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Cable car (railway)
Encyclopedia
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
system using rail cars that are hauled by a continuously moving cable
Wire rope
thumb|Steel wire rope Wire rope is a type of rope which consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a helix. Initially wrought iron wires were used, but today steel is the main material used for wire ropes....
running at a constant speed. Individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required. Cable cars are distinct from funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
s, where the cars are permanently attached to the cable, and cable railway
Cable railway
A cable railway is a steeply graded railway that uses a cable or rope to haul trains.-Introduction:...
s, which are similar to funiculars, but where the rail vehicles are attached and detached manually.
History
London and Blackwall Railway
Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway was a railway line in east London, England. It ran from the Minories to Blackwall via Stepney, with a branch line to the Isle of Dogs, thus connecting central London to many of London's docks in the 19th and 20th centuries...
, which opened in east London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, in 1840. However the rope available at the time proved too susceptible to wear and the system was abandoned in favour of steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s after eight years. Though there may have been earlier attempts to pull cars by endless ropes, the first cable car installation in operation was the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway
IRT Ninth Avenue Line
The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue El, was the first elevated railway in New York City. It opened in 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-hauled line. It ceased operation in 1940....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which ran from 1 July 1868 to 1870. The cable technology used in this elevated railway involved collar-equipped cables and claw-equipped cars, and proved cumbersome. The line was closed and rebuilt, and reopened with steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s.
Other cable cars to use grips were those of the Clay Street Hill Railroad
Clay Street Hill Railroad
The Clay Street Hill Railroad was the first successful cable hauled street railway. It was located on Clay Street, a notably steep street in San Francisco in California, and first operated in August 1873....
, which later became part of the San Francisco cable car system
San Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...
. The building of this line was promoted by Andrew Smith Hallidie
Andrew Smith Hallidie
Andrew Smith Hallidie was the promoter of the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, USA. This was the world's first practical cable car system, and Hallidie is often therefore regarded as the inventor of the cable car and father of the present day San Francisco cable car system, although...
with design work by William Eppelsheimer
William Eppelsheimer
William E. Eppelsheimer was a tramway engineer known for his work on cable car systems. He was born and studied engineering in what is now Germany. Eppelsheimer designed the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco...
, and it was first tested in 1873. The success of these grips ensured that this line became the model for other cable car transit systems, and this model is often known as the Hallidie Cable Car.
In 1881 the Dunedin cable tramway system
Dunedin cable tramway system
The Dunedin cable tramway system was a group of cable tramway lines in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is significant as Dunedin was the second city in the world to adopt the cable car .- History :...
opened in Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and became the first such system outside San Francisco. For Dunedin, George Smith Duncan
George Smith Duncan
George Smith Duncan was a tramway and mining engineer best known for his work on cable trams, and for his work in the gold mining industry.Duncan was born in the New Zealand city of Dunedin in 1852, the son of recent Scottish immigrants...
further developed the Hallidie model, introducing the pull curve and the slot brake; the former was a way to pull cars through a curve, since Dunedin's curves were too steep to allow coasting, while the latter forced a wedge down into the cable slot to stop the car. Both of these innovations were generally adopted by other cities, including San Francisco.
Cable cars rapidly spread to other cities, although the major attraction for most was the ability to displace horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
(or mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
-drawn) systems rather than the ability to climb hills. Many people at the time viewed horse-drawn transit as unnecessarily cruel, and the fact that a typical horse could work only four or five hours per day necessitated the maintenance of large stables of draft animals that had to be fed, housed, groomed, medicated and rested. Thus for a period economics worked in favour of cable cars even in relatively flat cities.
For example, the Chicago City Railway
Chicago City Railway
The Chicago City Railway was a cable car system, designed by William Eppelsheimer and opened in Chicago in 1882.This system was to become, for a while, the largest and most profitable cable car system in the world. Counter to some people's expectations, the cable cars did not suffer much from the...
, also designed by Eppelsheimer, opened in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1882 and went on to become the largest and most profitable cable car system. As with many cities, the problem in flat Chicago was not one of grades but of transportation capacity. This caused a different approach to the combination of grip car and trailer. Rather than using a grip car and single trailer, as many cities did, or combining the grip and trailer into a single car, like San Francisco's California Cars, Chicago used grip cars to pull trains of up to three trailers.
In 1883 the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway was opened, which had a most curious feature: though it was a cable car system, it used steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s to get the cars into and out of the terminals. After 1896 the system changed to one where a motor car was added to each train to maneuver at the terminals, while en route the trains were still propelled by the cable.
Kirkdale, Liverpool
Kirkdale is a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council ward that covers both Kirkdale and Vauxhall. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 15,653.-Description:...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. This would have been the first cable car system in Europe, but the company decided against implementing it. Instead the distinction went to the 1884 route from Archway to Highgate
Highgate
Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
, north London, which used a continuous cable and grip system on the 1 in 11 (9%) climb of Highgate Hill. The installation was not reliable and was replaced by electric traction in 1909. Other cable car systems were implemented in Europe, though, among which was the Glasgow District Subway
Glasgow Subway
The Glasgow Subway is an underground metro line in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro. Formerly a cable railway, the Subway was later electrified, but its twin circular lines...
, the first underground cable car system, in 1896. (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's first deep-level tube railway, the City & South London Railway
City & South London Railway
The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction...
, had earlier also been built for cable haulage but had been converted to electric traction before opening in 1890.) A few more cable car systems were built in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, but European cities, having many more curves in their streets, were less suitable for cable cars than American cities.
Though some new cable car systems were still being built, by 1890 the cheaper to construct and simpler to operate electrically
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
-powered trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
or tram started to become the norm, and eventually started to replace existing cable car systems. For a while hybrid cable/electric systems operated, for example in Chicago where electric cars had to be pulled by grip cars through the loop area, due to the lack of trolley wires there. Eventually, San Francisco became the only street-running manually-operated system to survive—Dunedin, the second city with such cars, was also the second-last city to operate them, closing down in 1957.
In the last decades of the 20th century cable traction in general has seen a limited revival as automatic people movers
People mover
A people mover or automated people mover is a fully automated, grade-separated mass transit system.The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated...
, used in resort areas, airports (for example, Toronto Airport) and huge hospital centers. While many of these systems involve cars permanently attached to the cable, the system developed by Poma-Otis, a company formed by the merger of the cable car interests of the Pomagalski ski lift company and the Otis Elevator Company
Otis Elevator Company
The Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally focusing on elevators and escalators...
, allows the car to be decoupled from the cable under computer control, and can thus be considered a modern interpretation of the cable car.
Operation
The cable is itself powered by a stationary motor or engine situated in a cable house or power house. The speed at which it moves is relatively constant, although affected by the current load.The cable car begins moving when a clamping device, called a grip
Cable grip
A cable grip is a device for propelling a vehicle by attaching to a wire cable running at a constant speed. The vehicle may be suspended from the cable, as in the case of aerial lifts such as a gondola lift , may be guided by rails, as in a cable traction railway, or may be self-guiding, as in a...
, is connected to the moving cable, and applies pressure. Conversely the car is stopped by releasing pressure on the cable (with or without completely detaching) and applying the brakes. This gripping and ungripping action may be manual, as was the case in all early cable car systems, or automatic, as is the case in some recent cable operated people mover
People mover
A people mover or automated people mover is a fully automated, grade-separated mass transit system.The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated...
type systems. Gripping must be an even and gradual process in order to avoid bringing the car to cable speed too quickly and unacceptably jarring the passenger
Passenger
A passenger is a term broadly used to describe any person who travels in a vehicle, but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination....
s.
In the case of manual systems, the grip resembles a very large pair of pliers
Pliers
Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, for bending, or physical compression. Generally, pliers consist of a pair of metal first-class levers joined at a fulcrum positioned closer to one end of the levers, creating short jaws on one side of the fulcrum, and longer handles on the other...
, and considerable strength and skill are required to operate the car. As many early cable car operators discovered the hard way, if the grip is not applied properly, it can damage the cable, or even worse, become entangled in the cable. In the latter case, the cable car may not be able to stop and can wreak havoc along its route until the cable house realizes the mishap and halts the cable.
One claimed advantage of the cable car is its relative energy efficiency, because of the economy of centrally-located power stations, and the ability of descending cars to transfer energy to ascending cars. This advantage is not unique to cable cars, as electric cars with regenerative braking offer the same advantages, and in any case they must be offset against the cost of moving the cable. In the case of steep grades, however, cable traction has the advantage of not depending on adhesion between wheels and rails
Rail adhesion
The term adhesion railway or adhesion traction describes the most common type of railway, where power is applied by driving some or all of the wheels of the locomotive. Thus, it relies on the friction between a steel wheel and a steel rail. Note that steam locomotives of old were driven only by...
.
Because of the constant and relatively low speed, cable cars can be underestimated in an accident. Even with a cable car traveling at only 9 miles per hour, the mass of the cable car and the combined strength of the cables can do quite a lot of harm in a collision.
Relation to Funiculars
A cable car is superficially similar to a funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
, but differs from such a system in that its cars are not permanently attached to the cable and can stop independently, whereas a funicular has cars that are permanently attached to the propulsion cable, which is itself stopped and started. A cable car cannot climb as steep a grade as a funicular, but many more cars can be operated with a single cable, making it more flexible, and allowing a higher capacity. During the rush hour on San Francisco's Market Street Railway, a car would leave the terminal every 15 seconds.
A few funicular railways operate in street traffic, and because of this operation are often incorrectly described a cable cars. Examples of such operation, and the consequent confusion, are:
- The Great Orme TramwayGreat Orme TramwayThe Great Orme Tramway is a cable-hauled gauge tramway in Llandudno in north Wales.This is Great Britain's only remaining cable operated street tramway and one of only three surviving in the world . It takes passengers from Llandudno Victoria Station to just below the summit of the Great Orme...
in LlandudnoLlandudnoLlandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
, WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. - Several street funiculars in LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
.
Even more confusingly, a hybrid cable car/funicular line once existed in the form of the original Wellington Cable Car
Wellington Cable Car
The Wellington Cable Car is a funicular railway in Wellington, New Zealand between Lambton Quay, the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city, rising 120 m over a length of 612 m. It is widely recognised as a symbol of Wellington.-Track and stations:The...
, in the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
city of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. This line had both a continuous loop haulage cable that the cars gripped using a cable car gripper, and a balance cable permanently attached to both cars over an undriven pulley at the top of the line. The descending car gripped the haulage cable and was pulled downhill, in turn pulling the ascending car (which remained ungripped) uphill by the balance cable. This line was rebuilt in 1979 and is now a standard funicular, although it retains its old cable car name.
Traditional cable car systems
The best known existing cable car system is the San Francisco cable car systemSan Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...
in the city of San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. San Francisco's cable cars constitute the oldest and largest such system in permanent operation, and it is the only one to still operate in the traditional manner with manually operated cars running in street traffic.
Modern cable car systems
Several cities operate a modern version of the cable car system. These systems are fully automated and run on their own reserved right of way. They are commonly referred to as people moverPeople mover
A people mover or automated people mover is a fully automated, grade-separated mass transit system.The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated...
s, although that term is also applied to systems with other forms of propulsion, including funicular style cable propulsion.
These cities include:
- LaonLaonLaon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Poma 2000Poma 2000The Poma 2000 in Laon, France, is an automated guideway transit, a cable-driven people mover which runs between the railway station and the city hall ....
) - Las VegasLas Vegas StripThe Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Two lines linking the Mandalay BayMandalay Bay Resort and CasinoMandalay Bay Resort and Casino is a 44-story luxury hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by MGM Resorts International. Five floors of the main hotel building are occupied by the five-star and AAA Five-Diamond Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas...
, Luxor, and ExcaliburExcalibur Hotel and CasinoThe Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, in the United States. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts International....
hotels. - MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(connecting the San Raffaele Hospital with Cascina Gobba station (M2)) - VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The Venice People Mover connects the Isola del Tronchetto with Piazzale Roma. - PerugiaPerugiaPerugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(MiniMetroMiniMetroThe Minimetrò is an automated people mover on rail, built by the Leitner Group from South Tyrol in northern Italy. Leitner has a test track for the vehicles in Sterzing. Current maximum capacity of the system is around 8000 passengers per hour.-Perugia:...
)
Australia
- MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(1885–1940, the Melbourne cable tramway systemMelbourne cable tramway systemThe Melbourne cable tramway system was a cable car public transportation system operated from 1885 to 1940 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
) - SydneyTrams in SydneyThe Sydney tramway network once served Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia. In its heyday, it was the largest in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth , and one of the largest in the world. It was extremely intensively worked, with about 1,600 cars in service at any...
(1886–1905)
New Zealand
- DunedinDunedinDunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
(1881–1957, the Dunedin cable tramway systemDunedin cable tramway systemThe Dunedin cable tramway system was a group of cable tramway lines in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is significant as Dunedin was the second city in the world to adopt the cable car .- History :...
) - WellingtonWellingtonWellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
(1902–1979, the original Wellington Cable CarWellington Cable CarThe Wellington Cable Car is a funicular railway in Wellington, New Zealand between Lambton Quay, the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city, rising 120 m over a length of 612 m. It is widely recognised as a symbol of Wellington.-Track and stations:The...
hybrid system)
Portugal
- LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
(converted to regular tramTrams in LisbonThe Lisbon tramway network serves the municipality of Lisbon, capital city of Portugal. In operation since 1873, it presently comprises five urban lines, and is primarily a tourist attraction.-History:...
lines in the early 1900s: São Sebastião, Estrela, and Graça)
United Kingdom
- EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
(Edinburgh Corporation TramwaysEdinburgh Corporation TramwaysEdinburgh Corporation Tramways formerly served the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. The city used four-wheeled double-decked trams painted dark red and white - a livery still used by Lothian Buses.-Origins:...
, 1899–1923 (replaced by electric trams)) - GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
(Glasgow SubwayGlasgow SubwayThe Glasgow Subway is an underground metro line in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro. Formerly a cable railway, the Subway was later electrified, but its twin circular lines...
, 1896–1935, converted to electric traction) - HastingsHastingsHastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
- LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
(trial in 1883) - LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(1884–1909, connecting Archway with HighgateHighgateHighgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
, the first cable car in regular operation in Europe) - Matlock (1893–1927, the Matlock Cable TramwayMatlock Cable TramwayMatlock Cable Tramway was cable tramway that served the town of Matlock between 28 March 1893 and 30 September 1927. The tramway ran between Matlock railway station and the Hydro Spa Hotels of Smedley's and Rockside...
)
United States
- BaltimoreBaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, MarylandMarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
(1890–1897) - Binghamton, New YorkBinghamton, New YorkBinghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
(trial in 1885) - Brooklyn, New YorkBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
- New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway
- Brooklyn Cable Company's Park Avenue Line
- Brooklyn Heights RailroadBrooklyn Heights RailroadThe Brooklyn Heights Railroad was a street railway company in the U.S. state of New York. It leased and operated the streetcar lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, but started out with the Montague Street Line, a short cable car line connecting the Wall Street Ferry with downtown Brooklyn...
's Montague Street Line
- Butte, MontanaButte, MontanaButte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
(1889–1897) - Chicago, IllinoisChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(1882–1906, the Chicago City RailwayChicago City RailwayThe Chicago City Railway was a cable car system, designed by William Eppelsheimer and opened in Chicago in 1882.This system was to become, for a while, the largest and most profitable cable car system in the world. Counter to some people's expectations, the cable cars did not suffer much from the...
) - Cincinnati, Ohio
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Denver, Colorado (1886–1900, the Denver TramwayDenver TramwayThe Denver Tramway, operating in Denver, Colorado was incorporated in 1886. The tramway was unusual for a number of reasons: the term "tramway" is generally not used in the United States, and it is not known why the company was named as such...
) - Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
- Hoboken, New JerseyHoboken, New JerseyHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
(1886–1892, the North Hudson County RailwayNorth Hudson County RailwayThe North Hudson Railway Company built and operated a streetcar system in Hudson County and southeast Bergen County, New Jersey before and after the turn of twentieth century. It was founded by John Bonn, and eventually taken over by the Public Service Railway...
's Hoboken Elevated) - Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
- Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(1885–1902, the Second Street Cable RailwaySecond Street Cable RailwayThe Second Street Cable Railway was a cable car system which opened in Los Angeles in 1885. Running from Second and Spring Streets to First Street and Belmont Avenue, it was a single track system, with sidings where a down-hill car could coast past an up-hill car...
and others) - New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
- West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway's Ninth Avenue Line
- New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway
- Third Avenue Railroad's 125th Street Crosstown Line
- Third Avenue Railroad's Third Avenue Line
- Metropolitan Street Railway's Broadway LineBroadway Line (Lower Manhattan surface)The Broadway Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, United States, running mostly along Broadway and Seventh Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Central Park. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the southbound direction of the M5 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit...
- Metropolitan Street Railway's Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line
- Metropolitan Street Railway's Broadway and Lexington Avenue Line
- Newark, New JerseyNewark, New JerseyNewark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
(1888–1889) - Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
(1886–1899) - Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, NebraskaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
(1890–1904) - Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode IslandProvidence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
- Saint Louis, Missouri
- Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
- San Diego, California (1890–1892)
- Seattle, Washington (1888–1940)
- Sioux City, IowaSioux City, IowaSioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
- Spokane, WashingtonSpokane, WashingtonSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
- Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
(1891–1938) - Tulsa, OklahomaTulsa, OklahomaTulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
- Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(1890–1899, part of the Washington streetcar systemWashington streetcarsFor just under 100 years, between 1862 and 1962, streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region.The first streetcars in Washington D.C...
) - Wichita, KansasWichita, KansasWichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
See also
- Aerial tramwayAerial tramwayAn aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
- Cable car (disambiguation)
- Cable railwayCable railwayA cable railway is a steeply graded railway that uses a cable or rope to haul trains.-Introduction:...
- Cable ferryCable ferryA cable ferry is guided and in many cases propelled across a river or other larger body of water by cables connected to both shores. They are also called chain ferries, floating bridges, or punts....
- ElevatorElevatorAn elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
- FunicularFunicularA funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
- Grade (slope)
- Rack railwayRack railwayA rack-and-pinion railway is a railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail...
(Cog railway) - Reaction ferryReaction ferryA reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the river...
- San Francisco cable car systemSan Francisco cable car systemThe San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...
General
- Of Cables and Grips: The Cable Cars of San Francisco, by Robert Callwell and Walter Rice, published by Friends of the Cable Car Museum, first edition, 2000.
External links
Information- Cable Car Museum
- Cable Car Guy
- The Cable Building (New York City) Broadway Cable car line.
- How Cable Cars Operate San Francisco Cable Car Museum
- San Francisco Cable Car Movie from 1905
Patents—Railroad track—Endless wire ropeway