The town of Saltburn is built at the top of a cliffsome 120ft above the level of the lower promenade, which is quite a walk if you are on your way back to the town's hotels from the pier and beach, so the enterprising Victorians built this funicular railway. It was opened in 1884. It has a track length of 207ft, it's gradient is 71%, and each car holds 10-12 people.
The most novel feature of this funicular is that it is water powered. Below each car is a large water tank. The cars are joined by a cable that runs round a pulley wheel below the promenade at the top of the incline. The car at the bottom of the incline has an empty tank, and when the cards are ready to move the tank in the upper car is filled, the brakes are released, and by it's extra weight the upper car pulls the lower car up the incline as it descends. The process is controlled by a brakesman at the top of the incline.
Another attractive feature, not visible in this shot, is that the windows along each side of the cars contain stained glass.
This simple system has been used in other places and it works amazingly well as the fact that it is still in daily use over 130 years later confirms... Victorian engineering at its best. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you all for your comments and favs, they are all appreciated. I'm afraid that this kind of mechanism quite fascinates me, so there is a collage of more shots of this funicular posted on the 16th April.
Thank you all for your comments and favs, they are all appreciated. I'm afraid that this kind of mechanism quite fascinates me, so there is a collage of more shots of this funicular posted on the 16th April.
Ian