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Oct 30, 2012
Aerial Trams, Engineering

Zingel Seilbahn: The water ballast tram

The Obermatt – Unter Zingel Seilbahn in Switzerland is a cool old aerial tram that is powered, well, by gravity. Built in 1923 by Remigi Niederberger, the system still functions today. It is one of the last remaining water ballast tram systems. The ropeway consists of two open-air “cabins” that have a spot to sit...

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Oct 10, 2012
Aerial Trams, Case Studies, Design Considerations, Installations

Meran 2000 Bergbahn

There is more than one intriguing feature to the Meran 2000 Bergbahn, an aerial ropeway built in 2010 at the Merano 2000 ski resort in South Tyrol, Italy. At first the it may appear to be a simple (yet stunning) two-cabin tram — the stations are small, the system branded a vibrant red, and the...

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Feb 15, 2012
1934 Chicago World's Fair, Aerial Trams, Chicago Cable Car, Proposals & Concepts

Sky Ride – 1933 Chicago’s World Fair

A week ago Julia provided us with a very sound analysis of using CPT technology in Chicago. Little did we know (or maybe we did), but suspended cable car technology already has a fairly colourful history in the Windy City. The Sky Ride was built in 1933 for the Chicago’s World Fair and was heralded as the...

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Jan 16, 2012
Aerial Trams, Installations, Public Transit, Technologies, Yoshino Ropeway

Yoshino Ropeway – World’s First CPT?

Gondola Project largely began because we noticed that there was a lack of accurate online educational resources on cable technology. Over these past years, we’ve helped a lot people from all backgrounds learn more about CPT systems by separating fact from fiction. As we know, despite our best efforts, a gap still exists within cable...

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Jul 10, 2010
Aerial Trams, Blogs & Other Sites, Funifor, Gondola, Research Issues, Roosevelt Island Tram

Aerial Trams vs. Gondolas

I recently spoke with a cable engineer who thought it completely absurd that people use Aerial Tram statistics to negate the feasibility of Urban Gondolas. When I told him such confusion was the norm rather than the exception, he became flustered. He simply couldn’t accept that people make that mistake. They’re two completely different performance packages!...

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Jun 14, 2010
Aerial Trams

Aerial Tram Greaser

From the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs series: How to maintain and grease an Aerial Tram. Very informative. (Note: Aerial Tram segment begins at 1:40.) Thanks for pointing this one out to me, Nick!

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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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Feb 22, 2010
Aerial Trams, Analysis, Gondola, Research Issues, Thoughts, Urban Planning & Design

Bondada-Neumann Study, Part 2

(This is Part 2 of a 2-Part piece on the Bondada-Neumann Study from the late 1980’s. In Part 1, I focused on the issue of Familiarity. In Part 2, I discuss the differences in perceptions between planners with cable experience and those without.) Bondada and Neumann’s discovery that transit planners and engineers had little familiarity...

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Feb 21, 2010
Aerial Trams, Analysis, Cable Cars, Gondola, Research Issues

Bondada-Neumann Study, Part 1

(This is Part 1 of a 2-Part piece on the Bondada-Neumann Study from the late 1980’s. In Part 1, I focus on the issue of Familiarity. In Part 2, I’ll discuss the differences in perceptions between planners with cable experience and those without.) In the late 1980’s two civil engineers from West Virginia University (WVU)...

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