The Clifton Rocks Railway is probably one of the best kept secrets of the Bristol area. This was an underground funicular railway which linked Clifton at the top with Bristol Harbour at the bottom. The funicular was opened in 1893 and despite a strong start, passenger numbers dwindled quickly and the railway closed in September 1934. This was not the end of the story for the railway, as the site was taken over by the BBC during the second world war and used as a relay station and emergency studios incase the ones in London fell. Blast walls were installed in the funicular tunnel which still exist today which made up the different studios. The BBC continued to use parts of the tunnel up until 1960.
Today, Clifton Rocks Railway is in a state of disrepair and is not open to the public. A small group of volunteers assembled in 2008 with the aim of preserving the site and restoring the railway but it was deemed unfeasible and undesirable to restore due to the war-time structures which are sitting across the railway lines now. In 2019 a proposal was put forward to turn the top section into a museum however efforts seem to have halted on this for now.
From the pictures above, you can see the steps which would give you access to the top level ticket office. Below you can even see part of one of the old train cars which is bricked off and suspended in time. I sincerely hope that the volunteers continue and succeed in their mission to reopen the top station as a museum. This seems like an important part of history to open up to the public and preserve. There are many other curious minds out there who clearly have an interest in what lies below the rocks. I very rarely do this on this blog, but I found the below urbex video fascinating to watch and get a glimpse of this hidden world – Urbex Video
