into the belly of the white elephant

On Saturday afternoon I was privileged to spend a couple of hours exploring the derelict Clifton Rocks Railway on a tour organised through the Bristol Flickr group.

Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the underground funicular railway ran in a tunnel cut from the cliffs, taking passengers from Clifton, at the top of the Avon Gorge, to Hotwells and the harbour at the bottom (for trips on the pleasure steamers). Unfortunately, the railway was never a great success and closed in the 1930s.

During the Second World War the BBC sought to house an emergency headquarters in Bristol that would be used in the event of London's Broadcasting House being incapacitated. They earmarked the bombproof disused railway tunnel but, after a series of bombing raids, locals began using it as a shelter. The BBC instead created four chambers above each other at the bottom of the tunnel, featuring a studio (complete with piano) and transmitter, recording and control rooms.

The emergency studio never had to be used. The BBC's lease expired in 1960 and the railway was left to fall into a state of disrepair. A voluntary group now looks after what is left and have worked hard to make the site accessible for guided tours. They estimate the cost of total restoration as costing from £10-15 million.

Donning luminous jackets and hard hats we filed into the damp stairway that leads down from the old ticket hall and runs alongside the former railway tunnel. This had been sectioned off and seating installed when the tunnel served as an air-raid shelter. In fact, the tunnel barely gave any hints away to it's original use - the old train carriages and tracks had long been removed. At the lower end the former BBC rooms' floors had collapsed and were in total disrepair. Rusted old fuseboxes remained attached to walls and abandoned wartime drinks bottles could be seen in the shelters.

The tour took a good couple of hours, down through the tunnel to the bottom where a gate looks out onto the busy A4 carrying traffic between the docks at Avonmouth and the city centre; through rooms that looked nothing like they had a century ago. It was all absolutely fascinating. I should also add a note of appreciation to Maggie, the guide, who was incredibly knowledgable and had given her own time to be our guide for the afternoon. I felt lucky to be able to explore what, for most people, will only ever be seen in photographs (tours of the railway are very limited). I struggled with my 350D in the low light but have uploaded a selection of the more successful photos I took to Flickr.

There doesn't seem to be much will in the city for the railway to ever be fully restored. Certainly the cost seems very prohibitive. Even if it isn't I hope many more people get the chance to explore what remains and learn a little more about what has been called an exciting, eccentric white elephant...