Bath station is located on a bend in the river Avon and is approached by bridges at both ends. The original station shed had two platforms with two sidings between the platform lines. The roof of the station was supported by columns placed only 4 feet from the platform edge, and were a nuisance to travellers.
In addition to through services between London and Bristol, the station was the terminus for the local Bristol to Bath trains. To the east of the station was a small engine shed.
Bristol was the original terminus of both the Great Western Railway and the Bristol and Exeter Railway, which had a separate station adjacent, but at right angles, to the GWR station. A special "express platform" was built to the east of the two stations to enable though trains between London and Exeter to stop without the need for reversing out of the station. The goods sheds were located to the north of the GWR station and at a lower level.
The original station at Reading had separate facilities for "up" and "down" passenger trains. Brunel designed these "single sided" stations for locations where the station was on the edge of the town it serviced. London bound ("up") trains crossed the main line into a separate station located to the east of the "down" station. The two stations were connected by a wagon turntable, which enabled Carriage Wagons to be attached and detached to trains. Carriage wagons were popular with the very wealthy in the 1840s, who preferred to travel in their own road carriage mounted on a wagon at the rear of the train. Small horse box wagons would be attached to the train to convey their horses.
When the branches to Hungerford and Basingstoke were opened, an additional platform was added to the "up" station and branch trains arrived and departed from the "up" station. The "two station" layout survived until the station was rebuilt in 1899.
Taunton and Slough were other examples of this design.
The original London terminus was located to the west of Westbourne Terrace bridge and consisted of two arrival and two departure platforms. This station survived until the new station was built at the current location to the east of Westbourne Terrace bridge in 1854. Paddington station is discussed in a later article in this series.