Cable Car in Wellington

An Exhilarating Cable Car Ride

For sure, when you hear of cable cars, what immediately comes to mind are overhead cable cars, hanging by and running on cables.

But since you and I were raised at a time and in a country where jeepneys are kings of the road, and tricycles are every street corner's rowdies, cable cars therefore have not become our mode of transport. It is not surprising then that we are, err... a little ignorant about these "hanging cars."

    So, when David said we're driving down the hill to go to Wellington so I could experience a cable car ride, I was of course ecstatic to say the least. I was thrilled no end at the prospect of finally experiencing these much-talked about vehicles, which I used to see only in pictures and occasionally in Hollywood movies. 

    To my surprise though, Wellington's cable cars were not the ones I had in mind. They were not overhead cable cars that hung and run on cables, and they were very much different from those of Singapore and Gibraltar, which I saw in pictures. Pardon my ignorance, but they looked more like the mini-bus to me, or our very own tranvia.The only difference is, they run on rails like trains do. Thanks to the hubby, who is of course, always to the rescue, ever explaining and patient to the wife's limited capacity to comprehend. I learned that what I was seeing were a different type and are the more modern type of cable cars.

Wellington's Kelburn cable cars

The Kelburn Cable Car at 102 years old, is one of Wellington's oldest and most popular tourist attractions. Originally built over a period of four years by Upland Estate Real Estate Company from 1898 to 1902, and utilizing prison labor from the Terrace Goal, the system was aimed at providing means of transport to the farmland in Kelburn. However, upon completion of the system, the area was developed into the suburb as it is today. At present, the cable car provides a unique form of transport to the suburb of Kelburn and the top of the Botanic Garden. There are three immediate stops. First is Clifton, which leads to the Terrace and the Student Accommodation at Everton Hall. Second is at Talavera, which is the mid-point of the track and where the cars pass each other. The third is at Salamanca, which links to the Victoria University and to more student accommodation at Weir House. 

         The ride though, was indeed one exhilarating experience. David made sure I had a good vantage point for the trip, so he suggested not to take a seat but instead to stand on the right-hand side of the driver from my position.     I could see the view of Wellington and beyond in that 612 meter long ride at the speed of 18 kilometers per hour. The sight was breathtaking - seeing how the cable car climbed right up to the sky from under the city high rise buildings. through tunnels and over viaducts to the residential suburbs. How I wish you could all experience what I had because I could not find enough words to explain how I felt. 

For the uninitiated like me 

         But of course, that is not all there is to know about cable cars, so I asked the hubby to find reading materials which I could use as reference to explain to you how these cable cars worked. 

         So he bought me one - Wellington's Kelburn Cable Car by Graham Stewart) from which the following information was culled: 

          How the modern cable car works:

         The cable car, in technical terms, is a standing funicular. which operates on a balanced rope-system. The two cable cars are at the opposite end of a single cable. The movement of the cable is powered by an electric motor under the terminus. As one car moves up the track, the other moves down.
         The cars run on a meter gauge single track with a 300-meter radius passing loop, the midway point on the incline.
         They have double flanged wheels fitted on one side and flat wheels on the other. These enable each car to "steer" with its flanged wheels - to follow the outer rails that ensures each car always takes the opposite side of the passing loop to the other car. 

         The driving control and the breaking systems are controlled by automatic electronic equipment. The cars are equipped with four separate breaks for normal and emergency breaking. The cable car drivers control the starting of the cars and the doors. 

Just in case you want more info:

         In his cable car website, Joe Thompson (http://www.cable-car-guy.com)defines a cable car, as "a public transit vehicle which runs on rails and which moves primarily by gripping an endless cable which runs in a conduit under the street.  They are also called cable tramways."

         This form of public transport flourished briefly, 1880 to 1890.

         The first commercially successful cable car line was the clay street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, California which opened in 1873. The line was promoted by Andrew Smith Hallidie, a wire cable  manufacturer and largely designed by William E Eppelsheimer ]. The first cable car line outside of /san Francisco opened in 1881 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The first US cable car line outside of San Francisco opened in Chicago, Illinois in 1882.