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Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular

Waun-lwyd, Italy

Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular

The Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular was a funicular railway built to carry visitors around the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival in 1992. The funicular was intended as a viewpoint across the festival site, as much as a means of transport between levels, and so at 920 metres (3,020 ft) it was quite long

by funicular standards although had only a short rise of 72 metres (236 ft). The route meandered in a rough S shape, so that passengers on both sides could see the view across the site. The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge cars were open-sided, with toast-rack seating. The two trains each had three 8-metre (26 ft) cars and could seat 96 people. Gradients were 1:9 overall, with a maximum of 1:5 and flat areas at the end stations and passing loop. With a journey time of 41⁄2 minutes, it could move a target maximum of 1,000 people per hour. The track layout was a conventional two rail funicular with a central passing loop. The points were fixed and the outside wheels of each car were double-flanged, to guide the cars through the loop. Operation was with a single loop winding cable and semi-balanced trains, but unusually the electric winding drum was at the lower station. If unbalanced in the descending...

Listen to the audio guide for Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off

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