the second biggest city in the British Empire. It was on an important junction between London & South Wales & between the South West & the Midlands. Temple Meads the main station had the biggest marshalling yard in the country. The first railway company to use Bristol was the Bristol & Gloucestershire Railway Company which linked up some of the local coal mines with Bristol. At first these were horse drawn and later they used steam engines. Later this company merged with the Great Western which many would identify with Bristol. Much of the coal from South Wales would pass through Bristol and when many of these mines were closed it had an affect. Bristol was a very important port. In 1972 Bristol Parkway was built to try and alleviate the traffic that passed through Temple Meads.
