A comment from Wednesday’s Post made me realize that not everyone who encounters this site for the first time are aware of the arguments that are buried in posts from half a year ago. That’s a mistake I made; and I apologize to any readers new to this site. With that in mind, here are 10...
A comment from Wednesday’s Post made me realize that not everyone who encounters this site for the first time are aware of the arguments that are buried in posts from half a year ago. That’s a mistake I made; and I apologize to any readers new to this site. With that in mind, here are...
This is the Stanserhorn Cabrio, a planned system for a mountain resort in Luzern, Switzerland. The system is not yet built (clearly) but the community is hopeful that they can raise enough money through local shareholders to make it happen. (That last part about ‘community’ and ‘local shareholders’ should catch your attention, but I’ll get to...
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...
David asks: PRT is getting some buzz lately what with Heathrow’s system going live soon and Masdar in the works. Do you know of any systems or engineering solutions that allow overhead gondolas to work the same way? IE: Swap to a different cable at a junction? Is CPT PRT-able? Swapping to a different cable...
Tune in Wednesday for the start of The Gondola Project’s first photo essay: Medellin/Caracas. I’ve just returned from Medellin, Colombia and Caracas, Venezuela where I toured five of the most important systems in all of cable transit. Two of them just opened mere weeks ago. There’s so much to say, this series could go on...
Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following links to view Part 1 and Part 2. Most aerial cable systems offer a smooth ride. What little friction there is, is rarely felt by the rider. Except,...
Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following link to view Part 1. The very first thing one notices about the Peak 2 Peak is the sheer scale of it. Everything is bigger, flashier and a little...
Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is a 3-part series on the system. Part 1 is necessarily technical in nature and will refer back to several pages of The Gondola Project for those unfamiliar with cable technology. With small, incremental baby-steps, cable transit continues to push its capabilities beyond...