Douglas cable tram

Cable tram circa 1896 on Victoria Street in Douglas

The cable car route Douglas ( Upper Douglas Cable Car, Upper Douglas Tramway ) reversed from 1896 to 1929 in Douglas , the capital of the Isle of Man .

history

Since 1876, the Douglas horse tram has been serving public transport in Douglas on a route from the city center along the harbor promenade. The residents of the higher parts of the city west of the harbor promenade also asked for public transport. After the horse-drawn tram had been leased in 1894 by the operating company Isle of Man Tramways and Electric Power Co of the Manx Electric Railway , which opened in 1893 , the company planned to electrify the horse-drawn tram to avoid changing trains north of the city center. The city of Douglas initially refused this request and also declined an extension of the lease. Now it initially agreed to the renewed lease, provided that a cable tram is built to the higher parts of the city.

In August 1895, the railway company approved the proposal and began building the cableway. The route was carried out in the gauge of 914 millimeters (three feet ), which with the exception of the Snaefell Mountain Railway had already been used on all other railways on the Isle of Man. The railway was built entirely on two tracks , the technology used corresponded to the method used by the San Francisco Cable Cars in San Francisco around 1875 with a cable duct in the middle of the track and clamping claws on the vehicle. From the harbor pier at the south end of the promenade, the end point of the horse-drawn tram, the route climbed north-west through the city center via Victoria Street, Prospect Hill, Buck's Road and Woodbourne Road to the depot and engine house on York Road. From there the route led down south-east over Ballaquayle Road and Broadway back to the waterfront. The route was inaugurated on August 15, 1896.

The operating company went bankrupt in 1902 as a result of a bank failure. Horse trams and cable trams were acquired by the municipal Douglas Corporation , while the Manx Electric Railway was acquired by a private company. The section southeast of the depot back to the promenade has been discontinued. The plans to electrify the horse-drawn tram have also been filed. From 1922, the city only operated the cable car in the summer season. The train was finally discontinued on August 19, 1929 and replaced by buses. By 1932, the tracks and cable ducts were removed from the streets, although some of them were probably only overturned. During construction work on the harbor pier in 2000, the local pit for the pulley, around which the cable ran at the terminal point, was found.

vehicles

Car 72/73 in the Transport Museum in Jurby

The cableway had a total of 15 vehicles, which were numbered 67 to 81. In 1896 eight open vehicles with 32 seats equipped with transverse benches were delivered. From 1907 to 1911, seven more vehicles were added, three of them with closed car bodies for the first time. In addition, two of the older vehicles were also converted into closed vehicles. All cars were designed with two bogies, the Gripman , who operated the clamping claws, had his position above the leading bogie. The vehicles had two independent braking systems. With the exception of two cars built by United Electric in 1911 , all were supplied by GF Milnes & Company .

After the cableway was closed, almost all of the cars were scrapped. Only wagons 72 and 73 remained and were used as weekend or garden sheds. In 1976 a new 72/73 car was assembled from the two vehicles with the best preserved parts and equipped with a battery drive in 1996. In this form it was occasionally used on the horse-drawn railway line. It is now in the Jurby Transport Museum in the north of the Isle of Man.

Web links

Commons : Douglas Cable Tram - Collection of images, videos and audio files