Framed

SC94 - Post 5 May - Framed.

The doors are open allowing folks to enter the car to go down the cliff. For over a century Bridgnorth Cliff Railway has been transporting the people of Bridgnorth up and down the 111 ft sandstone cliffs that separate High Town from Low Town, and the River Severn. It is first and foremost a working railway; its importance to both the townspeople of Bridgnorth and to visitors to the town is undiminished by age.

The railway operates two cars on parallel tracks. Connected by steel ropes, the carriages serve to counterbalance each other – as one rises to the top station, the other runs to the bottom station. The cars are now powered by an electric winding engine, but were originally driven by a system of water balance, each carriage carrying water ballast in a tank beneath the passenger compartment.

The cars were replaced with “up-to-date” cars of aluminum monocoque construction in 1955. Simple sliding doors at each end of the cars run on their original ball bearing rollers. Each car weighs approximately 5.5 tonnes when fully laden with 18 passengers. On that trip downwards there were only 3 of us, myself, Adrian and a local woman.

The track is 201 feet long, with a rise of 111 feet and consists of a double run of track – one for each car. Concrete steps run between the 2 tracks. It doesn't take very long to complete the journey in the 'car', but we walked up from the Low Town, and that took much longer. ;-)

You might be able to notice, in the top right hand corner, a screen which shows the operators and ticket collectors what the queues are like. Adrian is there wearing a black jacket and pale trousers.