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...
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...
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...
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...
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!...
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!
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:...
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...
(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...
(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)...