The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway, also known as the Bridgnorth Funicular Railway or Castle Hill Railway, is a funicular railway in the town of Bridgnorth in the English county of Shropshire. The line links the Low Town of Bridgnorth, adjacent to the River Severn, with the High Town, adjacent to the ruins of Bridgnorth Castle. The line is one of four funicular railways in the UK built to the same basic design (the others were the Clifton Rocks Railway in Bristol; the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in Devon; and the Constitution Hill Railway in Aberystwyth, Wales). It is one of the steepest railways in the country, and at least one source (the information panel outside the top station) claims it is both the steepest and shortest. However, the East Hill Lift Railway, Hastings is graded at a steeper 78%. History Following a public meeting in 1890 to discuss an alternative method of communication between the two parts of Bridgnorth to the 200 steps between High Town and Low Town, a proposal to build a Patent Cliff Railway was put to the town council. Engineered by George Croydon Marks, plans were accepted for funicular railway on the current route. The Bridgnorth Castle Hill Railway Company Ltd was registered in 1891, and construction started on 2 November 1891. The company, which still operates the railway today, was founded by Sir George Croydon Marks (later Lord Marks of Woolwich), who became its first managing director from 1891 until 1901. His brother, Edward Marks, became its second managing director from 1901 until 1924. George was also the founder of the patent attorneys Marks & Clerk, who continue to trade. The railway was opened on 7 July 1892 by Mayor John Anderson, with a public holiday being proclaimed to celebrate the occasion. Most of the original funding came from George Croydon Marks' business partner, Sir George Newnes, MP, the wealthy publisher, who purchased eighty-five per cent of the share capital in Bridgnorth Cliff Railway and who became its first chairman. Newnes was already chairman of Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway and went on to collaborate with Marks on other funicular projects. Newnes, who had previously founded Tit-bits and The Strand Magazine, went on to publish Country Life. Originally the railway was powered by a simple system using water and gravity. Water was pumped into a tank beneath the top car until its weight, a maximum