Funicular

\nCategory:Rail transport A funicular or funicular railway, also called inclined railway or inclined plane, or in England a cliff railway, consists of a system of transportation in which cables attach to a tram-like vehicle on rails to move it up and down a very steep slope.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 History 3 Funiculars of the world 4 External links 5 See also

Introduction

\n - note typical track configuration for two car balanced arrangement.]]\n\nThe vehicle is specially designed for the particular inclination, so that seats and/or floors remain roughly horizontal. Typically the steepness of the track does not vary very much, which differentiates the funicular from a cable car on rails. The word "funicular" derives from the Latin funiculus (thin rope), a diminutive of funis (rope). Funiculars are also called trams or cable cars in many places. It is thus a hybrid between cable transport and rail transport. Two carss at the end of a cable go alternately up and down on either two tracks or one track which splits and rejoins in the middle. Funiculars often occur in mountains. Many cities have short funiculars on hills or cliffs, such as the Montmartre funicular in Paris, or those in the English seaside resort of Scarborough. Some urban funiculars are associated with a city's transit system. For example, the Montmartre funicular in Paris and the Montjuïc funicular in Barcelona are fare-integrated with those cities' metro systems. The world's steepest passenger railway is the Katoomba Scenic Railway, a funicular down the wall of the Jamison Valley near Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia, with maximum grade of 122% (52° from horizontal, 90° being vertical). [1]

History

The earliest such railways were water-driven, allowing barge traffic of canals to ascend and descend steep hills. 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. Along level sections, the railroads essentially operated as standard towpath canals, with the barges typically drawn by horse or mule. Examples of hydropower inclined plane railroads in the United States included 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. Similarly, the Morris Canal in New Jersey connected the Delaware River with the Passaic River using 23 planes, as well as a series of lockss along the gentler gradients. Considered technological marvels in their height, water-driven inclined plane in the 1850s.

Funiculars of the world

\n* Allegheny Portage Railroad, Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, USA (Historic Funicular site)\n* Angels Flight, Los Angeles, California, United States "The shortest railway in the world"\n* Bergen, Norway\n* Budapest, Hungary\n* Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA\n* Chongqing, China, for transport of riverboat passengers from pontoon to shore.\n* Duquesne Incline and Monongahela Incline, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, USA\n* Graz, Austria\n* Gütschbahn, Lucerne, Switzerland\n* Hastings, England\n* Harderbahn, Interlaken, Switzerland\n* Haifa, Israel (the Carmelit, underground)\n* Hong Kong Victoria Peak\n* Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA (Run as part of the tourist attaction.\n* Istanbul, Turkey (the Tunel, underground)\n* Johnstown Inclined Plane, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA\n* Katoomba Scenic Railway, Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia\n* Lykavittos, Athens\n* Lyon, France (first funicular of the world, 1860)\n* Marzilibahn, Bern, Switzerland\n* Montjuïc, Barcelona\n* Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at Stade Olympique\n* Montserrat (mountain), Catalonia\n* Montmartre, Paris, France\n* Mendelbahn, South Tyrol, Italy, built in 1903\n* Naples, Italy\n* Nazaré, Portugal\n* Penang, Malaysia\n* Prague, Czech Republic\n* Quebec City\n* Tibidabo, Barcelona\n* Tignes (Grande Motte glacier), France\n* Vallvidrera, Barcelona\n* Viana do Castelo, Portugal\n* Wellington, New Zealand (Kelburn Cable Car)\n* Wiesbaden, Germany (using water as weight to move the cars)\n* Zagreb, Croatia See also: British funicular railways

External links

\n* Funimag, the first web magazine about funiculars\n* Urban Mountain Railways and People Movers\n* Fløibanen funicular in Bergen

See also

\n*Canal inclined plane\n*Kaprun disaster\n*Public transport\n*Skiing