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May 28, 2018
Portland Aerial Tram

Urban Ropeway Maintenance: Portland Aerial Tram

— Not so dissimilar to any transit system or piece of machinery, urban ropeways require regular upkeep to ensure that operations remain trouble-free. A cable transport line’s maintenance regime will depend on a number of factors which include items related to technology choice, equipment, regulations/codes, number of operating hours and much more. To put it...

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Jan 29, 2017
Photo of the Week, Portland Aerial Tram

Photo of the Week: Portland Aerial Tram Turns 10!

Fun day with @cambriacsmith. We took a ride on this animal. #portland A photo posted by Brandon Smith (@bdsmith84) on Jan 28, 2017 at 7:02pm PST Happy birthday to @theportlandtram! 10 years young! #tramturns10 A photo posted by PBOT (@pbotinfo) on Jan 27, 2017 at 9:43am PST It's the 10th anniversary of the Portland Tram….lots...

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Dec 16, 2016
Photo of the Week, Portland Aerial Tram

Photo of the Week: Portland Aerial Tram

Aerial Tram in October ✔️ #aerialtram #pdxnow #portland #fall #october #pdx #pnwonderland #travelportland #citylife #partnersinreallife #weekend #touristfun #pnw #mthood #keepportlandwired #halloweentown A photo posted by Starbucks Coffee – Portland (@keepportlandwired) on Oct 22, 2016 at 4:32pm PDT 🚋 🏡🌆❤️😮🏙🌲😌 #fall #fallseason #adventure #tram #pnw #instagramhub #instacool #instagood #beautiful #pnwonderland #pnwcollective #pacificnorthwest #nature #upperleftusa #naturephotography #naturelovers...

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Jun 08, 2016
Photo of the Week, Portland Aerial Tram

Photo of the Week: Portland Aerial Tram

The bike valet parks bikes as the Portland Aerial Tram heads up the hill on a sunny morning in Portland, Oregon. Follow me as I travel in the Pacific Northwest the next week and photograph urban mobility and transit in the region. Take a look at my feed to see pics from last week’s shoot...

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Feb 09, 2012
Design Considerations, Infrastructure, London Cable Car, Portland Aerial Tram, Roosevelt Island Tram

Where do you put the towers?

On this blog there’s a lot of talk about cable as a flexible and adaptable technology for urban transit. CPT can travel above roads and traffic, go through buildings, and cross rivers and gorges. But for all that to work there needs to be space for towers and stations, too. So what happens when a...

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Nov 02, 2011
Koblenz Rheinseilbahn, Lessons, Portland Aerial Tram, White Card

Introducing White Cards

Here at the Gondola Project we’ve been busy producing what we’re calling WHITE CARDS — a new learning tool for those interested in Cable Propelled Transit. They’re basically a quick-read version of a white paper: The series kicks off with cards on Major CPT Systems. Each card provides basic information on the system (with images...

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Oct 22, 2010
Caracas Metrocable, Constantine Telepherique, Funivia del Renon, Medellin MetroCable, Portland Aerial Tram, Roosevelt Island Tram

The 7 Most Important Aerial Cable Systems In The World (For Various Reasons)

Others might disagree with my selection, but if you’re new to the world of Cable Propelled Transit (CPT) and Urban Gondolas, these are the 7 aerial systems you need to know about:

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Jun 07, 2010
Media & Blogs, Portland Aerial Tram, Uncategorized

Portland Tram Gets Mid-Air Maintenance

Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce has an utterly fascinating and informative article here about the replacement of the Portland Aerial Tram’s haul rope. The team that conducted the rope replacement did so in mid air on an aerial staircase known as a splicing bridge. They’ve even got a picture of it. It’s a great read....

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Apr 26, 2010
Aerial Trams, Gangtok Ropeway, Portland Aerial Tram, Roosevelt Island Tram, Sugarloaf Cable Car, Teleférico de Mérida, Vanoise Express

6 Iconic (and Important) Aerial Trams

The other day I was pretty hard on Aerial Trams for being obsolete, expensive and inefficient members of the cable transit family. Because of their place in history, however, many of the most iconic and important cable transit systems ever built were Aerial Trams, a point I failed to mention. Here are 6 of them:...

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Apr 24, 2010
Aerial Trams, Portland Aerial Tram, Research Issues, Uncategorized

Aerial Technologies, Lesson 5: Aerial Trams

Aerial Trams are the granddaddies of cable transit. They’re big, they’re aggressive and what they do, they do really well. Problem is, they can’t do much. They’re a completely antiquated technology due to their lack of detachability. Like BDG or 3S systems, Aerial Trams use one or two stationary ropes for support while a second or...

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