New Marshalling Yard At Brookthorpe

There had always been a problem in Gloucester with the number of level crossings which held up road traffic, especially as it increased over the years since the railways were constructed. So the proposal to build a new marshalling yard which also addressed the road crossing problem to some extent would have been generally welcomed.....

From the Summer 1957 GRS News:

Well, that proposal came to nought, as had the original idea to build the new yard near Churchdown, which was dropped after protests from residents.

Then there was this was in the Autumn 1960 GRS News:

If built, Brookthorpe would have been massive. It would have commenced near Tuffley Junction and extended for about a mile and a half southwards on the east side of the main lines. The British Transport Commission Parliamentary Bill incorporating the Brookthorpe proposal received approval, but it never happened, and with rail freight traffic transferring to roads in the 1960s and 1970s, the yard would have been an expensive white elephant.

Some freights were to be routed over the Severn Bridge - that would not have been possible when, a few weeks after this article appeared, the bridge was damaged in a shipping disaster and never used again.

Also of note was the proposed diesel depot at Brookthorpe for diesel electrics from other BR Regions - of course the Western Region was committed to diesel hydraulics in 1960.

It was August 1964 before the Western Region fully abandoned the idea of Brookthorpe Yard (according to 'A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 13' by Rex Christiansen.)

So the crossing problem was not alleviated at that time and it took the complete closure of Gloucester Eastgate station and the Tuffley Loop in December 1975 to rid the City of most of them. Though motorists and pedestrians who wait what seems ages at Horton Road crossing nowadays might have wished the plan had gone even further.