On 16.11.15 22:04, Recliner wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:

No-one has mentioned the fact that LU has turned Greenford from a
two-escalator station into a one-escalator station and dressed it up as
an enhancement that no-one can object to without being called a
cripple-kicker. I hope this practice doesn't spread to deep stations.

I would imagine lengthy staircases are inherently more dangerous than
lengthy escalators. How many people will become permanently disabled
through falling down the stairs, who would have been fine if the station
still had a down escalator?

A triptych platform which folds vertical when not needed and manoeuvres
itself up and down the central fixed staircase when needed is not hard
to imagine. Some sort of gates at the top and bottom would be needed to
stop people trying to walk down when the lift was coming up.

Incidentally, if this lift is as slow as people say, it would be a nice
trick if people could summon it up or down with a phone app while they
were on the train or in the street.

When did Greenford last have two working escalators? It must have been
quite a while ago. For as long as I can remember, there has only been one.
It's now one of very few step-free stations on the western Central line.

The Greenford lift is slow, but not so slow that you need any special
technology to summon it. In fact, most LU station lifts are slow. What's
slightly annoying is that it crawls almost to a stop near the ends and
inches to the stop, then pauses for seconds before the doors open. Probably
most lifts do the same, but you're very aware of it with glass doors.

Most above-ground stations don't have any escalators or lifts. One that
did, Alperton, lost its single escalator many years ago, and it's now
bricked up. For another example, the busy six-platform Harrow-on-the-Hill
station has no lifts or escalators. You have to walk up the stairs outside
the station, and then walk down to the platforms.

Are there plans at other surface-level stations to install inclined lifts?

On 16.11.15 22:03, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
Charles Ellson wrote:


The only other two single-vehicle railways in the World listed in :-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...cular_railways
were both in the USA. Using two vehicles is probably optimal for
nearly all systems thus providing the seed for Wonky's incorrect
description.

There's one in Switzerland on that list, and a former one on IoM, which are
single car funiculars.


Anna Noyd-Dryver

The one on the Isle of Man closed sometimes in the 70/s80s, IIRC.

What about the funicular at Aberystwyth?

On Mon, 16 Nov 2015 20:58:36 -0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 18:50:56 on
Mon, 16 Nov 2015, Charles Ellson remarked:

Technically the counterbalance [of a funicular] could be the
second vehicle in the description, it doesn't have to be passenger
carrying.

If it isn't carrying anything then it isn't truly a "vehicle" (Latin
vehere = carry).

It's carrying the counterweight.

Which, in Greenford, is a set of yellow metal plates in a frame, which lets
them fine-tune the weight.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/recliner/22411308294

A bit tenuous as the device is 100% counterweight including the wheels
with no provision or practical capability for carriage of goods or
people.

On Tue, 17 Nov 2015 00:38:07 +0000, "
wrote:

On 16.11.15 22:03, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
Charles Ellson wrote:


The only other two single-vehicle railways in the World listed in :-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...cular_railways
were both in the USA. Using two vehicles is probably optimal for
nearly all systems thus providing the seed for Wonky's incorrect
description.

There's one in Switzerland on that list, and a former one on IoM, which are
single car funiculars.


Anna Noyd-Dryver

The one on the Isle of Man closed sometimes in the 70/s80s, IIRC.

What about the funicular at Aberystwyth?

Two vehicles but described as a "water balance system" before
electrification in 1921 :-
http://www.aberystwythcliffrailway.co.uk/
It was the longest UK funicular before the Cairngorm Mountain Railway
was opened.

On Mon, 16 Nov 2015 22:03:12 GMT, Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

Dr J R Stockton wrote:
In uk.transport.london message
, Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:16:38, e27002 aurora posted:

On Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:03:03 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

Basil Jet wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxScXvX1Dv4

I'm a little surprised that they claim it uses less power than a
conventional lift. If you have to raise a given mass through a
given vertical distance, shouldn't the answer be the same?


It is a funicular railway, no?


According to the beginning of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular#Inclined_lift, a funicular must
have two cars - but other parts of the article ignore that.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelmerbahn_funicular is definitely a
funicular, and has only one car.

Not for anyone suffering from vertigo :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_VlWIVUqzg

Charles Ellson wrote:
On Mon, 16 Nov 2015 22:03:12 GMT, Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:

Dr J R Stockton wrote:
In uk.transport.london message
, Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:16:38, e27002 aurora posted:

On Sat, 14 Nov 2015 09:03:03 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

Basil Jet wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxScXvX1Dv4

I'm a little surprised that they claim it uses less power than a
conventional lift. If you have to raise a given mass through a
given vertical distance, shouldn't the answer be the same?


It is a funicular railway, no?


According to the beginning of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular#Inclined_lift, a funicular must
have two cars - but other parts of the article ignore that.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelmerbahn_funicular is definitely a
funicular, and has only one car.

Not for anyone suffering from vertigo :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_VlWIVUqzg

Looks like a fantastic ride!

They use old pennies to get it EXACTLY right.

In message , danny burstein
wrote:
If you're looking for a wooden escalator come to NYC. Some
of the escalators at the Macy's flagship store at 34th
street and sixth avenue are still using woooden treads.

Some of the ones in Sydney are exactly like the ones that were at King's
Cross pre-fire. Otis. Wooden treads with much bigger spacing. Wooden
panelling between the escalators. I *think* the sides of the escalator
trench were metal.

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Mobile: +44 7973 377646 | Web: http://www.davros.org
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

In message , Charles Ellson
wrote:
It would seem to be a false assumption that a funicular
railway is inevitably one that uses two vehicles rather than one and a
counterbalance as used on the currently out of use Broadstairs Cliff
Railway :-
http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/cl...roadstairs.htm
(NB 5' 3" gauge).
and the definitely-defunct Margate Cliff Railway
http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/mar.htm

The only other two single-vehicle railways in the World listed in :-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...cular_railways
were both in the USA.

Only?

The Southend Cliff Lift (though it's actually in Westcliff) is single
car.

So is the one at the reconstructed village near Ironbridge whose name I
forget. (I managed to persuade my youngest two daughters that it was a
house moving by magic.)

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Mobile: +44 7973 377646 | Web: http://www.davros.org
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

On 2015\11\17 01:31, Charles Ellson wrote:

Not for anyone suffering from vertigo :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_VlWIVUqzg

I was just wondering about the concave sections, whether the cable would
lift off the ground or whether the cable's own weight would hold it
down... then the gantry at 06:55 designed to hold the cable down and
stop it touching the power lines above answered my question!