Bulembu – Barberton material ropeway
| Bulembu – Barberton material ropeway (†) | |
|---|---|
 The cable car at its highest point, looking towards Bulembu
| |
| Location: |
Bulembu Swaziland , Barberton , South Africa 
|
| Design type: | Bicable ropeway |
| Construction year: | 1939, discontinued 2001 |
| Mountain: | Makhonjwa Mountains |
| Valley station: | Barberton train station, 877 m |
| Height difference: | 111 m, summit height at 1607 m: 730 m |
| Mountain station: | Bulembu, 988 m |
| Route length: | 20,360 m |
| Number of gondolas: | Lorries: 242 pcs. |
| Number of supports: | 52 pcs. |
| Manufacturer: | Adolf Bleichert & Co. |
| Operator: | Havelock Mines / Bulembu Mines |
The Bulembu-Barberton material ropeway is a disused aerial cableway that transported asbestos from the Havelock mines in Eswatini to the Barberton train station in South Africa from 1939 to 2001 . Coke was transported in the opposite direction for the coal-fired power station in Bulembu . Operations ceased in 2001 when the mine closed. However, the cable car has not yet been dismantled.
history
Gold and asbestos were discovered in the Havelock region, as Bulembu was then called, as early as 1882, but it was not until the 1930s that asbestos mining began on a large scale. The mine was in the mountains, however, and the railway could only be reached via a mountain pass. In 1937, construction began on a material ropeway to bring the asbestos extracted from the Havelock mines to the next train station in Barberton, which was founded in South Africa in 1884. The construction was carried out by the Leipzig company Adolf Bleichert & Co. and was completed in June 1939. At that time, the over 20 km long Lorenseilbahn was the longest one-section cableway in the world. The route leads from the loading station in the south of Barberton 730 meters up to the Makhonjwa Mountains and from there over the state border again 620 meters down to Bulembu. The largest span was 1207 m, the height above ground 189 m. Each tipping lore could carry 200 kg, the capacity was 13.5 tons / hour. The train brought asbestos to Barberton station and in the opposite direction carried coke from South Africa to Bulembu, where it operated a power station.
A pass road, the regional road R40 , leads in serpentines under the cable car to the border crossing of Bulembu. After the slump in the sale of asbestos, the mine was closed in 2001 and the cable car was shut down. The cable car was not dismantled, but is now visibly deteriorating. Many pillars are damaged and the closed train station is also in poor condition (as of 2011).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Swaziland-Barberton ( Memento from April 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The History of Mining in Barberton ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.6 MB)
- ↑ Tourist attraction becomes dangerous ( Memento from September 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), September 14, 2011
Coordinates: 25 ° 57 ′ 21.2 ″ S , 31 ° 7 ′ 53.9 ″ E