Clifton Rocks Railway#Operations
{{Short description|Former (1893–1934) funicular railway in Bristol, England}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox rail line
| name = Clifton Rocks Railway
| locale = Hotwells, Bristol ({{gbmapping|ST565730}})
| image = Clifton Rocks Railway.jpg
| caption = Clifton Rocks Railway lower station
| website = {{Official URL}}
| open = {{Start date|df=yes|1893|3|11}}
| close = {{End date|df=yes|1934|10|1}}
| type = Underground funicular
| stations = 2
| gauge =
}}
File:Clifton.bridge.longview.750pix.jpg
The Clifton Rocks Railway was an underground funicular in Bristol, England, linking Clifton at the top to Hotwells and Bristol Harbour at the bottom of the Avon Gorge in a tunnel cut through the limestone cliffs.
The upper station is close to Brunel's famous Clifton Suspension Bridge and is located adjacent to the former Grand Spa Hotel (now the Avon Gorge Hotel). The lower station was opposite the paddle steamer landing ferries in Hotwells, Hotwells railway station of the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, a terminus of Bristol Tramways and the Rownham ferry enabling connections across the river Avon.
History
File:Diagram of the Clifton Rocks Railway.png
Construction of the railway was funded by the publisher George Newnes, also proprietor of the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, and as at Lynton and Lynmouth the engineer was George Croydon Marks. Construction of the line started in March 1891. The {{convert|28|ft|m|adj=on}} wide tunnel was bored through the limestone cliffs using both machine-drills and hand-drills and then lined with bricks. It took two years to construct and cost £30,000 ({{inflation|UK|30000|1893|fmt=eq|r=-5|cursign=£}}){{snd}}three times its original estimate. Propulsion was by the water-balance method, in which the cars of each pair were connected by a cable running around a pulley at the upper station; a large tank on each car was filled with water at the top and the extra weight provided the motive power.{{cite book |last1=Easdown |first1=Martin |title=Cliff Railways, Lifts and Funiculars |date=2018 |publisher=Amberley Publishing |isbn=9781445680033 |chapter=Bristol Clifton Rocks Railway 1893—1934|pages=19–21}}{{cite book |publisher=The Institution of Civil Engineers (Great Britain) |work=Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSpCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA318 |year=1894 |first=George Croydon |last=Marks |title=Cliff Railways |pages=318}}
The railway opened on 11 March 1893 and carried 6,220 passengers on the opening day,{{citation |author=Design Council | year=1893 | title=Engineering, Volume 55 | publisher=Office for Advertisements and Publication| page=332 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H05QAAAAYAAJ&q=Clifton+Rocks+Railway+Newnes }} and 427,492 in the first year of operation.{{cite book|last1=Mellor|first1=Penny|title=Inside Bristol: Twenty Years of Open Doors Day |date=2013|publisher=Redcliffe Press|isbn=978-1908326423|pages=36–37}}
After this strong start, passenger numbers steadily declined until 1908, when the company was declared bankrupt. In 1912 it was sold to Bristol Tramways,{{citation | last=Klapper | first=Charles | year=1984 | title=The Golden Age of Buses | publisher=Routledge | isbn=9780710202321 | page=186 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_U9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA186 }} for £1,500 ({{inflation|UK|1500|1912|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=£}}). In 1922 Hotwell Road was enlarged as a fast road called Portway, eliminating the tram to Bristol and the Bristol Port and Pier Railway Hotwells railway station near the bottom of the Cliff Railway. The changes caused passenger numbers to drop sharply, and the last train ran on 29 September 1934.
During the Second World War blast walls were installed in the tunnel, which was used as offices by BOAC, as a relay station by the BBC, who also constructed seven emergency studios there,{{cite book |last1=Hendy |first1=David |title=The BBC, A People's History |date=2022 |publisher=Profile Books |location=London |isbn=9781781255254 |page=213}} and as an air-raid shelter for local residents.{{Cite episode |title=Episode 3 |series=The Architecture the Railways Built |series-link=The Architecture the Railways Built |url=https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-architecture-the-railways-built/episodes/ |accessdate=16 August 2020 |network=Yesterday |date=19 May 2020 |series-no=1 |number=3}} The BBC continued to use parts of the tunnel until 1960.{{cite web |title=Clifton Rocks Railway – History |url=http://www.cliftonrocksrailway.org.uk/history_06.htm |publisher=Subterranea Britannica | accessdate=3 June 2007}}{{cite web |first=Gerald |last=Daly |title=The Clifton Rocks Railway Tunnel |date=30 March 2017 |editor-first=Roger |editor-last=Beckwith |url=http://www.orbem.co.uk/clifton/clifton.htm |website=Old Radio Broadcast Equipment and Memories |accessdate=2023-01-02}}
Operations
The railway was {{convert|450|ft|m|0}} long, and rose {{convert|200|ft|m|0}} at a gradient of about 1 in 2.2 (45%). There were four cars in two connected pairs, essentially forming two parallel funicular railways, one being for exclusively first class passengers; the journey took just 40 seconds. The gauge of the tracks has reported as being between {{TrackGauge|3 ft|lk=on}}{{cite book|author=Bristol Naturalists' Society (Bristol, England) |title=Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjYUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA116 |year=1894 |publisher=The Society |pages=116}} and {{TrackGauge|3ft 8.5in|lk=on}}{{cite book|author1=John Robert Day|author2=Brian Geoffrey Wilson|title=Unusual Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HX4bAAAAIAAJ|year=1957|publisher=Muller}} with two other sources giving the gauge as {{TrackGauge|3ft 2in|lk=on}}{{cite web | title = Clifton Rocks Railway – FAQ | url = http://www.cliftonrocksrailway.org.uk/faqs_06.htm | publisher = Clifton Rocks Railway special interest group |accessdate = 3 June 2007 }} and {{TrackGauge|3 ft 2.5 in|lk=on}}.{{cite book |first=Maggie |last=Shapland |pages=28 |title=The ups and downs of Clifton Rocks Railway and the Clifton Spa. The Definitive History|date=2017}}
The system operated by gravity. At the upper station, water was fed from a reservoir into the tank underneath the car. The extra weight of this water was enough to pull a loaded car up from the lower station. When the car with its water ballast reached the lower station, the water was discharged into another reservoir, from where it was pumped back up to the upper reservoir to restart the cycle. The pumps were originally powered by a pair of Otto engines at the bottom of the tunnel.
Preservation
A voluntary group, which in 2008 became a charitable trust, aims to preserve and restore the railway and wartime structures. It is not feasible or desirable to get the railway to run again due to the war-time structures sitting on the railway lines. The cost of complete restoration is estimated at around £15 million.{{cite web | title = Clifton Rocks Railway – About Us | url = http://www.cliftonrocksrailway.org.uk/about_06.htm | publisher = Clifton Rocks Railway special interest group | accessdate = 3 June 2007 }}
In 2019 a proposal to turn the top section into a museum was announced.{{cite web |title=Museum plan for Bristol's Clifton Rocks Railway revealed |work=BBC News |date=30 April 2019 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-48095544 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=1 May 2019}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category|Clifton Rocks Railway|
Clifton Rocks Railway}}
- [https://www.cliftonrocksrailway.com/ Clifton Rocks Railway website]
- [http://www.cliftonrocksrailway.org.uk/ Clifton Rocks Railway]
- [http://www.b-i-a-s.org.uk/rocks_railway_refurbishment.html Clifton Rocks Railway refurbishment]
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-15486969 World War II BBC Studios], clip by BBC Points West
{{coord|51|27|14.4|N|2|37|31.7|W|type:railwaystation_region:GB_scale:2000|display=title}}
Category:Funicular railways in the United Kingdom
Category:Subterranean funiculars
Category:Subterranean railways in the United Kingdom
Category:Rail transport in Bristol
Category:Railway lines opened in 1893
Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1934
Category:Works by George Croydon Marks
Category:Defunct funicular railways