Clifton Rocks Railway Open Day. 21.5.05
Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 10:27 pm
From the Evening Post: http://tinyurl.com/bf9gl
Clifton's historic rocks railway station is opening to the public this weekend after 70 years . The railway's upper station, near the Avon Gorge Hotel, will open its doors on Saturday for the first time since it was locked shut in 1934.
The event is part of the Festival of Transport, which is being staged in Bristol this year.
The idea for the reopening came from James Tonkin, vice-chairman of the station's restoration group, and Robert Peel, the new owner of the Avon Gorge Hotel.
Mr Tonkin said: "About a year ago we decided it was time to stop sitting around and talking and we decided we were going to get something done. It was time for action. The catalyst was the Bristol Festival of Transport this month."
Up to 20 volunteers have been giving up their weekends to clear the entrance and upper station of undergrowth and other rubbish to open up the structure and the metal railings have been grit-blasted.
When all the vegetation and other rubbish has been taken away the public will be able to see down the tunnel.
As they come out of the top station they will also be able to see into the run-down pump room, which is part of a multi-million pound scheme to refurbish the hotel.
The group's long-term plans also include clearing a way down to the bottom station, where the original wooden ceiling panels still survive.
The railway was opened in 1893 and cost ú30,000 to build. In the first six weeks it carried more than 100,000 people and rivalled the Clifton Suspension Bridge as a tourist attraction.
But business tailed off in the Twenties and Thirties as motor transport became more widely used and the Portway opened.
The railway closed to passengers in 1934 but, in 1941, the BBC took it over as an emergency headquarters and, at the end of the war until 1960, it was used as a booster station.
Mr Peel's firm Peel Hotels owns the Avon Gorge Hotel and announced the possibility of reopening the railway at the same time as he unveiled a multi-million pound scheme to refurbish the hotel - and build a car park on part of its terraced gardens overlooking the Avon Gorge.
Support, via a charitable trust, for a project to re-open the derelict Clifton Rocks Railway was announced as part of the investment.
Clifton's historic rocks railway station is opening to the public this weekend after 70 years . The railway's upper station, near the Avon Gorge Hotel, will open its doors on Saturday for the first time since it was locked shut in 1934.
The event is part of the Festival of Transport, which is being staged in Bristol this year.
The idea for the reopening came from James Tonkin, vice-chairman of the station's restoration group, and Robert Peel, the new owner of the Avon Gorge Hotel.
Mr Tonkin said: "About a year ago we decided it was time to stop sitting around and talking and we decided we were going to get something done. It was time for action. The catalyst was the Bristol Festival of Transport this month."
Up to 20 volunteers have been giving up their weekends to clear the entrance and upper station of undergrowth and other rubbish to open up the structure and the metal railings have been grit-blasted.
When all the vegetation and other rubbish has been taken away the public will be able to see down the tunnel.
As they come out of the top station they will also be able to see into the run-down pump room, which is part of a multi-million pound scheme to refurbish the hotel.
The group's long-term plans also include clearing a way down to the bottom station, where the original wooden ceiling panels still survive.
The railway was opened in 1893 and cost ú30,000 to build. In the first six weeks it carried more than 100,000 people and rivalled the Clifton Suspension Bridge as a tourist attraction.
But business tailed off in the Twenties and Thirties as motor transport became more widely used and the Portway opened.
The railway closed to passengers in 1934 but, in 1941, the BBC took it over as an emergency headquarters and, at the end of the war until 1960, it was used as a booster station.
Mr Peel's firm Peel Hotels owns the Avon Gorge Hotel and announced the possibility of reopening the railway at the same time as he unveiled a multi-million pound scheme to refurbish the hotel - and build a car park on part of its terraced gardens overlooking the Avon Gorge.
Support, via a charitable trust, for a project to re-open the derelict Clifton Rocks Railway was announced as part of the investment.
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