Funicular

In a funicular, both cars are permanently connected to the opposite ends of the same cable, known as a haul rope; this haul rope runs through a system of pulleys at the upper end of the line. If the railway track is not perfectly straight, the cable is guided along the track using sheaves – unpowered pulleys that allow the cable to change direction. While one car is pulled upwards by one end of the haul rope, the other car descends the slope at the other end. Since the weight of the two cars is counterbalanced (except for the difference in the weight of passengers), the engine only has to provide energy to pull the excess passengers in the uphill car and the cable itself, plus the energy lost to friction by the cars' wheels and the pulleys. It is also used in systems where the engine room is located at the lower end of the track (such as the upper half of the Great Orme Tramway) – in such systems, the cable that runs through the top of the incline is still necessary to prevent the carriages from coasting down the incline. Types of power systems Cable drive wheelset with Abt rack and pinion brake In most modern funiculars, neither of the two carriages is equipped with an engine of its own; propulsion is provided by an electric motor in the engine room (typically at the upper end of the track), linked via a speed-reducing gearbox to a large pulley – a drive bullwheel – which then controls the movement of the haul rope using friction. Some early funiculars were powered in the same way, but using steam engines or other types of motors. The bullwheel has two grooves: after the first half turn around it, the cable returns via an auxiliary pulley. This arrangement has the advantage of providing twice the contact area between the cable and the groove and of returning the downward-moving cable to the same plane as the upward-moving one. Modern installations use high-friction liners to increase the friction between the bullwheel grooves and the cable. There are two sets of brakes in the engine room: an emergency brake that directly grips the bullwheel and a service brake mounted at the high-speed shaft of the gear. The cars are also equipped with spring-applied, hydraulically opened rail brakes for emergency use. The Abt rack and pinion system was also used on some funiculars for speed control or emergency braking. Water counterbalancing Many early funiculars were built using water tanks under the floor of each car, which were filled or emptied until just sufficient imbalance was achieved to allow movement, and a few funiculars still operate that way. The car at the top of the hill is loaded with water until it is heavier than the car at the bottom, causing it to descend the hill and pull the other car up. The water is drained at the bottom, and the process repeats with the cars exchanging roles. The movement is controlled by a brakeman using the brake handle of the rack-and-pinion system, engaged with the rack mounted between the rails. is of particular interest as it utilizes waste water, coming from a sewage plant at the upper part of the city. Some funiculars of this type were later converted to electrical power. For example, the Giessbachbahn in the Swiss canton of Bern, opened in 1879, was originally powered by water ballast. In 1912, its energy supply was replaced with a hydraulic engine powered by a Pelton turbine, which was replaced in 1948 by an electric motor. The lack of moving parts on the track makes this system cost-effective and reliable compared to other systems. File:Six and Seven , Great Orme tramway , Llandudno.jpg|The two cars on the upper half of the Great Orme Tramway passing each other at a switch-controlled passing loop File:Heidelberg funicular wheelset.jpg|Wheelset of a two-rail funicular with the Abt switch turnout system Stations —they both stop when one of them is at Nebozízek station (foreground), and the other is between stations. Most funiculars have two stations, one at the top and one at the bottom of the track. However, some systems have been built with additional intermediate stations. Because of the nature of a funicular system, intermediate stations are usually built symmetrically about the midpoint, allowing both cars to call at a station simultaneously. Examples of funiculars with more than two stations include the Wellington Cable Car in New Zealand with five stations, including one at the passing loop, and the Carmelit in Haifa, Israel with six stations, three on each side of the passing loop. There are a few funiculars with asymmetrically placed stations. For example, the Petřín funicular in Prague has three stations: one at each end, and a third (Nebozízek) a short way up from the passing loop. Because of this arrangement, when a car on one side stops at Nebozízek, the car on the other side stops without a station access. ==History==

Several cable railway systems, which pull their cars on inclined slopes, have been built since the 1820s. In the second half of the 19th century, the design of a funicular as a transit system emerged. It was especially attractive compared with other systems of the time, as counterbalancing the cars was deemed a cost-cutting solution. In Istanbul, Turkey, the Tünel has been in continuous operation since 1875 and is both the first underground funicular and the second-oldest underground railway. It remained powered by a steam engine up until it was taken for renovation in 1968. Until the end of the 1870s, the four-rail parallel-track funicular was the normal configuration. Carl Roman Abt developed the Abt Switch, allowing the two-rail layout, which was used for the first time in 1879 when the Giessbach Funicular opened in Switzerland. The Mount Lowe Railway in Altadena, California, was the first mountain railway in the United States to use the three-rail layout. Three- and two-rail layouts considerably reduced the space required to build a funicular, lowering grading costs on mountain slopes and property costs for urban funiculars. These layouts enabled a boom in funiculars in the latter half of the 19th century. Currently, the United States' oldest and steepest funicular in continuous use is the Monongahela Incline located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Construction began in 1869, and the line officially opened to passenger traffic on 28 May 1870. The Monongahela incline also has the distinction of being the first funicular in the United States for strictly passenger use and not freight. In 1880, the funicular of Mount Vesuvius inspired the Italian popular song Funiculì, Funiculà. This funicular was repeatedly destroyed by volcanic eruptions and was abandoned after the 1944 eruption. == Exceptional examples ==

According to the Guinness World Records, the smallest public funicular in the world is the Fisherman's Walk Cliff Railway in Bournemouth, England, which is long. Stoosbahn in Switzerland, with a maximum slope of 110% (47.7°), is the steepest funicular in the world. The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, built in 1888, is the steepest and longest water-powered funicular in the world. It climbs vertically on a 58% gradient. The city of Valparaíso in Chile used to have up to 30 funicular elevators (). The oldest of them dates from 1883. 15 remain with almost half in operation, and others in various stages of restoration. The Carmelit in Haifa, Israel, with six stations and a 1.8 km (1.1 mi) tunnel, is recognized by Guinness World Records as the "least extensive metro" in the world. The Fribourg funicular is the only funicular in the world powered by wastewater. ==Comparison with inclined elevators==

Some inclined elevators are incorrectly called funiculars. On an inclined elevator, the cars operate independently rather than in interconnected pairs, and are lifted uphill. == See also ==