Clifton Rocks Railway (Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society)

Clifton Rocks Railway Refurbishment

Maggie Shapland (Restoration Chairman), University of Bristol
Clifton Rocks Railway

next open day 17,18 May 2008 10-4 in conjunction with transport Rally and Museums and Galleries month.
17th May 6-8 in conjunction with Military Vehicle Trust display.
Free vintage buses running on Sunday from Anchor Road.
Please note that children under 14 are not allowed, and that visitors will be escorted through in groups of 10. This is a condition of insurance
Look at Clifton Rocks railway website to learn how to become a friend and help us pay for skips, laser studies etc. All work has been done by unpaid volunteers.
We wish to thank the Avon Gorge Hotel for their support.
As part of our Feasibility Study we are carrying out a Survey of members and visitors. Click HERE to download our Survey form and send it to Maggie (email Maggie.Shapland@bristol.ac.uk, or write to me at the Computer Centre, University of Bristol, Tyndalls Avenue, Bristol BS8 1UD).

Summary

look at the progress diary for more detail (updated 10 September 2007), and monthly photos (updated 2 October 07)

In May 2005, after only 2 months work we opened for the first time to the public since the war.
In July 2005 we cleared the rest of the rubble (about 16' by 16' and 2' deep) from the lines visible from top station. Hard hats, picks, shovels required!
In August 2005 we tidied up the facade of the bottom station and refurbished various artefacts ready for open day.
In September 2005, open for Doors Open Day for first time.
In October 2005 we have been having an internal cleanup and fixing leaks
In November 2005 we did some filming- shown on HTV West Thursday 2 March 2006 as part of the Secret Underground series
In December 2005 we did some research and more tidying up
From January 2006 we continued tidying up and started writing part of the feasibility study
19 January 2006: Superb 'heavy gang' two page article in Clifton Chronicle with lots of photos
14 February 2006: Competition to design a footbridge over Hotwell Road as part of the Brunel 200 festivities
March 2006: Article about Clifton Rocks Railway published in the BIAS journal
April 2006: one hour recording by Radio Bristol to be broadcast as a series at about 3pm at the beginning of May
In top 50 Brunel 200 Ideas
May 2006: Article about Clifton Rocks Railway published in 'Bristol' magazine, and about open day in Clifton Chronicle and Evening Post. We also appeared on HTV news who were interested in our "new" Sion Hill tunnel (see April photos)
September 2006: Fourth Open day- Doors Open Day. Still a top attraction
October 2006 on: Clearing rubble from bottom station and searching under ledges
December 2006 on: Started making more models
March 2007: Read my article in http://www.camrabristol.org.uk, Pints West Spring 07 (CAMRA Real Ale journal) about bottles found in refuge areas
May 2007: models completed and booklet about barrage balloons in Clifton printed. Fifth open day in conjunction with Museums and Galleries Month, and harbourside bus rally. Blitz night as part of Museums and Galleries at night event.
July 2007: rescued a clack valve from the bottom water tank. This had been cut during wartime. The other valve is still in situe
August 2007: many more finds in refuge shelter. We were given permission to paint the bottom gate by Bristol City Council. Extreme weeding on top and bottom facade
September 2007: Sixth open day in conjunction with Doors Open Day. Still a top attraction Featured in a video "Cliff Lifts of Great Britain" by Onlinevideo. Avon Gorge Hotel changed hands.
February 2008: Hopefully insurance problems will be sorted out soon.
March 2008: Hope to be open beginning of April. Another article about Clifton Rocks Railway published in the BIAS journal
April 2008: Hope to be open beginng of May. The Hotel has had to do a lot of work for us to satisfy the insurance company including rewiring the tunnel and putting barriers all the way down the stairs. Article in the Evening Post.

Evening Post Articles (updated April 2008)
Patrick Handscombe sent me this fascinating letter from Gerald H Daly (late Head of Engineering BBC West Region.) written April 23rd 1974 when he was researching the Railway's History. It gives a brilliant insight into the work done and use by the BBC during the war. To see the photos too, see BBC old BBC radio equipment site which includes memories from the people who used the equipment.
If you have any experiences or photos please let me know (email Maggie.Shapland@bristol.ac.uk, or write to me at the Computer Centre, University of Bristol, Tyndalls Avenue, Bristol BS8 1UD)

Photos of progress.

Clifton Rocks Railway Progress Diary

2005
2006
2007

2005

Beginning of March 2005: The hoardings have now been removed from the railings and weeds and bushes cleared from the stairs. New frames have been welded in for the signs to be put back.

18 March: Scaffolding has been put up inside the entrance area.

23 March: The railings have now been shotblasted and grey primer applied

25 March: Grey undercoat painted by a willing band of volunteers- it took all day- there is so much complicated detail. One of the missing iron roses was returned. Part of the upper station area inside was cleaned out. The BBC did an article for the local news.

26 March: Another day painting- this time black top coat. Lots of interest following the BBC feature, and someone came to see us who still had his shelter pass. More of the upper station was cleaned out.

9 April: Gold paint has now been applied to the zigzag part of the railing, the rosettes and the numerous spheres. The scaffolding can now be taken away.

15 April: Superb signs saying Clifton Rocks Railway have now been fitted to the railings. Most of the interior walls of the top station were whitewashed - 2 coats. The old wooden handrails were removed and new ones are in the process of being fitted. Some of the debris was removed from the cable wheels which were just visible. The cable is still intact. The start of the 4 rails was discovered. Both the Evening Post and Telegraph came round, and much interest is being shown. The scaffolding can now be taken away. The Evening Post published the article with lots of photos 19 April

20 April: A bus bearing the Clifton Rocks Railway sign launched? at the Industrial Museum

22-23 April: The tiled area was jet washed in the week, so this weekend we did more of a sweep up, and cleaned off more of the walls of the top station. We also tried to make the ceilings waterproof. The handrails were fitted and varnished. The exposed wheels were partially cleaned and treated and some paint applied.

30 April: The new stair case received an undercoat and top coat, as well as the newly fitted and secured rear door. More work was done to tidy the upper station since there was still more wall to clear of dead plaster, and pillars to paint. Another drain hole in the ceiling was plugged to make the top station drier. This time we had to go into the undergrowth at the left of the station and disconnect a large set of rods attached to a lever inside. We tried to find what the rods used to be attached to, but after clearing out an armful of dead smelly leaves from a pipe full of water with no end in sight we decided not to! Some handrails were fitted and varnished. One cable wheel is now primered. More rail was exposed and some springs were found on either side of the rail- presumably buffering in some way but they were only small- see May photos. 5 rails can be seen
7 May: We now have one cable wheel painted completely, and the other with just Kurust (but not completed as we ran out). We hired a kango hammer and broke up the debris (about 1' deep) over part of the rails and shovelled over a width of about 16' and depth of about 10'. 6 rails can now be seen. The remaining 2 are under the wartime steps on either side of the tunnel.
We found September 3rd 1940 drawn in the concrete on top of the base station while we were having a well-earned rest from digging- this ties in with the British Overseas Airways construction (25 March 1940 they constructed an office suite and used part of the upper section of the tunnel for storage) and predates the BBC starting work in 1941
Pedestrians can now see the rails from the road if they peep through the railings- which was the whole part of the exercise. We ran out of energy so did not work on Sunday.
14 May: All starting to look very good.
Proper lighting fitted in top station. The missing stair spindles were fitted where they were missing, and the rest of the handrail fitted. The refurbished cantilever gate is now fitted at the Sion Hill entrance. Some Kurust was put on two rails. More sweeping. Very smart exhibition boards started to be put into place
20-21 May: open day- fantastic success despite the weather
June: well earned rest (sort of, since two of those weekends were spent painting St Andrews churchyard railings!). I was appointed chairman of the restoration subgroup. An impressive lamp bracket was returned, which will be painted in due course and put back into place on the top station.
2,3 July: huge 18 yarder skip, scaffolding and barrow hoist delivered. We shovelled the endless rubble from the rails- lifting it out about 60' and dropping it in the skip in Princes Lane. 16' wide by 16' long and about 2' deep is to be cleared. We had jobs for everyone who came- even Debbie who was 5 months pregnant- she weeded the steps and then performed a gallant job as rope lady to make sure the barrow did not hit the wall. We had 4 more new volunteers who worked like power machines, Tom and his brother particularly. We filled over half the skip, so next weekend should crack it. There seems to be just as much rubble as before! In fact, we uncovered another 4' of rails and there is 12' to go before we get to the blast wall.
10,11 July: had some hiccups with the shute to new skips which was very frustrating, but we managed to uncover 3' on each day- only 6' to go! We filled 1 1/2 small skips. It is never ending, and a total mystery how so much rubble got deposited there when access is so limited- it must have gone in through the windows on Princes Lane. It was so hot, and a couple of us cut ourselves since there is so much glass- so blood, sweat and nearly tears just about sums it up. I am covered in some very impressive bruises. We will have cleared 36' of track by the time we have done. We had some new volunteers- to whom we are very grateful
17 July: we only worked on the Sunday since I was enjoying myself on Prescott Hill Climb on the Saturday. Still hot and sunny and we had lots of volunteers, so two had the cooler job of sweeping steps in the tunnel (except its so tiring having to climb back up about 200 steps when only half way down). We filled our skips and got to the wall so now have a wedge about 8' wide, 6' long and 3' deep to clear. So one more day needed, and one more skip. We found brackets, a greaser, the panel off an American radio receiver, a large bearing, a pinion and differential, lots of glass prisms from the skylights
24,25 July: On Saturday, all rubble (about 16' by 16' and 2' deep) cleared from the lines that can be seen from the top station. We had a bottoming out party to celebrate 267 manhours of work, three 6 yard skips and one 18 yard skip full. On Sunday we tidied up the smaller air raid shelter of debris, and some of the human debris lining the stairs- its a long way up carrying it all, so we stopped at lunchtime and went to see the Harbour Festival
30/31 July: Cleared the undergrowth from the bottom station, particularly along the top, repainted the letters and generally tidied up the area. Systemic weed killer applied to some of the plants in more inaccessible places. We had to make sure we had not forgotten anything, since we had a steep walk down the zig zag armed with ladders, brushes, water, watering can, weedkiller, saws, scrapers, paint etc. A very kind owner in the Colonade supplied us with a much needed cup of coffee, lent us a brush and showed us round his house.
14 August: Having had 6,7,13 August off, we had a very productive day, cleaning and painting rails, cleaning and treating the lamp bracket, rescuing, identifying and cleaning some artefacts for display, getting rid of weeds again, making top station more waterproof, especially by removing all the undergrowth from above the passageway from the main room to the back room, and generally gearing up for Open Doors Days
27/28 August: Having also had 20 and 21st off to go on a car rally, we had a very exciting time retrieving a 4 1/2 cwt turnstile from the tunnel. This involved it being slid down 27' of rubble diagonally in a controlled way, pulled out of the hole, and then winched up 55' of steps on planks. It was then placed on a trolley and pushed. Pete Luckhurst, our safety expert organised the method, and oversaw it all. We had the turnstile roped to the wall with someone to guide it along with two others who were also roped to the wall. There was then two other people also roped to the wall to belay the others. The winch was also hooked up to the wall. I thought I had measured everything to make sure it would go through, but it was a very tight squeeze through the last doorway! Thank you to every one who helped. The photos will show the action. 4 people then retrieved one of the large barriers and carried that up the stairs. Some turnstile railing was also retrieved, unfortunately much broken, and this now lies in bits like a great big jigsaw ready to be assembled. We then spent time refurbishing the bits, fixing the light bracket to the wall, and knocking more loose paint off the wall at the back of the station.
Incidentally, it took 10 hours to cut a hole in the blast wall to access the chamber where all the railway artefacts had been thrown in sometime in 1940. This was due to the quality of the bricks and also being double thickness. It is believed that this first chamber was not used for war purposes due to it being only 12' under Princess Lane, and would serve the purpose of absorbing any explosion at the top.
2/3 September: Spent all weekend cleaning, tidying up and labelling. The gas light (regenerative type commonly found in railway stations) was reattached to its bracket- how amazing that the light (that had been very frail and looked very sorry for itself) should fit the bracket that had been removed 40 years ago and had even moved house several times with its owner! The light looked really good after being tidied up and made firm- some more bits need to be found for it in the rubble. All the brass valves open and shut beautifully.
Mike Edwards put together the barrier jigsaw. The turnstile actually turned and the counter ticked over. Mike Taylor mounted one of the very heavy water valves (one per car) on blocks and attached it to a pipe, both brought up from the chamber.
Open September 10,11 for Bristol Doors Open Days. Buses ran half-hourly between Bristol Industrial Museum and the Rocks Railway using old Bristol double-deck buses. Once again an unqualified success despite a flash flood on Saturday! 1650 came on Saturday and 1350 on Sunday and there was permanent queues both days.
25 September: swept though the bottom station waiting room and engine room. Walked up the steps three times with the rubbish which was enough for anyone, but there is just as much rubbish again to shift- but at least it is in tidy piles now! We made the floors more safe.
1 October: We had a day at Lynton and Lynmouth learning all about running railways!
8 October: we cleared up the rest of the rubbish at the bottom station including the toilets. We cleared 60 steps by the BBC rooms which had rubber treads (to deaden sound), many of which had disintegrated so were unsafe, the rest had caked debris. I swept another 75 steps while my power workers swept the bottom large refuge area including the chemical closet area where we found an original seat. The sound of spades echoed musically round the tunnel much to everyones delight! Bristol City Council removed the rest of the weeds which we could not reach which were growing out of the bottom facade, as part of their annual check on rock stability. They used a cherry picker which was a lot easier!
15 October: A lovely sunny day so we sorted out leaks in the top station detected a few days earlier. We discovered that the pump room roof drained directly onto the top station roof which drains away to a small drain- so we decided to add an extra gutter to go into the empty reservoir instead. Another roof drain was not connected to anything since the down pipe had rusted away, so just filled the first floor (the projection room) with water which then ran down the wall- we added a new down pipe to take the water out of the building. We also put mortar on top of the bricks on the passageway roof from where plants had been removed.
30 October: we painted the rest of the blast wall black at the top of the tunnel, and the rest of time spent in sorting out leaks so we replaced the drainpipe in the back station (the old one was solid and the drain was broken), one cause of the top station floor flooding was fixed, but we now need to seal the steps leading down to the top station
6 November: rained heavily in the morning but at least the back of the top station is dry! Passageway has started to leak again. The stairs are still leaking so we put cement down one side and will seal it when it is dry. Now it is dark after work I can not do it then! We swept both large refuge areas and completed sweeping the steps on one side- just half the other side to finish! I lost count of how many times I went up the stairs with debris in trugs. We also started to patch up the ceiling.
20 November: crazy weekend! On Friday at 8am the Clifton Rocks Railway team played the SS Gt Britain team at 10 pin bowling for Children in Need. It was a close contest.
On Sunday we spent a lot of time tidying and setting up for filming, but also found time to have another go at leaks on the stairs and passageway. Since it is so cold now- we now get condensation on the ceilings! so more drips.
On Monday we spent all day filming for Secret Underground Bristol. It was a fascinating experience since we also had 4 people sitting in a refuge area in the tunnel reminiscing about sheltering there in the war, and a BBC engineer who described his experiences and the function of each of the four rooms the BBC used. At the end, we all applauded them. The film will be shown in the new year.
6 December: Did some more patching up of the ceiling, knocked some plaster off a wall and solved another leak. We also did some investigative work and found a complete Nico light rim for the gas light- unfortunately not another light. We also found loads of empty tins of Tiny Tim poodle food- was this the staple diet of tramps of the past?
2006
8 January 2006: we had a social get together instead of working. Sue brought mulled wine which we drank in the top station, I provided a cake in the shape of the railway. The deputy Lord Mayor came too and the Clifton Chronicle editor so I took them a trip down the tunnel. We then went on to Delphine's house where she had provided a marvellous spread for us all.
15 January: I met Barbara Janke, our local Councillor and leader of the Council on the way to the railway so I took her a short visit before starting work.
We cleared out lots of modern refuse from a wartime water closet. We found fragments of a barrage ballon, and special anti-spark electrical fittings presumably for the sewing machines used during repair of the balloons which were made of very inflammable material (part of the tunnel was used by the barrage balloon section of Imperial Airways. Barrage ballons were used to stop the enemy aircraft flying too low since the many cables deterred the aircraft from flying below them- the nearest balloon was by the observatory).
In removing some rubble a number of interesting old bottles, cigarette packets, part of a silver pencil, part of a gas mask bag and a half penny dated 1940 were found. Some 1940's graffiti was also discovered.
19 January: Superb 'heavy gang' two page article in Clifton Chronicle with lots of photos
5 February: another constructive day removing more plaster, improving lighting, and completed sweeping of steps
12 February: made some of the steps safer at the bottom station, and started digging out the trench between the bottom water tank and where the rails may end (the 20" wartime blast wall may have meant some part of the rails have been cut or maybe the rails stopped just before). Trench full of dead rotten wood
19 February: started preparing the back door of the top station for painting. Made part of the first floor of bottom station safer and cleared out some of the modern cider bottles. Continued to dig out bottom trench. Found some calculations on the back of the panelling
4 March: much activity at top station- painting walls, patching up ceilings, painting back door, assembling a new railing, making some more exhibition boards and cementing up a hole in the floor. We received a lovely cake from a Sion Hill resident!
19 March: lovely sunny day, so lots more painting. The exhibition boards dried well outside. The back door looks very smart, the hole in the floor is no more, and the original pillars in the top station are now blue. The view onto the rails has also been improved. We have now found the bottom of the rails.
20 March: interviewed on Radio Bristol about my competition for designing a bridge across Hotwell Road. Unfortunately we had not agreed which side of the road to meet up- so had a bit of fun crossing the road before starting the interview!
2 April: another hole in the floor filled up, more patching the top floor ceiling, exhibition boards completed and contents of the others shuffled, stairs and rails weeded, drains investigated at the bottom
11 April: interviewed by the Bristol magazine- should be out in May
16 April: decided to make more boards as the story gets bigger so we now have an extra 10 in total to fill! We put some gutters down the wall at the bottom but water still runs everywhere. We did some measuring up. We also used finished patching up the ceiling and did other jobs which will be revealed if you come down on May open day!
29 April: did a recording with Peter Davey, describing the tunnel for Radio Bristol
30 April: more painting, more lighting in top station, and making safe in the bottom station
4-5 May: attended Association of Independent Museums (AIM) conference held on SS Great Britain
7 May: had a day off, so we went to Oldwood Pit to shift bricks!
8 May: attended Brunel 200 Ideas private viewing at the Architecture Centre since the idea to get the railway running again was shortlisted
11 May: Article about open day in Clifton Chronicle
14 May: full size back of a car placed on the rails, painted in George White colours of Oxford Blue and cream with maroon and gold coach lines. Much sweeping and tidying up ready for open day
21/22 May: Another successful open day with over 1100 people attending. It only rained on Sunday! It was fun watching the ITV presenter squeeze into the entrance of the newly found 50' tunnel under Sion Hill (this leads to the garden of Spring House but is blocked off- it could be an ice house tunnel since it is on a slope). This tunnel attracted a huge amount of interest and we shall be doing some research into its age. There were stables on the site before the railway was built.
We also had the original electric telegraph signaller on display which was on loan. Thanks to everyone for being so appreciative of our efforts.
16 July: Having had June off to catch up with friends and hobbies, we set to work to prop up the panelled ceiling in the bottom station since it was on the move. We also sorted out some of the BBC vents which had fallen down in the staff room area and swept up a lot of rotten wood from the false ceilings too. More stuff to carry upstairs! We also went hunting for the rails under a refuge ledge and found a domestic gas mask. We also weeded the rails and top station roof.
30 July: We cleared some rubble from the top floor of the bottom station, and carried on fitting handrail. We had another look under the ledges and found bits of signs. We also investigated the "new" tunnel- when looking for the floor under layers of dirt we found a green bottle of Sunrise beer made by Ashton Gate Brewery (which could have been brewed between 1880 and 1920) along with lots of other bits and pieces. The tunnel was probably blocked up in 1940. It was probably constructed round about 1750 since white mortar was used. Upto now we have found Bristol United beer bottles and lots of fizzy lemonade bottles under the refuge ledges.
27 August: Refurbished and fitted a gate to the top station, found more bottles and signs, did some weeding and generally made things tidy for open day
9/10th September: Doors Open Day. Fantastic success and beautiful weather for a change. We had people queuing both Saturday and Sunday sometimes waiting upto 45 minutes to get in, because once they got in they were so interested. I will have to rearrange the boards a bit next time- learning curves! We received lots of encouragement. Many people had attended all 4 open days we have had and could see the changes.
944 visited on Saturday and 727 on Sunday.
26 September: celebrated a significant birthday in fine style by cruising round the docks in the Matthew (total surprise!). Several of railway gang helped me celebrate and I ended up in Evening Post again
8 October: shifted rubble on top floor of bottom station, fitted more handrail and put some plastic chairs in refuge areas for tired people going up the stairs
7, 24 October: Articles in Evening Post
29 October: put some of the troughs back that drained the water from the canvas tent over the refuge areas, marked out turnstile locations at bottom station and found some childrens shoes under ledges
12 November: spent some time looking for a fluffy white cat who managed to successfully hide in the tunnel for several days while his owner was on holiday. People were stationed in each refuge area and stairs waiting for him to reappear. He was eventually caught- but it is amazing how he managed to hide away when he should have been so conspicuous.
24 November: officially elected restoration/operations officer at our first AGM
26 November: dug out trenches at bottom station looking for the buffers. Instead we found the water chutes and suspect the buffers are under a 20" thick blast wall. We also found a "Shelter 3" sign under the ledges in the bottom refuge area
December: started making models. I am making a sectional model, Dave a working cable car, and John Perkins a car
2007
14 January: filled a 4 yard skip in one hour flat! with wet wood debris from one of the upper rooms of the BBC area. We also finished digging out the water chute area in the bottom section, exposing 3 chutes (the other is under concrete). Some worked in pairs looking for artefacts under the ledges- thinner one underneath passing anything up to the other. I cleared up about 60' of rubble between one pair of tracks under the ledge in one refuge area taking about 2 hours with a metal dustpan and trowel and got very wet and muddy in the process. You can now see a cable roller. I guess there are many more hours to go since there are two large refuge areas and one amaller one. There is always far more rubble on one side than the other. We do not understand why there is any rubble under the ledges and stairs anyway! We were lucky enough to have a University of Bristol archaeology student recording any finds.
28 January: we hosted a very enjoyable party for friends and volunteers. It was well attended with lots of varied food and mulled wine. There was no electricity so we managed with night lights and candles- which was very atmospheric
4 February: taking stock of finds. It looks like lemonade (especially by Brooke and Prudencio) was the most popular drink, followed by milk and beer (especially Bristol United). Lots of broken cups were found, and a couple of sugar bowls. Read my article in http://www.camrabristol.org.uk, Pints West Spring 07 (CAMRA Real Ale journal)
26 February: had to support the window pillars on bottom station
18 March: (group visits, classic car show and a 2 week holiday halted work!) we have put some more shelving up and went looking for more artefacts. These will be on display in May
8 April: 2 years ago at Easter we started work by painting the railings. Today we rearranged the displays to show all the new artefacts, started to reassemble some of the signs- which are a big jigsaw puzzle of delaminated ply, glued some of the broken china and did some weeding
22 April: carried on trying to assemble some signs, repainted the cable wheels, brought up another railing from the turnstile area, and weeded the top water tank walls
1 May: article in Somerset Life
6 May: more weeding, more wartime signs assembled, washed floor, secured shelves and painted back stairs. Donna brought some more signs, so we are really gearing up for open day. The Evening Post photographer came to take some photos of the new finds
13 May: more tidying up and signs put up on wall
16 May: article in Evening Post about open day. New booklet printed about barrage balloons in Clifton
18 May: more last minute jobs, including Mike and Alan putting some new surrounds on the turnstile to make it safer to go through.
19 May: got there at 8am to set up the merchandise, put the gas light up, put the models in place. At 4pm we closed our doors to grab a quick snack, ready to open again between 6 and 8 to participate Museums and Galleries at night event. We decided to do something new by having a blitz evening in view of the fact we had so many war-time finds on display. Most of us had tin helmets and overalls with ARP badges, but we were surpassed by members of the Military Trust who came resplendant in ATS and military uniforms. They also brought a searchlight, siren and green goddess which were placed on the lookout point. An amazing sight which must have brought back memories to some of the residents who have lived in Clifton all their lives. After closing shop, most went a trip down the tunnel and we then had fun with the search light and siren since it was dark. The Evening Post took more photos, including a superb picture of the search light against a backdrop of the suspension bridge. So after 14 hours, I was ready to go home to bed.
20 May: easier start to the day as I only had put the gas light up, and give a radio interview for Original Bristol which was launching that day. The harbourside bus rally meant that numerous vintage buses disgorged passengers every half an hour. The rearrangement of the boards seemed to work so we avoided the huge queues we had before. The weather was fantastic, and everyone was very complementary about all the hard work we had put into the project, many had come back to see progress. A big thankyou to everyone who helped show 1100 visitors through the top station
June and July: we did lots of group trips but no work to get a break
22 July: Back to work - we put acro props in the top and bottom station, did some weeding, revarnished the handrail, put some more handrail down the tunnel, and pulled out a clack valve complete with thimble filter from the bottom tank. It needed three to move it in the tank and three to lift it out. We had some new helpers so it was a rewarding experience for them
3 August: Guy did some extreme weeding - budlia from top station windows above the tunnel entrance so 30' above rails
12 August: sunny day so weeded bottom station exterior- Guy being star weeder again but all 12 volunteers did stirling work too, painted bottom gate (with permission of Bristol City Council), put more acros in bottom water tank finding a yellow porcelain pulley, put more varnish on top handrail and another look at the wartime sign jigsaw. Tom, who runs a museum came to have a critical look at our display.
26 August: Nicky, Mike and Jenny finished painting the bottom gate. Michael and Guy took away the undergrowth from the bottom station exterior. We also measured up the bottom station to work out where the rails would have gone to and where the water pipe went to upstairs. We also searched in Refuge 2 and found lots of items- a little doll, toy aeroplane, a domino, ladies face powder top, small bottle of cologne, part of a cut glass bowl, a whole brooke and prudencio ginger beer bottle and many more bottles. Mike made a new part for the curved part of the top handrail
28 August: spent all day tidying up for open day and putting new items on display. We also put some new wartime signs up. Varnished the new bit of handrail
31 August: another article in the Evening Post about new finds in the tunnel
4 September: Avon Gorge Hotel changed hands
8/9 September: Another very successful sunny Doors Open Day with over 2100 visitors. Rupert Eveleigh from HTV came to interview us, as did Supreme FM radio. Even the Lord Mayor came to visit us!

Technical Facts about the cable wheels and rail

The diameter of each wheel is 6'1" with 16 spokes, the rim holding 2 cables. The wheels are 5'3" apart. The wartime wall has been built on top of them
The cable/ wire rope was made by George Cradock and is still in place
The gauge is 3' 2 1/2". 6 rails can be seen: 1 more is under the left hand steps, and 1 under the right hand steps put in during the war. 29" is between the sets of rails, and 30" in the middle where the original hewn steps are.
The rail itself is 5" tall, 4" base, the rounded width is 2 1/2, height 1 1/4" so "flat bottom rail". Its base is wide, while the top is narrower.
The rails are pinned 25" apart with a simple pin. The rails lie on wood, not concrete. The larch sleepers are rotten. May Photos show the pin and rail.
More facts (added 12 July)

Open Day 2005

Probably over 4000 people entered Rocks Railway in Clifton on Saturday 21 May and Sunday 22 May despite the rain and wind, and were all hugely interested. Sir George White, great grandson of the great George White who founded the railway, performed the opening ceremony. Visitors were only able to visit the top station due to Health and Safety reasons but were able to see down the railway tunnel and see the cable wheels and rails. There was an excellent exhibition for the Clifton Rocks Railway in the top station with Peter Davey and other volunteers explaining everything.
This was to raise public awareness of the railway and rally support for its full restoration. As part of the planning for the event, it was intended that the hoardings currently hiding the top of the station are removed, the railings repaired, the signage replicated and the area generally tidied up.
This formed part of the Bristol Public Transport Heritage weekend (Streetcars of Desire). This was centred on Bristol Docks and the Industrial Museum at Princes' Wharf where there was a Rally and Running Day on the Sunday.

Displays and activities for the family at Bristol Industrial Museum on both days, with a chance to ride on the Museum's Lodekka bus.
On both, there was an impressive display of vintage cars at Rocks Railway and stalls, entertainers and dance in Clifton- theme 'Clifton Rocks'. The Clifton jazz band even entered the top station much to everyone's surprise!
On Sunday, a major rally of buses was at the Amphitheatre and at the Industrial Museum, with stands and displays.
Many people took a ride around Bristol on vintage buses following the routes that they operated.
Take the Rocks Railway bus upto Clifton Rocks Railway to see restoration progress (both days). This saved the inevitable problems of parking. Unfortunately the bus painted with the Rocks Railway logo broke down so we were not able to see it. I took photos of the amazing sight of double decker buses going down Princess Victoria Street.
free
Part of Museums & Galleries Month.

Useful websites

Superb history of Clifton Rocks Railway" includes many pictures of the tunnel in 2001
New Clifton Rocks Railway website

Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS)