Funicular

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A funicular, also known as a funicular railway, incline, inclined railway, inclined plane, or cliff railway, is a self-contained cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope, the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalancing each other.

The word is from the Latin funiculus, a diminutive of funis, "rope".

[edit] Operation

Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. with full length parallel tracks

Passing track on the Flying Dutchman Funicular at Cape Point, South Africa

The passing track configuration of the Mount Lowe Railway as devised by Prof. Thaddeus Lowe.

The basic principle of funicular operation is that two cars are attached to each other by a cable, which runs through a pulley at the top of the incline. Counterbalancing of the two cars, with one ascending and one descending the slope — especially when transporting similar loads, such as passengers — minimizes the energy needed to lift the ascending car.

The engineering practice is to splice the cable ends together creating a continuous cable loop. The cars are attached equidistantly on the loop, which is driven by winching at one end of the run and held taut by a tensioning wheel at the other. Sheave wheels guide the cable to and from the drive mechanism and the incline cars.

In many cases, such as on the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and most cliff railways in the UK, two parallel straight tracks are used. Separate platforms are provided for each vehicle, and there is sufficient space for the two cars to pass at the mid-point. The wheels of the cars are usually single-flanged, as on standard railway vehicles.

Until the 1890s the four-railed parallel-track funicular was the normal configuration. The originator of the passing track was Prof. Thaddeus Lowe with his Mount Lowe Railway in Altadena, California (1893-1938). To negotiate the steep climb of Mount Echo, Lowe was informed by his chief engineer David Macpherson that the grading required to accommodate the usual four rails would be extensive and costly. Most of the concern was caused by a large granite chasm that would require extensive backfilling and shoring. Overnight, Lowe came up with a configuration that employed three rails (now often just two), with four rails only at the dead center or passing section of the funicular.

Cars used with a two- or three-rail configuration have flanges on both sides of the outboard wheels, which keeps them aligned with the outer rail, thus holding each car in position. The inboard wheels are unflanged and ride on top of the opposite rail, thereby easily crossing over the rails at the passing track, and avoiding the need for switches and crossings.

The Angels Flight funicular in Los Angeles employs the three-rail configuration. Designed and constructed using a single cable attached at each end to the cars until its removal in 1969, Angels Flight was reinstalled using separate cables for each car powered from a geared mechanism. This new mechanism that failed and caused the only accident in the railway's history.

The Wellington Cable Car in New Zealand uses the two-rail configuration - originally it had two separate parallel tracks.

Some four-rail funiculars have the upper and lower sections interlaced and a passing section in the middle. These usually have a single platform at each station. The Hill Train at Legoland, Windsor is an example of this configuration.

[edit] History

Angels Flight, Los Angeles, California, USA, three-rail configuration with passing track.

The Great Incline funicular of the Mount Lowe Railway (1893 - 1938). The arrow denotes location of ascending car on the Macpherson Trestle. Grade: 62%.

The oldest funicular is the Reisszug, a private line providing goods access to Hohensalzburg Castle at Salzburg in Austria. It was first documented in 1515 by Cardinal Matthäus Lang, who became Archbishop of Salzburg. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope, and was operated by human or animal power. Today steel rails, steel cables and an electric motor have taken over, but the line still follows the same route through the castle's fortifications.^[1][2]

In the 18th century funiculars were used to allow barge traffic on canals to ascend and descend steep hills. An early example were the three inclined planes on the Tyrone Canal in County Tyrone that were in use as early as 1777. They were used primarily in the early 19th century, especially during the height of the canal-building era in the 1830s in the United States. Such railways operated by allowing water in feeder canals at the top of the plane to drive a turbine, raising or lowering a canal barge along a steep slope.

Examples of hydropower inclined plane railroads in the United States included the Morris Canal in New Jersey connected the Delaware River with the Passaic River using 23 planes, as well as a series of locks along the gentler gradients. The Allegheny Portage Railroad, part of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, built in 1834 with ten planes as the first railroad across the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, was steam powered. ^[3]

One of the most famous funiculars was the Great Incline of the Mount Lowe Railway in Altadena, California, designed by Andrew Smith Hallidie of San Francisco cable car fame. The Mount Lowe Railway combined its funicular, raising passengers 2,800 feet (859 m) up the steep side of Mount Echo (elevation 3500 ft or 1067 m), with electric narrow-gauge trolley systems at each end (the Rubio Canyon line was standard-gauged after being acquired by Henry Huntington's Pacific Electric Railway). The Incline had three grade changes, the lower end at 62% easing to a 48% at the top, and the cars were designed to adjust to the grade changes for the comfort of their passengers. It had three rails to reduce the width of the formation and the materials required, though a complicated cable routing system was needed at the passing track.^[4]

The eastern United States had several incline railways, most engineered by the Otis Elevator Company of Yonkers, NY (today a subsidiary of UTC in Connecticut). Perhaps the best example was the Mount Beacon Incline Railway in Beacon, NY, the steepest funicular Otis built in the northeast. It had an average gradient of 64+%, a maximum gradient of 74% and operated for over 75 years. It was desroyed by fire in 1983 and a not-for-profit society is currently working toward its restoration.

The funicular on Mount Vesuvius inspired the song Funiculì, Funiculà, composed in 1880. That funicular was wrecked repeatedly by volcanic eruptions and abandoned after the eruption of 1944.

The oldest funicular railway in Britain dates from 1875 and is in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.^[5]

[edit] World

Funicular at the Port of Valparaíso

Katoomba scenic railway

Valparaiso, Chile has 15 funiculars, the oldest dating from 1883. Some of them are inside the historic quarter declared a World Heritage area by Unesco. Many are currently in disrepair and have been shut down by municipal authorities. There has been recent controversy regarding five of the elevators in the downtown area, where there have been protests about safety and operation. The Polanco Elevator, perhaps the most unusual, had been closed for repairs to the structure and recently re-entered service. ^[6]

The Scenic Railway at Katoomba Scenic World claims to be the world's steepest cable-driven funicular railway, with an incline of 52%, over a distance of 415 metres.

The Great Incline of the Mount Lowe Railway (above right) had multiple grades with cars that adjusted to the variations. The gentlest grade was 48%, the steepest 62%.

The Niesenbahn in the Swiss Kandertal is the longest continuous-cable funicular in Europe.

In Poland the most popular is the Gubałówka Hill Funicular, operated by Polish Cable Lines (Polskie Koleje Linowe, PKL).

Water-powered funiculars include the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in North Devon, England; the CAT Funicular at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Gwynedd, Wales; the Nerobergbahn in Wiesbaden, Germany; and Bom Jesus funicular in Braga, Portugal (the oldest, still working, in the world).

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has two operational funiculars, called "inclines". The Monongahela Incline travels between the top of the Mount Washington hillside to Station Square at the base of the mountain along the Monongahela River. It serves as a tourist attraction and mass transit system. The Duquesne Incline connects Duquesne Heights with the lower elevations of Pittsburgh.

Naples, (Italy), has four funiculars. The Chiaia Funicular was built in 1889, followed within two years by the Funicolare of Montesanto (Montesanto Funicular), and after some years by Central Funicular and Mergellina. The most famous funicular in Naples was the Mount Vesuvius Funicular (1880-1944), the first railway track in the world built on an active volcano, and destroyed various times by Vesuvius eruptions. Partially modified to became a rack railway in its last section, it was destroyed by eruption in 1944. Itsworldwide fame was because the Neapolitan song Funiculì Funiculà was dedicated to it.

The Johnstown Inclined Plane (built 1890) in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in the United States claims to be the world's steepest vehicular inclined plane at 70.9%. In addition to passengers, it can carry one automobile in each direction. Chattanooga, Tennessee is home to the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway (built 1895) that travels from the base to the top of Lookout Mountain, and claims to be the steepest funicular in the world with a maximum grade of 72 degrees.

There is one in the Blue Mountains at Scenic World near Katoomba, Australia. Its centre supports multiple tourist attractions such as the sky rail and cable car. The railway is on the old mining track and is 52 degrees (122%) at its steepest point. Scenic World claims that this is the steepest funicular in the world.^[7]

The Industry Hills Golf Club funicular in the City of Industry, California

In addition to the historic Angel's Flight and Mount Lowe Railway, Southern California has two more recently constructed funicular railways. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California has a funicular which takes guests up the Mountain from an area near the park entrance to a station near the Ninja coaster entrance. It was called "Funicular" for many years, introducing thousands of people to the word, but is now known as the "Orient Express" to fit in with the Far Eastern theme at the top of the Mountain. The Pacific Palms Resort^[8] in the City of Industry, California, formerly the Industry Hills Sheraton Resort, utilizes a funicular to transport golfers and their carts. The 400-foot line runs from the 9^th Green of the "Ike" Course and 18^th Green of the "Babe" Course to the St Andrews Station, a replica of a Scottish station that houses concessions and eating areas with spectacular views of the two hillside courses.^[9] The railway was installed in 1979 as part of a 650-acre brownfield reclamation project that transformed a collection of hills containing a former refuse dump into a resort, convention and recreation center. The funicular was devised as a perfect solution for transporting golfers among the steep and dramatic terrain of the demanding and highly regarded golf courses. The railway is currently not in operation, but remains fully intact awaiting necessary maintenance until it can once ferry golfers up the 33% grade overlooking the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Mountains.

The Falls Incline Railway, originally the Horseshoe Falls Incline, at Niagara Falls, Canada gives access to hotels above the falls.

[edit] Private funiculars

Private funiculars on steep sections provide easier access from the street to a house than steep paths or steps. They are common in hilly cities like Wellington, New Zealand. They are often called cable cars or lifts (elevators), but have a small car for two to four people permanently attached to a cable from a winch. The car runs on an inclined pair of rails (beams) or a single rail at a low speed (0.3 to 1.0 metres/second). Larger and faster models may give access to commercial buildings. Examples are USA, NZ.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Funiculars

• New York Times article on Pennsylvania funiculars
• Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society
• Funimag, the first web magazine about funiculars
• Urban Mountain Railways and People Movers
• Video of Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in action

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