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37-569: Cable car street railways first began operating in Los Angeles in 1885 and lasted until 1902, when the lines were electrified and electric streetcars were introduced largely following the cable car routes. There were roughly 25 miles (40 km) of routes, connecting 1st and Main in what was then the Los Angeles Central Business District as far as the communities known today as Lincoln Heights , Echo Park / Filipinotown , and

74-433: A water wheel . In a gravity balance system two parallel tracks are employed with ascending trains on one and descending trains on the adjacent track. A single cable is attached to both trains, wound round a winding drum at the top of the incline to provide braking. The weight of the loaded descending cars is used to lift the ascending empties. This form of cable railway can only be used to move loads downhill and requires

111-423: A horizontal platform on which the slate wagons rode. This is a variant of the gravity balance incline that can be used to move loads uphill. A water tank is attached to the descending train. The tank is filled with water until the combined weight of the filled tank and train is greater than the weight of the loaded train that will be hauled uphill. The water is either carried in an additional water wagon attached to

148-488: A stationary engine and later a bank engine running on a second track. The height difference was 82 metres over a 2.5 kilometre length (1845–1926) Matth%C3%A4us Lang Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg (1469 – 30 March 1540) was a statesman of the Holy Roman Empire , a Cardinal and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1519 to 1540. Matthäus Lang was the son of a burgher of Augsburg and later received

185-585: A wider space than a stationary engine-driven incline, but has the advantage of not requiring external power, and therefore costs less to operate. A variation of the gravity balance incline was the trwnc incline found at slate quarries in north Wales , notably the Dinorwic Quarry and several in Blaenau Ffestiniog . These were worked by gravity, but instead of the wagons running on their own wheels, permanently attached angled wagons were used that had

222-440: Is most commonly used for a temporary incline where setting up the infrastructure of a winding drum and stationary engine is not appropriate. It is similarly employed for recovery operations where derailed rolling stock must be hauled back to the permanent track. While the majority of cable railways moved trains over steep inclines, there are examples of cable-haulage on railways that did not have steep grades. The Glasgow Subway

259-755: The Australian Agricultural Company coal mine. B Pit opened 1837 and C Pit opened mid-1842. All were private operations by the same company. The majority of inclines were used in industrial settings, predominantly in quarries and mines, or to ship bulk goods over a barrier ridgeline as the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Ashley Planes feeder railway shipped coal from the Pennsylvania Canal / Susquehanna basin via Mountain Top to

296-746: The Lehigh Canal in the Delaware River Basin. The Welsh slate industry made extensive use of gravity balance and water balance inclines to connect quarry galleries and underground chambers with the mills where slate was processed. Examples of substantial inclines were found in the quarries feeding the Ffestiniog Railway , the Talyllyn Railway and the Corris Railway amongst others. The Ashley Planes were used to transship heavy cargo over

333-567: The Pico-Union district. The first cable cars climbed Bunker Hill on October 8, 1885. A total of three companies operated in the period through 1902. The Los Angeles Cable Railway operated the system of the greatest length at 108,274 feet (21 mi; 33 km) of track, featuring: 99,328 feet (19 mi; 30 km) of straight surface tracks; 4,250 feet (1,300 m) of viaducts, 2,124 feet (650 m) of bridges, 2,010 feet (610 m) of curves, and 562 feet (170 m) of pits. It operated

370-516: The Lehigh-Susquehanna drainage divide for over a hundred years and became uneconomic only when average locomotive traction engines became heavy and powerful enough that could haul long consists at speed past such obstructions yard to yard faster, even if the more roundabout route added mileage. Level tracks are arranged above and below the gradient to allow wagons to be moved onto the incline either singly or in short rakes of two or more. On

407-551: The archbishop's Burg Hohenwerfen and even laid siege to his residence at Hohensalzburg , until they were finally defeated with the aid of troops provided by the Swabian League . Cardinal Lang was one of the chief ministers of Charles V ; he played an important part in the tangled international negotiations of his time; and he was always loyal to his imperial masters. Not without reason has he been compared with Cardinal Wolsey . The writer and courtier Maximilianus Transylvanus ,

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444-418: The ballast method and two as conventional gravity balance. Inclines are classified by the power source used to wind the cable. A stationary engine drives the winding drum that hauls the wagons to the top of the inclined plane and may provide braking for descending loads. Only a single track and cable is required for this type. The stationary engine may be a steam or internal combustion engine, or may be

481-575: The belief that locomotive haulage was impracticable. The Rainhill Trials showed that locomotives could handle 1 in 100 gradients . In 1832, the 1 in 17 Bagworth incline opened on Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line ; the incline was bypassed in 1848. On July 20, 1837, the Camden Incline , between Euston and Primrose Hill on the London and Birmingham Railway opened. A Pit fishbelly gravitational railway operated between 1831 and 1846 to service

518-444: The cable railway part way along its length. Various methods were used to achieve this. One arrangement used at the Dinorwic Quarry was known as the "Ballast" method. This involved a two track incline with one track reserved for fully loaded wagons and the second used by partially loaded wagons. The line used by the partially loaded wagons was known as the "ballast" track and it had a stop placed on it part way down. The distance from

555-549: The cars are permanently attached to the cable. In other forms, the cars attach and detach to the cable at the ends of the cable railway. Some cable railways are not steeply graded - these are often used in quarries to move large numbers of wagons between the quarry to the processing plant. The oldest extant cable railway is probably the Reisszug , a private line providing goods access to Hohensalzburg Fortress at Salzburg in Austria. It

592-710: The cathedral at Augsburg and five years later with the position of the Bishop of Gurk . He also received the Bishopric of Cartagena in Murcia in 1510 and was appointed cardinal by Pope Julius II one year later. In 1514 he became coadjutor to Leonhard von Keutschach , the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop , whom he succeeded in 1519. He received the title of a Cardinal Bishop of the Suburbicarian diocese of Albano in 1535. In

629-588: The course of the Protestant Reformation Lang's adherence to the older faith, together with his pride and arrogance, made him very unpopular in his Salzburg diocese. As early as in 1523 he was involved in a serious struggle with his subjects in the City of Salzburg , and in 1525, during the German Peasants' War , he had again to fight hard to hold his own. Insurgents occupied the town of Hallein , devastated

666-524: The descending train, or is carried underneath a trwnc car on which the empty train sits. This type of incline is especially associated with the Aberllefenni Slate Quarry that supplied the Corris Railway. This form of incline has the advantages of a gravity balance system with the added ability to haul loads uphill. It is only practical where a large supply of water is available at the top of

703-408: The drum braking system. At Maenofferen Quarry a system was installed that raised a short section of the rail at the head of the incline to prevent runaways. The operation of an incline was typically controlled by the brakesman positioned at the winding house. A variety of systems were used to communicate with workers at the bottom of the incline, whose job it was to attach and detach the wagons from

740-575: The early days of the Industrial Revolution , several railways used cable haulage in preference to locomotives, especially over steep inclines. The Bowes Railway on the outskirts of Gateshead opened in 1826. Today it is the world's only preserved operational 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge cable railway system. The Cromford and High Peak Railway opened in 1831 with grades up to 1 in 8. There were nine inclined planes: eight were engine-powered, one

777-529: The following lines as of August 1888: The Temple Street Cable Railway began service on July 14, 1886. It was bought by and merged into the Pacific Electric Railway , which replaced the cable cars with electric streetcar service on October 2, 1902. The route was transferred to the Los Angeles Railway in 1910. Service on the last remaining portion of the route was discontinued in 1946. The route

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814-416: The incline cable. One of the most common communication methods was a simple electrical bell system. Cable railways were often used within quarries to connect working levels. Sometimes a single cable railway would span multiple levels, allowing wagons to be moved between the furthest levels in a single movement. In order to accommodate intermediate levels, turnouts were used to allow wagons to leave and join

851-430: The incline itself the tracks may be interlaced to reduce the width of land needed. This requires use of gauntlet track : either a single track of two rails, or a three-rail track where trains share a common rail; at the centre of the incline there will be a passing track to allow the ascending and descending trains to pass each other. Railway workers attach the cable to the upper wagon, and detach it when it arrives at

888-422: The incline. An example of this type of cable railway is the passenger carrying Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway . An uncommon form of cable railway uses locomotives, fitted with a winding drum, to power the cable. With the cable or chain attached to the wagons to be drawn, but the drive to the drum disengaged, the locomotive climbs the slope under its own power. When the cable is nearly at its full extent, or when

925-417: The noble title of Wellenburg after a castle near his hometown that came into his possession in 1507. After studying at Ingolstadt , Vienna and Tübingen he entered the service of Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg and quickly made his way to the front. He was also one of the most trusted advisers of Frederick's son and successor Maximilian I , and his services were rewarded in 1500 with the provostship of

962-415: The other end of the incline. Generally, special-purpose safety couplings are used rather than the ordinary wagon couplings. The cables may be guided between the rails on the incline by a series of rollers so that they do not fall across the rail where they would be damaged by the wheels on the wagons. Occasionally inclines were used to move locomotives between levels, but these were comparatively rare as it

999-478: The summit is reached, the locomotive is fastened to the rails and the cable wound in. In a simpler form the cable is attached to a locomotive, usually at the upper end of the incline. The locomotive is driven away from the head of the incline, hauling wagons up the inclined plane. The locomotive itself does not travel on the steeply graded section. An example is at the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum . This

1036-442: The top of the incline to the stop was the same as the distance that the fully loaded wagons needed to travel. Empty wagons were hauled up the incline, counterbalanced by the descending ballast wagons. These empty wagons were replaced by fully loaded wagons ready to descend. The descending loaded wagons then returned the ballast wagons to the top of the incline. One of the major inclines at Dinorwic had four parallel tracks, two worked by

1073-403: Was 8,725 feet (1.7 mi; 2.7 km) long and went along Temple St. from Spring St. west to Edgeware Road in today's Echo Park district , just southeast of Angelino Heights . The Second Street Cable Railroad began service October 8, 1885 and ended service October 13, 1889. It operated one route via Second Street west, up Bunker Hill , to Second and Texas (now Belmont) Street. The powerhouse

1110-500: Was a tourist railway which featured a funicular section. Cable railway The most common use for a cable railway is to move vehicles on a steeply graded line that is too steep for conventional locomotives to operate on – this form of cable railway is often called an incline or inclined plane , or, in New Zealand, a jigline , or jig line . One common form of incline is the funicular – an isolated passenger railway where

1147-771: Was at Second at Boylston, now a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power installation. Near the terminus at First and Belmont Avenue, a railroad line ran to Gardner Junction at what is now Gardner and Sunset in Hollywood; from Belmont to Temple, Coronado, south on a private right-of-way to First; on First and private right-of-way to Western and Temple, via Western to Hollywood Boulevard west and via private right-of-way to Gardner Junction. The Pacific Electric acquired this line and ran interurbans on it. Los Angeles also hosted several funicular railways. Angels Flight operated in Downtown Los Angeles from 1901 to 1969 when its site

Cable cars and funiculars in Los Angeles - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-566: Was cable-hauled from its opening in 1896 until it was converted to electric power in 1935. A few examples exist of cables being used on conventional railways to assist locomotives on steep grades. The Cowlairs incline was an example of this, with a continuous rope used on this section from 1842 until 1908. The middle section of the Erkrath-Hochdahl Railway in Germany (1841–1926) had an inclined plane where trains were assisted by rope from

1221-488: Was cleared for redevelopment. The railway was rebuilt south of its original location in 1996. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1962 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Court Flight ran up Bunker Hill between Broadway and Hill along "Court Street", between Temple and 1st. It operated from 1905 to 1943 when it was destroyed in a fire. The Mount Lowe Railway

1258-417: 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. This line is generally described as the oldest funicular. In

1295-425: Was normally cheaper to provide a separate fleet of locomotives on either side of the incline, or else to work the level sections with horses. On early railways, cable-worked inclines were also used on some passenger lines. The speed of the wagons was usually controlled by means of a brake that acted on the winding drum at the head of the incline. The incline cable passed round the drum several times to ensure there

1332-434: Was operated by a horse gin . The Middleton Top winding engine house at the summit of Middleton Incline has been preserved and the ancient steam engine inside, once used to haul wagons up, is often demonstrated. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830 with cable haulage down a 1 in 48 grade to the dockside at Liverpool . It was originally designed for cable haulage up and down 1 in 100 grades at Rainhill in

1369-419: Was sufficient friction for the brake to slow the rotation of the drum – and therefore the wagons – without the cable slipping. At the head of the incline various devices were employed to ensure that wagons did not start to descend before they were attached to the cable. These ranged from simple lumps of rock wedged behind the wagon's wheels to permanently installed chocks that were mechanically synchronized with

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