superior to other stations on the line, contained a booking office, porters' rooms, and an office for the line superintendent. The platform was covered along its entire length. A single-road engine shed was sited at the east end of the station from 1875, but burnt down in 1900. The initial service was six trains per day in each direction, however trains did not stop at Shirehampton on Sundays due to opposition from a local church, but this practice ended in May the same year following complaints from other residents and businesses. Connection to the national network The BPRP ran into trouble by 1871 when the terminal pier at Avonmouth became difficult to use due to a build-up of silt. With no prospect of a proper dock being funded without a connection to the national rail network, the Clifton Extension Railway (CER) was approved. This was a joint venture by the BPRP, Great Western Railway and Midland Railway which ran from Sneyd Park Junction, south of , via , to join up with the national network at Narroways Hill Junction. The link opened in 1877, but initially only for goods trains. The route from Sneyd Park Junction to Clifton Down was subsequently cleared for passenger use on 3 August 1878, but the Midland and Great Western Railways did not think the BPRP track was in a suitable condition and so refused to run any passenger trains beyond Clifton Down. Services along the BPRP however increased to eight trains per day in each direction from 1877, and then to ten each way by 1887. From 1 September 1885, when passenger services along the link finally started, the Great Western offered six trains per day each direction between and . Fearing competition, the BPRP did not allow passengers to use GWR services between its stations. The Midland Railway did not run any passenger services beyond Clifton Down, apart from a one-month trial service in September 1885. Despite the increased traffic the BPRP suffered financially, and was taken over by the CER in 1890. In 1893 the platform was lengthened to at a cost of £235, and a station master's house built. A second track was laid along the line in 1903, and a new platform built on the south side of the line, coming into use on 16 May. The station was remodelled at the same time, adding comfortable waiting rooms. The new