A Walk Through The Bath Railway Station, Bath, England

Bath Spa railway station is the principal railway station serving the city of Bath, in South West England and is served mainly by Great Western Railway (who also manage the station) as well as South West Trains and CrossCountry. It is situated on the Great Western Main Line and connects to the Wessex Main Line via Bradford-on-Avon. Bath Spa station was built in 1840 for the Great Western Railway by Brunel and is a Grade II* listed building. It is in an asymmetrical Tudor style with curving gables, and lies on the north bank of the Avon, with the line swerving across from the southern bank to the station and then back again. Opened on 31 August 1840, the station was originally named Bath, but was given its present name of Bath Spa in 1949 to distinguish it from Bath Green Park station, which did not have its name altered from Bath until 1951. A convenient feature for passengers was the ramps that led up to both platforms, giving the disabled and those with luggage easy access from the platforms to cars or taxis. However, in 2011 the northern ramp was removed in a station redevelopment which provided lifts instead. There is also a footbridge leading directly from the station across the Avon and allowing direct access to the Widcombe area. It was originally tolled, and informally known locally as the Ha'penny Bridge; it was reconstructed in 1877. The station has wide spacing between the platforms: there were originally two broad gauge carriage sidings between the platform lines. The station was first built with a hammerbeam roof covered the area between the platforms, however this was removed in 1897 when the station was remodelling with longer platforms, The station originally had a three track goods shed immediately west of the station, to the north of the main track. In 1877 a large goods depot was built about 500 metres to the west at Westmoreland, and the goods shed was demolished for the station remodelling in 1897.