Bridgnorth Cliff Railway to close for maintenance – here is when and why

The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway, which ferries passengers between Low Town and High Town, reopened in March after being closed for more than a year due to a damaged retaining wall.

Now the owner of the attraction said it is to close for 48 hours while engineers replace the ropes that haul the carriages up and down the cliff face.

Owner Mr Malvern Tipping said the attraction will be using a new design of rope for both the balance and the haulage ropes.

He said: “The current ropes on the cliff railway have lasted far longer than the previous ones. We have had the new ropes in stock for two years, but have not had to use them so far.

“The previous ones had started to deteriorate at an exponential rate at the end of their lives. However, the current ropes have fared far, far better.

“We were alerted to a new design of rope when, along with the operators of other funicular railways, we attended a presentation by a rope manufacturer, which was hosted by our regulators at H.M. Inspectorate of Mines.

“This alternative design of ropes relied upon steel threads which were elliptical, rather than round, and which were wound and twisted in a different manner to the previous design used by us. We have been very pleased with the performance of this improved design and the new ropes will be of the same type.

“We are expecting the rope changes to take two days. In the event of any changes to the planned timetable, we will post an update on the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway website.”

The cliff railway will be closed from next Tuesday, October 29 until Wednesday October, 30.