Oldland Common Station – Oldland Halt

Closure:
The closure of the branch eventually came on the 7th March 1966, and due to Oldland Common’s simple construction, it was swept away by British Rail soon after, leaving little trace of the original station. Closure of the station was initially announced in June 1965 amidst withdrawal of all passenger services on the branch, with closure posters seen along the branch featuring ‘Oldland Common Halt’, as shown.
However, the line continued to be used for coal trains to Bath gasworks, and was singled through the site of the station in 1968, leaving only the original Up/Bristol-bound line passing through. A notable feature that remained for a period, even after closure of the station and singling of the line, was on the south side of North Street bridge, adjacent to the Up line. There could be found a platelayer’s hut.
The remaining track was closed and lifted in mid-1971 with the conclusion of these goods services due to the arrival of North Sea gas, brining rail through Oldland Common to an end… for a short while!

Preservation:
The first extension of the Avon Valley Railway saw track extended northwards, from Bitton, to the site of Oldland Common station along the old Down/Bath-bound formation. When Oldland was finally reached, a run around loop was constructed and opened on the site on the 29th March 1991, allowing locomotives to run-around their trains.
This was then followed by the construction of a platform on the Down side, resurrecting the original station, albeit, in a new form. This had its grand opening to much fan-fare on the 6th December 1997.
The new platform is around 50% longer to allow the platforming of an entire 6 coach train, and is also sited a short distance further North, now sitting equally between North Street and Redfield Edge bridge, whereas the original had essentially butted up to North Street bridge. The platform is also now of much more substantial construction, and currently only features an array of lamp posts along its length. The station currently remains the Avon Valley Railway’s northern terminus.
The railway then focused on its Southern line restoration towards Bath, later with the opening of Avon Riverside station in 2004.

Further Information
For information about the project in 2024 and 2025 to refurbish the station please read the article from Joe Dean, linked here: Oldland Common Station

For more general information and updates, please visit Avon Valley Railway

The station also featured attractive wooden fencing along the length of the platforms and ramps to North Street bridge, these were painted black and topped with white top rail, this can be seen in the photos displaying original ‘opening day’ condition. In addition, at the top of the Up /Bristol-bound platform ramp, at road level, you could also find the station’s small ticket office building, now a driveway for a new build house, this was of wooden construction and rectangular shape.

During the pre-war LMS period, the lamp posts also featured fetching black and yellow station signs ‘lamp tablets’ placed below the lamp shades. Similar versions could be seen at across some other LMS stations, with the yellow colour likely selected to allow the text to be easily distinguished at night. This is akin to LMS black and yellow hawkeye running-in boards. One of the original lamp signs from Oldland Common has been preserved in the Avon Valley Railway museum collection.
It’s worth noting the station featured no signals and no signal box. Other than a few occasional parcels, the station also had no goods facilities. To consolidate this, Bitton’s station master was also in charge of the station’s operation.

Throughout the years:
In 1948 when the railways were nationalised, the station came under the rule of the Midland Region of British Railways. This was until 1958 when regional boundaries were changed and the line and stations came under the Western Region, arguably made up of former Great Western Railway management. It was around this period the station features were lost and changed.
The fencing along the platforms was removed, the blue and yellow lamp post signs disappeared, and the waiting shelters’ exteriors were repainted in a cream colour. As well, the running in boards on both platforms were changed for different versions, still of course reading Oldland Common though. These running in boards heavily varied between each platform, with a larger variant found on the Down/Bath-bound platform, neither seemed to represent any standard.
On 7 December 1964 the station’s name was changed to ‘Oldland Common Halt’ after losing any staffing and the closure of the ticket office, this can be seen on various documents from this point.