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Sep 19, 2012
Funiculars, Thoughts

The Hohenwerfen Castle Funicular

This is a guest post by Ross Edgar. There are few castles in Europe more iconic than Hohenwerfen Castle which stands imposingly over the town of Werfen, 40km (25 miles) south of Salzburg on the Austro-German border. The fortress dates back to 1075 but in more recent years featured in the 1968 film epic ‘Where...

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Aug 28, 2012
Funiculars, Quebec City

Grey Public Transit? Quebec City’s Funiculaire

What do we call something that both is and is not public transit? That’s something we’ve wrestled with before (here and here for example), but it wasn’t until a quick trip to Quebec City for an old friend’s wedding (congrats, by the way, to Ingrid and Darren!) that the point was driven home for me. As many people...

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Jul 07, 2010
Blogs & Other Sites, Funiculars

Valparaiso Ascencors

In February The Gondola Project held a mini-competition. The winner was to receive their $50 prize by email money transfer. Matt Thredgold of Wellington Cycleways won. But as Matt lives in New Zealand and email money transfers are apparently a uniquely Canadian phenomenon (they’re awesome, by the way), Matt asked that his prize come in...

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May 24, 2010
Funiculars, High Park Funicular

Lost Toronto Funicular

I’ll admit it: One of the things I love about cable transit is the “treasure hunt” quality of the entire thing. It’s a “lost” technology with clues and remnants scattered around the world. Picking those clues up and piecing them together is – for me – one of the most exciting parts of this work....

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Feb 26, 2010
Funiculars, Just For Fun, Thoughts, Urban Planning & Design

Winner

Well that didn’t take long at all. Matthew Thredgold of New Zealand was the first to figure out that at one time or another, The Grateful Dead, Rodney Dangerfield, Alvin & The Chipmunks and Andrea Bocelli all sang the famous Italian song Funiculi Funicula. Congrats, Matthew! 50 bucks is yours! Why does this matter? Well, apparently...

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Feb 10, 2010
Funiculars, Zurich Polybahn

Sometimes . . .

. . . we miss the little things because we’re too focused on criticizing the big things. A restaurant critic slams a new local bistro but fails to notice the washrooms. Too bad, because the sinks would’ve fit perfectly in his tiny downtown condo. A professional football scout skips the Ivy League schools because they’re...

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Dec 28, 2009
Funiculars, Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn, Urban Planning & Design

The Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn

I’m in transit today to visit the Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn. This should be a fascinating system to explore given that it is one of only a few so-called Hybrid Funiculars in the world. As I understand it, the beauty of a Hybrid Funicular is that the chassis and the cabins align themselves separately from one another....

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Dec 07, 2009
Analysis, Cincinnati, Funiculars, History, Oddities, Uncategorized, Urban Planning & Design

Cincinnati Funiculars

Way back in the day (we’re talking 1872 here) Cincinnati, Ohio was clustered at the base of several small mountains. As the city grew and expanded up the sides of the mountain city officials had a problem: How were people and goods to be moved up and down the mountains? This was, of course, before...

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Nov 13, 2009
Aerial Trams, Basic Lessons, Funiculars

Basic Lesson 3: Aerial Trams & Funiculars

There are two minor sub-groups of CPT technology:  Aerial Trams and Funiculars. Aerial Trams are like larger Gondolas.  I’ll discuss this technology in greater detail later. Generally speaking, however, Aerial Trams are (relative to Gondolas) an out-dated mode of Cable-Propelled Transit.  Compared with Gondola technology, Aerial Trams exhibit longer wait times between vehicles; lower line...

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