Cauma lift
The Caumasee-Lift is an inclined pendulum elevator that has been automated since 1990 and transports passengers in Flims from the height of Flims Waldhaus down to the Caumasee . Today's cabs are the successors to the originals built in 1937. However, the train still runs on the original rails from 1937, which have been extended at the lower end to the level of the sea route (the lower station of the train was slightly elevated above the entrance to the lake until 1990). From the mountain station you can walk to the center in Flims Waldhaus in about 10 minutes, with the postbus stop, which has been known as the “Flims-Waldhaus, Caumasee” since 2010. The train ride is free, the western cabin can be reached by wheelchair and stroller without steps.
The cable car is generally only in operation in summer when the restaurant is open. In case of doubtful weather, it is advisable to ask the restaurant about the opening time and thus the operating time of the lift. The lift was in operation for the first time in winter over the 2015 public holidays, when there was an absolute lack of snow in December. The same thing was repeated in 2016. Over Easter, the lift was in operation for the first time in 2018.
history
As early as 1931, a funicular was discussed as a solution to the problem of access to Lake Cauma. The lake has been operated by today's Hotel Waldhaus since 1877 . The hotel director Roman Bezzola of the "Kurhotels und Seebad AG" at the time presented a project in 1937. The inclined lift offered came from the Schlieren elevator factory . Since the company could not raise the 60,000 francs and no bank wanted to finance tourism projects at the end of the economic crisis in politically uncertain times, a cooperative was established with capital from the Bezzola family and friends. Within three months the line was up and running, of which there is still a sister line from the same manufacturer, which was built for the Egyptian King Faruk . The Caumasee-Lift cooperative received CHF 220,000 for handing over the lift to the community in 1974.
In 1990 the facility was completely renovated and the two old cabins, which had crouched on the ground, were replaced by tall cubes made of steel and glass. While the mountain station is not much higher today than the old station, a high cube was necessary at the valley station due to the high entrance height of the new cabins, as there was no sloping roof.
expansion
The railway, sometimes technically referred to as a funicular railway, was only covered by a roof on a log construction in the valley station until 1990, while in the mountain station there was also an outer sliding door in addition to the sliding doors of the cabins, whereby the round wooden side walls were completely closed . There was a small ticket booth on the side of the path. The heavy doors were opened for the passengers by Flims schoolchildren during the summer. In the 1990s, they received the amount of their age in Swiss francs per working day for this summer job, plus lunch. Today's train is fully automatic, but is also operated and monitored when there is a large crowd. The train complements the wide driveway with the two hairpin bends on which the carriages to the lake traveled before the train was built, as well as a narrow and steeper footpath.
technology
The train overcomes 90 meters in altitude with an incline of around 35 °. The track width is around 1.60 meters and the lift takes around 75 seconds to travel. After the extension of the runway, the two outer and narrower rails in the area of the extension were supported with an additional pillar at the distance specified on the old route, as they would bend during operation without this support. The drive is still in the old machine house at the mountain station from 1937.
Technical specifications
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literature
- Sina Semadeni-Bezzola: History and stories of a grand hotel . Classen, Zurich 1976, ISBN 3 7172 0229 4