Talk:Funicular

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Contents

[edit] External links

The external links page is going to balloon if we are not careful-should links to individual funiculars be allowed, or should they just link from List of funiculars? John 18:11, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge proposal

I think that a cable railway is distinct from a funicular, the former being a general means of transport thorugh a city, the latter being to overcome specific grades and usually at a unifiorm inclination. (Should not be merged) - Leonard G. 22:46, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

  • Oppose -- Distinct concepts, as stated above. Atlant 23:23, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
  • Not! -- Funiculars are pretty specific styles of incline transport. The Cable Railway article is thin and only shares some like items.--Magi Media 19:46, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Claim of world's shortest

I have removed the uncited claim that the 66m funicular in Zagreb is the world's shortest. A short web browse found the details of a shorter one here. -- Chris j wood 19:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] another meaning

There is another meaning of funicular, having to do with bridges, that wikipedia should also document. Some info: http://www.brantacan.co.uk/funicular.htm

64.160.39.153 03:33, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Example bloat...?

The paragraph starting 'Other funicular railways...' in section 'Funiculars of the world', and the gallery, are both starting to become over-large.

The Gallery has far too many images now -- most should just be in Commons -- and certainly doesn't require five of Ljubljana (one should be sufficient, as it is brand new). The gallery should illustrate significant features of funiculars in general, and specific features of particularly unusual ones, not just have lots of pictures of funiculars. I would suggest that at least half of those currently present do not illustrate anything unusual.

'Funiculars of the World' should only mention the most significant ones: longest, shortest, steepest, oldest, etc, together with some examples of specific types if not already amongst these. Most of the section is OK, but the 'Other funiculars..' paragraph is unhelpful as it stands: we have the List of funiculars now, but editors seem to be adding more and more in this paragraph regardless.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the subject could re-assess and suggest some inclusion criteria?

EdJogg 12:38, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Recent changes have addressed the worst of the problems. However, there are still 15 images in the gallery, which is probably excessive here. Many are already present on List of funiculars, and could be removed from the gallery, unless they are illustrating a particular feature, in which case there should be adequate textual description to support this.
EdJogg 11:46, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Regarding the Gallery... (further thoughts)
Please compare the gallery for Tower Bridge with the one presently in this article. The Tower Bridge gallery has eight images which are quite distinctive, even at small size, and each shows a particular aspect of the bridge. Various editors have pruned images in the past when the gallery has exceeded eight pictures, the result being a steady improvement in the quality of the gallery.
EdJogg 08:32, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

(i) Sometimes Gravity is used by pumping water into a tank on the top conveyance, then lowering it using a brake on the cable pulley while it descends and pulls the other conveyance up

(ii) I like galleries with lots of pictures .....82.38.112.68 20:57, 15 June 2007 (UTC)mikeL

[edit] Private Funiculars

I have added a section re Private Funiculars, which are certainly funiculars, if not long enough to be a funicular railway. Here in Wellington, New Zealand there are 2-3 hundred to private houses and I certainly don’t want to list them, but the type should be mentioned. I have put in links to 2 manufacturers with good website pictures, as examples. I have no connection with either firm! NB; as discussed previously, many funiculars have 2 coupled cars, but some have one car and a counterweight and some (like these) just have one car perm. attached to a cable. NB: the New Zealand standard (NZS 5270) for safety checks calls them cable cars. The requirement for safety checks was put back after a death on one, and it was realised that the requirement had been dropped during legislative ‘reform’! Hugo999 13:34, 9 August 2007 (UTC) PS: there is probably one of these in Wellington that qualifies as the world's shortest funicular!

[edit] Great Incline

The Great Incline of the Mt. Lowe Railway was a colaboration of engineering. This article says that the Incline was designed by Andrew Hallidie of the San Francisco Cable Cars. The Incline grading was really engineered by Chief Engineer David Macpherson, The three-rail was conceived by Lowe, and Macpherson implemented the design and layout. Hallidie engineered the mechanisms, cables, pulleys, motorization and all.--Magi Media 14:23, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A proposal

I'm proposing a small re-organization of articles including this one at: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Trains#Cable_railways:_a_proposal. I'd be grateful for your thoughts. Please post comment to Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Trains#Cable_railways:_a_proposal to keep the discussion in one place. Many thanks, Gwernol 18:49, 11 February 2008 (UTC)