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  • Funicular Railways in Europe

  • Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.
Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.

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 #1467476  by rogerfarnworth
 
I have seen a few posts about individual European Funicular Railways and I wondered whwther it might be good to start a new thread about Funicular Railways across Europe. To start this off, I offer two blogs about funiculars which have now disappeared. The first is between Cannes and Super-Cannes in the South of France.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/20 ... -in-cannes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The second was in Grasse, the perfume capital of Provence, and linked the PLM railway station to the town centre.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/20 ... rovence-23" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1467499  by NS3737
 
All right then, let me add some photos which I took from the world’s northernmost funicular railway. which is part of the Nygård Kraftwerk (power plant) at Trældal, just north of Narvik Norway. Obviously built for maintenance purposes.
Enjoy!
Gijs
Photo 1: the funicular
Photo 2: detail of the lower ‘station’
Photo 3: detail of the upper ‘station’
 #1467811  by NS3737
 
george matthews wrote:The track doesn't look used. Does the vehicle ever move?
I just posted the photos for fun and to contribute to this tread. I found this little funicular while driving northbound on the E6/E10. The main challenges where finding a safe place to turn my car next a safe place to park the car and finally a safe place to get a good angle without running the risk of getting hit by a car or lorry. I have not observed any operations. But a check on the web site of the utility company that owns and operates the power plant, learned that the plant still is in use as I am writing this. Thus needs maintenance, so the funicular might be used once in a while. And if I was the maintenance manager I would say less is more.

Looking at the condition of the wooden parts of the vehicle, taking into account that it is exposed to the arctic climate and near a fjord which is a body of salt water, it is not sitting there abandoned for decades.

Anybody with more samples of funiculars? Maybe from the UK?
 #1467815  by ExCon90
 
There's one in Graz, Austria, which is right downtown and is almost vertical. There's one in Bergen, Norway, with a not-unusual intermediate station at the midpoint where the cars meet; there's also an additional station midway up the lower half. At the corresponding point in the upper half where the car stops and there is no station, there's a wayside sign to reassure passengers of the reason for the stop.
 #1469618  by ExCon90
 
A recent post in the thread on rack railways about one with street running reminded me of the Great Orme Tramway in Llandudno, North Wales, which I was unable to ride while there because of a recent collision between a tramcar and a road vehicle. As far as I could tell with the system not running, the cars are permanently attached to the cable, rather than grabbing and releasing as in San Francisco, which I assume would enable it to rate as a funicular.
 #1469641  by george matthews
 
ExCon90 wrote:A recent post in the thread on rack railways about one with street running reminded me of the Great Orme Tramway in Llandudno, North Wales, which I was unable to ride while there because of a recent collision between a tramcar and a road vehicle. As far as I could tell with the system not running, the cars are permanently attached to the cable, rather than grabbing and releasing as in San Francisco, which I assume would enable it to rate as a funicular.
The Great Orme tramway has two sections. The lower one ascends in a street track to an intermediate point. The passengers alight there and board a car on the second section. The second section is longer and ends at a summit with a restaurant and other attractions. It's not a straight run like most cable tracks but is more like a Swiss cable train. As far as I know it is unique in Britain, though I have never seen the Cairngorm funicular car.

I don't think the line is a rack railway. The cars are connected to cables. I suppose that the original builders didn't think a single cable could be made long enough so they divided the route into two sections.

BTW the grip is transferred at the end of the lines. The cable goes round the drum at the ends of the line. Clearly the grip cannot follow it round. So the grip must be released and then transferred to the cable travelling the opposite direction.

I rode it first in the 1940s and again about 5 years ago. I accompanied my late wife when I was showing her the sights of my youth.
 #1469741  by kato
 
george matthews wrote:I suppose that the original builders didn't think a single cable could be made long enough so they divided the route into two section.
Likely the case - the first funiculars exceeding about 4,000 ft in cable length were only built in the 1970s (there are various examples around about 3,600 ft for around 1900-1910, i.e. concurrent with Great Omre). Both sections of Great Omre taken together would have been 5,000 ft.

Aside from cable strength the peak load may also play a role. When starting a funicular, the motor has to drag the entire weight of the cable - for any sizable route far more weight than the waggons - uphill, hence having to be laid out for that.
 #1469785  by george matthews
 
Aside from cable strength the peak load may also play a role. When starting a funicular, the motor has to drag the entire weight of the cable - for any sizable route far more weight than the waggons - uphill, hence having to be laid out for that.
The descending car balances the rising car. But because of the distance the weight of the cable is probably more influential than the weight of the cars.
 #1470175  by NS3737
 
If you make a cable long enough it will break under its own weight no matter the diameter when it is hung vertically. The maximum length depends on two factors: the material strength in N/mm2 and material density kg/m3.

When applied for funicular railways the cable can be longer when the angle is less steep, but then the weight of the cars and the forces when accelerating have to be taken into account. The gentler the acceleration the longer the cable can be. With respect to the maximum length cable diameter does matter when taking the weight of the car and acceleration into the equation.