A funicular () is one of the modes of transportation which uses a cable traction for movement on steep inclined slopes.
Video Funicular
Introduction
Funiculars are used for moving both passengers and goods. The name "funicular" itself is derived from the Latin word funiculus, the diminutive of funis, which translates as "rope".
A funicular railway employs a pair of vehicles which are pulled on a slope by the same cable which loops over a pulley wheel at the upper end of a track. The vehicles are permanently attached to the ends of the cable and counterbalance each other. They move synchronously: while one vehicle is ascending the other one is descending the track. These particularities distinguish funiculars from other types of cable railways. For example, a funicular is distinguished from an inclined elevator by the presence of two vehicles which counterbalance each other.
Maps Funicular
History
Modern funicular railways operating in urban areas date from the 1860s. The first line of the Funiculars of Lyon (Funiculaires de Lyon) opened in 1862, followed by other lines in 1878, 1891 and 1900. The Budapest Castle Hill Funicular was built in 1868-69, with the first test run on 23 October 1869. In Istanbul, Turkey, the Tünel has been in continuous operation since 1875 and is both the first underground funicular and the second-oldest underground railway. The oldest funicular railway operating in Britain dates from 1875 and is in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
The eastern United States had several incline railways, most engineered by the Otis Elevator Company of Yonkers, New York, years before it became a present-day subsidiary of UTC in Connecticut. Perhaps the best example was the Mount Beacon Incline Railway in Beacon, New York, the steepest funicular Otis built in the northeast. It had an average gradient of 64% and a maximum gradient of 74% and operated for over 75 years, from 1902-1972 and 1975-1978. It was added to the National Historic Register in 1982 and destroyed by fire in 1983. A not-for-profit society is currently working toward its restoration.
The funicular on Mount Vesuvius inspired the song Funiculì, Funiculà, music composed by Luigi Denza and lyrics written by Peppino Turco, in 1880. Unfortunately, that funicular was wrecked repeatedly by volcanic eruptions and abandoned after the eruption of 1944.
Operation
The basic idea of funicular operation is that two cars are always attached to each other by a cable, which runs through a pulley at the top of the slope. Counterbalancing of the two cars, with one going up and one going down, minimizes the energy needed to lift the car going up. Winching is normally done by an electric drive that turns the pulley. Sheave wheels guide the cable to and from the drive mechanism and the slope cars.
Track layout
Early funiculars used two parallel straight tracks, four rails, with separate station platforms for each vehicle. The tracks are laid with sufficient space between them for the two cars to pass at the midpoint. The wheels of the cars are usually single-flanged, as on standard railway vehicles. Examples of this type of track layout are the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and most cliff railways in the UK.
Layouts that require less width have been developed, with only two or three rails for the most part of the slope and four rails only at the passing section.
The Swiss engineer Carl Roman Abt invented the method that allows cars to be used with a two-rail configuration: the outboard wheels have flanges on both sides, which keeps them aligned with the outer rail, thus holding each car in position, whereas the inboard wheels are unflanged and ride on top of the opposite rail, thereby easily crossing over the rails (and cable) at the passing track.
Two-rail configurations of this type avoid the need for switches and crossings, since the cars have the flanged wheels on opposite sides and will automatically follow different tracks, and in general, significantly reduce costs.
In layouts using three rails, the middle rail is shared by both cars. The three-rail layout is wider than the two-rail layout, but the passing section is simpler to build. If a rack for braking is used, that rack can be mounted higher in a three-rail layout, making it less sensitive to choking in snowy conditions.
Some four-rail funiculars have the upper and lower sections interlaced and a single platform at each station. The Hill Train at Legoland, Windsor, is an example of this configuration.
The track layout can also be changed during the renovation of a funicular, and often four-rail layouts have been rebuilt as two- or three-rail layouts; e.g., the Wellington Cable Car in New Zealand was rebuilt with two rails.
History of different track layouts
Until the end of the 1870s, the four-rail parallel-track funicular was the normal configuration. Carl Roman Abt developed the Abt Switch allowing the two-rail layout, which was used for the first time in 1879 when the Giessbach Funicular opened in Switzerland. In the United States, the first funicular to use a two-rail layout was the Telegraph Hill Railroad in San Francisco, which was in operation from 1884 until 1886. The Mount Lowe Railway in Altadena, California, was the first mountain railway in the United States to use the three-rail layout. Three- and two-rail layouts considerably reduced the space required for building a funicular, reducing grading costs on mountain slopes and property costs for urban funiculars. These layouts enabled a funicular boom in the latter half of the 19th century.
Bottom towrope
The cars can be attached to a second cable running through a pulley at the bottom of the incline in case the gravity force acting on the vehicles is too low to operate them on the slope. One of the pulleys must be designed as a tensioning wheel to avoid slack in the ropes. In this case, the winching can also be done at the lower end of the incline. This practice is used for funiculars with gradients below 6%, funiculars using sledges instead of cars, or any other case where it is not ensured that the descending car is always able to pull out the cable from the pulley in the station on the top of the incline. Another reason for a bottom cable is that the cable supporting the lower car at the extent of its travel will potentially weight several tons, whereas that supporting the upper car weighs virtually nothing. The lower cable adds an equal amount of cable weight to the upper car while deducting the same weight from the lower, thereby keeping the cars in equilibrium.
Water counterbalancing
A few funiculars have been built using water tanks under the floor of each car that are filled or emptied until just sufficient imbalance is achieved to allow movement. The car at the top of the hill is loaded with water until it is heavier than the car at the bottom, causing it to descend the hill and pulling up the other car. The water is drained at the bottom, and the process repeats with the cars exchanging roles. The movement is controlled by a brakeman.
The Giessbachbahn (GbB) is a historic funicular in the Swiss canton of Berne and municipality of Brienz. It links a landing stage on Lake Brienz, served by shipping services on the lake, to the Grand Hotel Giessbach and Giessbach Falls above. The funicular is owned by the hotel, but since 1983 has been operated by a preservation foundation. The funicular, opened in 1879, was the first Swiss funicular to be built specifically for the transport of tourists. It has a length of 345 metres (1,132 ft) and overcomes a vertical distance of 104 metres (341 ft) with a maximum gradient of 32%. There are two wooden cars dating from 1879, operating on a single track of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3/8 in) metre gauge track with a central passing loop and a Riggenbach rack rail for braking purposes. Originally operated by water ballast, the funicular is now electrically operated and a single journey takes 2 minutes.
Another of the world's oldest funiculars that move by water counterbalancing is the Bom Jesus funicular built in 1882. The funicular track in Bom Jesus do Monte near Braga, Portugal is 274 metres (899 ft) long and descends 116 metres (381 ft). Yet another, the funicular of Fribourg, is special in that it utilizes waste water, coming from the upper part of the city, for counterbalancing.
Inclined elevator
An inclined elevator is not a funicular since it has only one car carrying payload on the slope.
For example, despite its name the Montmartre Funicular in Paris after a reconstruction in 1991 is technically a double inclined elevator since each of its two cabins have its own cable traction with own counterweight and they operate independently from each other.
Examples
According to the Guinness World Records the smallest public funicular in the world is the Fisherman's Walk Cliff Railway in Bournemouth, England with its length of 39 metres (128 ft).
Stoosbahn in Switzerland with its maximum gradient of 110% is the steepest funicular in the world.
Valparaiso, Chile, has fifteen funiculars, the oldest dating from 1883. Some of them are inside the historic quarter, which has been 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.
The Carmelit is an underground funicular railway in Haifa, Israel. It is one of the smallest metro systems in the world, having only four cars, six stations and a single tunnel 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long. It operated from its construction in 1959 until 1986 after showing signs of aging. It subsequently reopened in September 1992 after extensive renovations.
The Niesenbahn in the Swiss Kandertal is the longest continuous-cable funicular in Europe. In Lugano, a funicular connects the city centre with Lugano railway station on the hillside above.
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 the Bom Jesus funicular in Braga, Portugal (the oldest, still working, in the world).
The Great Orme Tramway is the only cable-hauled tramway still operating on British public roads. It runs from Church Walks in Llandudno. It first opened on 31 July 1902 and runs on a daily basis from late March to late October, taking visitors to the summit of The Great Orme, climbing one mile (1.6 km) of track to the summit complex at a height of 679 feet (207 m). There are views of the Welsh mountains and as far as the Isle of Man, Blackpool and the Lake District. There is an exhibition of the history of this funicular tramway at the half-way station.
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 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, which was destroyed various times by Vesuvius eruptions. It appears to have been originally constructed as a monorail. It was partially modified to become a rack railway in its last section, but it was destroyed so completely as to have to be abandoned by the eruption in 1944. It became famous worldwide because, as noted above, the Neapolitan song "Funiculì Funiculà" was dedicated to it.
The Johnstown Inclined Plane (built in 1890) in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, is claimed 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 in 1895), which travels from the base to the top of Lookout Mountain and falsely claims to be the steepest funicular in the world, with a maximum grade of 72.7%.
In addition to the historic Angels Flight and Mount Lowe Railway, Southern California has two recently constructed funicular railways. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, has a funicular that 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 in the City of Industry, California, formerly the Industry Hills Sheraton Resort, utilizes a funicular to transport golfers and their carts. The 400-foot (122 m) line runs from the 9th Green of the "Ike" Course and 18th Green of the "Babe" Course to the St. Andrews Station, a replica of a Scottish station that houses concessions and eating areas with views of the two hillside courses. The railway was installed in 1979 as part of a 650-acre (260 ha) brownfield reclamation project that transformed a collection of hills containing a former refuse dump into a resort and convention and recreation center. The funicular was devised as a solution for transporting golfers among the steep terrain of the golf courses. The railway is currently not in operation but remains fully intact awaiting necessary maintenance until it can once again 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.
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, such as Wellington, New Zealand, which has about 300. These have a small car for two to four people permanently attached to a cable from a winch, which runs on an inclined pair of rails (beams) or a single rail at a low speed (0.3 to 1.0 metres/second). They are often called "cable cars" or "lifts" (elevators), e.g., in the New Zealand standard for private cable cars. Larger and faster models can improve access to commercial buildings.
GreenWood Forest Park in Gwynedd, Wales is home to the Green Dragon roller coaster. This coaster uses a funicular railway pulley system to lift the empty roller coaster using the weight of the people about to ride in it.
An apartment complex in San Francisco called Las Casitas has its own inclined elevator shaped like the city's Cable Cars. It was built and installed by Dwan Elevator Co.. [1]
Hillbilly Golf, a miniature golf course in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, has a private funicular which takes patrons from the parking lot/office at the bottom of the mountain to the first hole (of either one of two courses); and picks up patrons from the 18th holes (about midway between the bottom and top).
See also
- Gravity railroad
- Inclined elevator
- List of funicular railways
- Steep grade railway
References
External links
- The dictionary definition of funicular at Wiktionary
- Funimag, the first web magazine about funiculars
Source of article : Wikipedia
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