Cable Car Lines in the UK
by Joe Thompson

I will add other UK cable tramways to this page as time and information permit. I always welcome suggestions.

• UK Companies
  • Birmingham - Birmingham Central Tramways Company
  • Douglas, Isle of Man - Upper Douglas Cable Tramway
  • Edinburgh - Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramways
  • Glasgow - District Subway Company
  • Liverpool - Liverpool United Tramways
  • London - Highgate Hill Cable Tramway
  • London - Brixton Cable Tramway
  • Matlock, Derbyshire - Matlock Tramways Company, Ltd
  • Other Cities
• UK Miscellany
  • London - London and Blackwall Railway
  • London - The Tower Subway
  • London - City and South London Railway
  • Isle of Man Railway
  • Manx Electric Railway
  • Llandudno, Wales - Great Orme Tramway
    • The Great Orme Tramway: The Cable Car of Wales by Walter Rice Ph.D
  • Cliff Lifts

Birmingham - Birmingham Central Tramways Company

from A Treatise Upon Cable Or Rope Traction by J. Bucknall Smith - 1887 - Page 105-106 The Corporation of Birmingham, acting under reports and opinions of their Public Works Committee (supported by Sir Frederick Bramwell as their consulting engineer), have unanimously agreed upon the construction of a cable tramway system within their borough. The necessary financial arrangements have been satisfactorily arranged, and the works are progressing. The present system will consist of about four miles of double track; the average steepest gradients being almost 1 in 20 to 1 in 13, and the sharpest curve about 45 ft. radius. It is proposed to construct and work the system in two sections, the first being from Colmore-row via Snow-hill and Holyhead-road to Handsworth, a length of 2m. 7 fur.; the second section extending from Colmore-row to Selby-road via the Bristol-road, this making an aggregate distance of about four miles. The gradients above referred to are upon the first-named section, those in the latter being very light. The gauge of the track will be 3 ft. 6 in.

from The Electrical Engineer - November 25, 1892 - Page 551 1892 NOTES Electric Tram Traction for Birmingham. -- Mr. Ebbsmith, chairman of the Birmingham Central Tramways Company, thinks it prudent to keep an open mind as to the advisibility of using electric instead of cable traction on those routes which are affected by his recent proposals to form separate companies. If, he says, it could be used by means of an overhead wire, the Central Tramways Company would be 'a gold mine.' Cable traction is, of course, an economical thing to use, but the objection to it, especially in the present condition of affairs, is that it involves a large initial expenditure and a prolonged disturbance of the street surface, and consequent suspension of the company's traffic. The introduction of the overhead electric system is by comparison a cheap and simple matter.

from United States Congressional Serial Set by United States Government Printing Office - 1892 - Page 676 BIRMINGHAM Report by Consul Jarrett. (I) The systems of public transportation in the city of Birmingham are omnibuses and horse, steam, cable, and electric trams. Route: Colmore Row to Hockley Brook (cable) Franchise Expires: June 30, 1911 Length of Single Line: 2 miles 53.6 Chains ... The cable and electric car systems are far from being satisfactory, being very irregular and unreliable. The cars on all the tramways are long, narrow, double-decked, ugly, and dirty affairs, having no kind of conveniences or provisions for the comfort of the traveling public. No American city would tolerate such hideous things... LABOR AND WAGES. ... The cable service is worked by sixteen cars on all the days of the week except Saturday, when there are two extra cars running. All these cars are on the road an average of sixteen hours a day, but relief is given to the drivers and conductors for periods varying from two and a half to three hours and a half hours. Meals have to be taken while traveling, except when mealtime comes around during a man's relief. Men are expected to be at the depot in the morning fifteen minues before starting, and the conductors are occupied from ten to twenty minutes at night in getting their accounts squared by a clerk. Each man works more than thirteen hours a day the week round. Conductors' wages for the first two years are 3s. 6d. (85 cents) a day; after two years, if no complaints have been made against them, they are entitled to 3d. (6 cents) a day more; after three years' service conductors' wages are 4s. (97 cents) a day. Drivers begin at 4s. 6d. ($1.09) a day, and after six month's service rise to 5s. ($1.22) a day, and after one year's service to 5s. 6d. ($1.34) a day.

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Douglas, Isle of Man - Upper Douglas Cable Tramway

Douglas cable tram 72/73 running on its battery-powered trucks on 20-Aug-1998. Photo courtesy of Geoff Cryer. Visit Geoff's Rail Pages for more excellent pictures. July (Summer), 2001 Picture of the Quarter (copyright G A Cryer, 1998).

line: Upper Douglas

opened: 15-Aug-1896. From the promenade Clock Tower around the back of Douglas by a U-shaped route and back down to the promenade at Broadway

powerhouse: York Road?

grip: single jaw side

gauge: 3'0"

cars: double ended, double bogied (trucked). One closed saloon, the others with cross benches.

turntables: cross overs?

crossings: N/A

notes:The Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea, is the Lost World of railways. A visitor can ride on a horse car line that has operated since 1876. At Derby Castle, the rider can transfer to an electric car built in 1893. The Isle of Man Railway hauls its trains with tank engines built between 1873 and 1926.

One piece of transportation history that no longer lives in its original form on the island is the Upper Douglas Cable Tramway.

Douglas Corporation wanted better transit service for the hilly Upper Douglas area. They persuaded the Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Company, which operated the horse tramway, to build a cable railway in return for an extended franchise.

The line followed a hilly, U-shaped route through Upper Douglas, connecting with the promenade at each end.

Douglas Corporation acquired the horse tramway and the cable railway in 1902 after Dumbell's bank failed.

The cable tramway was abandoned on 19-Aug-1929.

Cars 72 and 73, the only surviving rolling stock, had been turned into a bungalow. They had been built by G F Milnes in 1896. In 1976, the best pieces were joined to form a new car, 72/73. In 1996, the car was put on battery powered trucks. Persistent stories have it that the horses are scared of the car, as they often were of cable cars.

On 21-Jan-2000, sewer excavations on the promenade near Victoria Street exposed the terminal sheave pit. One sheave was destroyed, but the other may be preserved. See the Manx Electric Railway Society site for an illustrated story.

Visit the Isle of Man Tramways site.

A 1988 stamp depicting Douglas cable tram 72/73. August, 2004 Picture of the Month.

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Edinburgh - Edinburgh Northern Cable Tramways

from A Treatise Upon Cable Or Rope Traction by J. Bucknall Smith - 1887 - Page 105 ... in 1884 powers were obtained to construct about five miles of cable tramways in Edinburgh, with the view of opening up the northern districts of this beautiful capital. This cable system is designed and located to serve the northern districts of Stockbridge, Trinity, and Newhaven, via Royal Circus and Frederick-street and Cannon Mills, Pitt and Hanover-streets to Princess-street respectively. The steepest gradient will be about 1 in 13 to 1 in 14. The Cannon Mills section is now in an advanced stage of construction.

from Transactions of the Seventh International Congress of Hygiene and Demography by Charles Edward Shelly - 1892 - Page 65 For the last 20 years Edinburgh has possessed a horse tramway system which traverses the leading lines of thoroughfare, and for the last two or three years two separate systems of cable tramways have been at work on the northern slopes, affording a pleasant and convenient means of communication. At the present time the alternative questions of the Corporation undertaking the management of the horse tramway system, or granting a new lease under new conditions to the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company, who have worked the system for the last 20 years, are under consideration.

from Report of the Special Committee Appointed to Investigate the Relations Between Cities and Towns by Charles Francis Adams - 1898 - Page 250 EDINBURGH. -- The city has two systems of tramways, which it acquired under provision of the Tramways Act. The principal is let on a lease of twnty-one years to Messrs. Dick, Kerr & Co., at a rental equal to 7 per cent. on the capital outlay. The lines are at present worked by horse traction, but almost the whole of them are being cabled by the Corporation. The Edinburgh Northern Tramway Company work two street cable lines in the north of the city. Capital. -- The capital on May 15, 1896, stood at $919,014.19. Revenue. -- The rental from Messrs. Dick, Kerr & Co. was $64,304.97; total receipts, $69, 748.84; total expenditure, including cost of maintaining lines, interest, sinking fund, etc., $62,345.62; surplus profit, $12,891.94.

Glasgow - District Subway Company

Geoff Cryer photographed these recently retired cars from the Glasgow Subway at the Beamish Museum in County Durham in July, 1977. October 2001 Picture of the Month (copyright G A Cryer, 1977).

line: Inner/Outer Circles

opened: 14-Dec-1896. Circular route under the city, crossing the Clyde twice. 15 stations.

powerhouse: Scotland Street

grip: single jaw side

gauge: 4'0"

cars: single ended, single and double bogied (trucked) closed-bodied rapid transit grip cars and trailers.

turntables: N/A

crossings: N/A

notes: While "underground" is the term usually used in the British Isles for what an American would call a "subway", the pioneering cable-hauled line in Glasgow was officially the Glasgow District Subway. Only London and Budapest had underground transit lines before Glasgow.

The Glasgow District Subway built two tunnels on a circular 6.5 mile route around the city. The conservative directors chose cable to operate the system because they felt that electric propulsion was not sufficiently developed. This was the only Hallidie-type cable-driven subway in the world. London's Tower Bridge Subway and Istanbul's Tunel were both funiculars.

The subway opened on 14-Dec-1896, but an accident caused service to halt until 21-Jan-1897.

The system had many interesting features. There were no track connections between the Inner and Outer Circles. There was no rail connection with the shops; a crane lifted cars out of the tunnels for servicing. Cars generally spent the night in the tunnels. The platforms were only long enough to handle two-car trains. The cable used was 1.5" in diameter, which was unusually thick for the industry. The cable ran at 12.5 miles per hour. There was no need for a conduit, so the cable ran above the rails.

In 1923, the Glasgow Corporation (city) took over the system. They tested third-rail electrification in 1933. In March, 1935, they electrified the Inner Circle. On 30-Nov-1935, the last cable-driven train ran on the Outer Circle. Both lines used converted cable stock.

The narrow gauge and short platforms made for many capacity problems.

In 1936, the official name changed from "Subway" to "Underground", but Glaswegians still call it "subway". In 1940, the line was damaged by German bombs and closed for four months.

The converted cable equipment continued to run until 1977. The system shut down until 16-Apr-1980. It reopened with new rolling stock, a rail connection from the tunnels to the new maintenance shops, crossovers between the circles, new track, power supply, and signals, and platforms long enough to handle three-car trains. The circular route and the orange color of the new cars inspired "clever" journalists to try to give the system the nickname "Clockwork Orange". The name was roundly ignored. (Thanks to Charles Billette for the information).

from The Electrical Engineer - October 27, 1893 - Page 385 NOTES Glasgow. -- The directors are considering the method of haulage to be adopted on the Glasgow District Subway.

from Local Industries of Glasgow and the West of Scotland by the British Association for the Advancement of Science - 1901 - Page 126 GLASGOW DISTRICT SUBWAY. The Glasgow District Subway, though not a railway in the sense that its carriages are not propelled by a locomotive, may yet be classed among the iron roads which tend to carry on the great system of inter-communication. It serves one important function in this respect by forming a link between the northern and southern sides of the city. It penetrates under the Clyde at two points, near the Broomielaw and near Partick, and traverses the various districts of Glasgow and suburbs. During the first year of its existence -- 1898 -- it carried 9,628,392 passengers, but the number increased in 1900 to close on 14,000,00.

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Liverpool - Liverpool United Tramways

line: Kirkdale

opened: 25-Sep-1883. Kirkdale car sheds.

powerhouse: Kirkdale car sheds.

grip: probably single-jaw side

gauge: 4'8 1/2"

cars: (?)

turntables: (?)

crossings: N/A

notes: Thanks to Andrew D Young and Ron Smith for providing most of this information.

In 1883, Liverpool United Tramways, a horse tramway operator, considered using cable traction on a line on London Road and Prescot Street from William Brown Street to Kensington.

At the urging of the American Cable Railway Trust's representatives, including William E Eppelsheimer, Liverpool United arranged a trial at their car sheds at Kirkdale. The trial took place in the yards at 3:30 pm on 25-Sep-1883.

There are few recorded details about the trial: No one knows how the cable was powered. The grip was probably attached to a horse car, but no one knows which one. No one knows if the installation ran again after 25-Sep-1883.

We do know that Liverpool United Tramways chose not to use cable traction, but this experiment may have led to the construction of the Highgate Hill Cable Tramway in London.

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London - Highgate Hill Cable Tramway

A model of a Highgate Hill train at the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, London. Note the double decked trailer. Photo by Stuart Jenkins. December, 1999 Picture of the Month.

line: Highgate Hill

opened: 29-May-1884. Highgate Hill from the Archway Tavern to Southwood Lane, to a point along Southwood Lane. Most of the line was double tracked, but about 1000 feet of line in the High Street were single-tracked.

powerhouse: "...situated at the top of the hill on the east side of the High-street and have a substantial frontage, composed principally of red and white brickwork relieved by plinths, pillars, etc, of worked stone...The outside dimensions of the premises are about 130 ft long by 30 ft wide...The narrow and irregular character of the site would not permit of the premises being built at right angles to the road, and hence they are unsuitable for traffic purposes. Indeed, there can be no doubt that the site of the building is very unsuitable..."
J Bucknall Smith, A Treatise Upon Cable or Rope Traction

grip: Single-jaw side grip.

gauge: 3'6"

cars: dummy & trailer trains. At least some trailers were double-decked.

turntables: cross overs

crossings: none

from London and Its Environs by Karl Baedeker - 1889 - Page 32 The Highgate Steep Gradient Cable Tramway, the first of the kind in Europe, opened in 1884, ascends Highgate Hill from Highgate Archway; the cars start every 5 min. (fares 2d up, 1d Down; halfway up 1d.). The motive power is supplied by an endless wire rope, placed in a tube below the surface of the road and kept in motion by a stationary engine at one end of the line. Connection between the car and the rope is effected by means of a 'gripping attachment', passing through a slit in the middle of the track. The rope runs between the jaws of the 'grippper', which the driver closes when he wishes to start the car, reversing the operation and applying the brakes when he wishes to stop. The system works with great effectiveness and a pleasant freedom from noise or dirt.

notes: The Highgate Hill Cable Tramway was the first cable tramway in Europe. It was meant to demonstrate the Hallidie system.

W W Hanscom, a San Franciscan, was originally engaged to design the line. He gave up and was replaced by William E. Eppelsheimer, who had designed the pioneering Clay Street Hill Railroad and created the grip currently used by San Francisco cable cars. The actual construction of the line was done by J Bucknall Smith, who went on to write the most important contemporary work about cable tramways, A Treatise Upon Cable or Rope Traction. I have quoted him extensively in this section.

The street was not suitable for cable technology because of excessive curvature. "The permanent way does not in all cases occupy the centre of the road; this variation was made in order to ease the curves, which are all more or less objectionable to the cable system." -- J Bucknall Smith.

The company was not a financial success. Service stopped after an accident in December 1892. The line opened again in 1897, and operated until August 1909.

Highgate Hill was the place where Dick Whittington decided to turn back and stay in London. The line ran near the famous Highgate Hill Cemetery, burial place of Karl Marx, Charles Dickens' family (but not Dickens himself) and other famous people.

Another view of the model Highgate Hill train at the London Transport Museum. Photo by Stuart Jenkins.

Thanks to Stuart Jenkins for providing photographs of and information about Highgate Hill.

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London - Brixton Cable Tramway

from The Electrical Engineer - June 19, 1891 - Page 592 I find it ironic that this article about the Brixton Cable Tramway was obscured by a big sticker. This has always been an obscure line. - JT NOTES Cable Tramways. -- The South Metropolitan Tramways Company have begun the laying of the metals of their new extension from Brixton-hill to Telford-park. On this occasion, it is stated, the company will for the time adopt the cable system of traction ...(text obscured - JT) plan. It is understood that it ...(text obscured - JT) carry this system the whole way ...(text obscured - JT) the Streatham-hill terminus. We ...(text obscured - JT) electric traction has been raised in ...(text obscured - JT) than by sundry discussions amongst the company's own directors and engineers. When various systems -- Lineff and accumulators -- are being adopted, it seems rather premature to lay down a whole system of cable traction.

from The Electrical Engineer - December 15, 1893 - Page 553 NOTES They Disliked the Bogies. -- Some of the inhabitants of Brixton have complained of the noise made by the cable cars. Major-General Hutchinson is to report to the Board of Trade as to whether or not a further license is to be granted to the company.

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Matlock, Derbyshire - Matlock Tramways Company, Ltd

from Our Railways: Their Origin, Development, Incident and Romance By John Pendleton - 1894 ... Mr. Newnes (George Newnes, M.P. - JT) has also given play to his engineering hobby at Matlock, his native place; and in March, 1893, opened at the Bridge an ingeniously constructed cable tramway, which, fitted with garden-seat cars, is a great convenience to visitors, and removes Defoe's quaint reproach, "This Matlock Bath would be much more frequented than it is if a bad stony road which leads to it, and no accomodation when you get there, did not hinder."

from History, Topography, and Directory of Derbyshire By Bulmer (T.) - 1895 - Page 428 Not the least useful addition to Matlock Bank in recent years is the Steep Gradient Tramway, which was publicly opened on the 28th March, 1893, by Mr. George Newnes (now Sir George Newnes, Bart.). The inception of the scheme is due to Mr. Job Smith, and Mr. George Newnes, M.P., proprietor of "Tits-Bits," "The Strand Magazine," and other papers, and a native of Matlock, offered to finance the undertaking, but as several local gentlement desired to have an interest in it a company was formed, with Mr. Newnes as chairman of the directors. The route selected is very steep, rising upwards of 800 feet in the half-mile length of the tram line. The cars are drawn by an endless cable, driven by a steam engine, and travel at the rate of 5 1/2 miles per hour. The trackway is single, except where the up and down cars pass each other. The cable -- a wire rope of the best steel -- runs in a channel below the surface in the centre of the trackway. This cable channel is wholly enclosed, except a narrow slot between steel rails laid 11/16 in. apart. The cars are attached to the cable by a gripper, which passes through the slot. The gripper in under the control of the driver, who can by a simple contrivance loosen the grip and stop the car, and he can as easily in a moment start it again. Each car is provided with two of the most powerful brakes -- one the ordinary working brake, the other the emergency brake -- and so efficiently does this act that the car can be brought to a dead stop in a distance less than its own length. Cable traction has long been in use on gradients in the mining districts, but this is the first instance in this country where it has been applied to passenger traffic. From the Directory Wildgoose Geo., foreman of works, The Matlock Cable Tramway Co., Litd.; h Church street, Matlock Green Sleigh Miles Atinson, clerk to Matlock Urban District Council and Cable Tramway Company, Ltd., Market Hall chambers Advertisement Rockside Hydro; Miss A.E. Goodwin, manageress. Elevation, 800 feet above sea level; re-furnished throughout; commands finest view in Matlock; under new management; Cable tram service from Matlock Bridge to front gate

from Matlock Manor and Parish: Historical & Descriptive By Benjamin Bryan - 1903 This section describes a flood in late 1901 - JT The cable tramway was stopped owing to the water flooding the underground wheels in Crown Square.

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Other Cities

from The Electrical Engineer - September 23, 1892 - Page 318 NOTES Bradford Tramways. -- The Bradford Tramways Committee report that the engineers of the committee lead them to believe that electric traction, like the cable system, would be too costly for them to adopt, and that steam traction would be the best system. It is a pity some electrical firm could not convince them of the advantages of electric traction, for a (sic - JT) entirely opposite view has been taken in America, where whole sets of steam and cable cars are laid aside for electric cars.

from The Electrical Engineer - December 15, 1893 - Page 553 NOTES Traction at Newcastle. -- A scheme is under consideration for the adoption of cable trams in this town. A local paper dismissed the question a few days ago, and compared the cost of working the different systems of haulage introduced on the lines of the Birmingham Central Tramways Company.

London - London and Blackwall Railway

from London by Charles Knight - 1851 - Page 311-312 I added some paragraph breaks to make it more readable (JT) The London and Blackwall Railway has some peculiarly individual features to distinguish it from the other metropolitan Railways, arising chiefly from the fact that no locomotive engines are used on it, and that it is necessary to set down passengers very frequently. Accordingly, there is an endless rope, nearly six and a half miles long, or double the length of the Railway, attached to two powerful engines, one in Blackwall and one in London. A train starting from the latter is so arranged as that the Blackwall carriages shall be foremost, and the carriages for all intermediate stations similarly placed in order. At a signal, given by means of the electric telegraph, the Blackwall engine begins to wind up the rope, thereby drawing the carriages attached towards it. On approaching the first station the carriage destined for it is detached from the train by the guard, and stopped by a brake; and the same proceeding takes place at all the other stations. Whilst drawing the train the Blackwall engine has at the same time of course unwound the other part of the rope attached to the London engine, which, in its turn winding up, draws back the train, with all the carriages, which before starting have been attached to the rope, wherever they were, so that they come in with a rather sserious-looking want of unanimity, but of course they all do come in by dint of sufficient winding-up of the rope, and so the carriages are again collected together. The same line therefore, it will be seen, is used both for going and returning. A stranger to the Railway, after reading this account, may be surprised to hear that by such means, and hampered with such difficulties, the Blackwall Railway will take him along at a rate varying from twenty to thirty miles an hour. Yet so it is. And is a great measure this has been accomplished through that beautidul invention of our own times, the electric telegraph. Its importance here may be understood when we state that is it not only necessary for the attendants at each terminus to know when the train is about to start from the opposite extremity of the line, but also when the carriages at all five intermediate stations are ready; there must be, in short, an almost instantaneous communication, whenever required, through the entire line -- and this is obtained by means of the telegraph. ... A wire, then, is laid down from London to Blackwall, connected where required with certain small instruments containing a needle so fixed that it moves either towards the left or the right, in accordance with the direction given to the current passed through it; the one movement intimating "stop," the other "go on;" those who desire to give the signal previously ringing a bell placed above the dial in the place where the signal is to be received, and which is also managed by an ingenious application of the voltaic stream. Of couse the communication between the battery of any particular station and the general wire may interrupted or continued as required.

from Notes and Queries by William John Thomas et al. - 1907 - Page 292 Responding to a query about early railways using open carriages. The correspondant remembered his boyhood in the East End (1860-1870). "On the London and Blackwall Railway the third-class "smoking" compartments had no seats, and sides only shoulder high, the men inside leaning over them with their pipes in their mouths. S. D. CLIPPINGDALE."

from Railway Economy: A Treatise on the New Art of Transport, Its Management, Prospects and Relations by Dionysius Lardner - 1850 - Page 110 PLAIN RULES FOR RAILWAY TRAVELLERS RULE II -- NEVER ATTEMPT TO GET INTO A RAILWAY carriage when it is in motion, no matter how slow the motion may seem to be. Examples London and Blackwall July 13, 1846. Attempting to get upon a train after it had started. Killed London and Blackwall July 18, 1846. Ditto, killed

London - The Tower Subway

London's Tower Subway ran under the Thames from Tower Hill to Pickleherring Street (great name) on the south bank. The tube through which it ran was built by engineer Peter William Barlow and his assistant, James Henry Greathead. Greathead developed the Greathead Shield, an iron cylinder about 8 feet in diameter with a square door at the front to allow the miners access to the clay work face. The miners used hand tools to dig away the clay in front of the shield, and then hydraulic rams pushed the shield forward. Then iron tunnel lining was bolted into place to form a tube.

"Interior of Carriage" on the Tower Subway. From The Illustrated London News, 1870.

The tube was not suitable for steam traction and electric traction was not sufficiently developed, so it opened with cable traction on narrow gauge rails. The cable system used a single car permanently attached to an an endless cable, which was driven by a stationary steam engine at one terminal. The line opened on 02-Aug-1870, but it was not reliable and and the tube was converted to a pedestrian walkway by November, 1870.

When Tower Bridge opened in 1894, the tube walkway was closed to the public and the tube was used as a water pipe conduit. Today it also carries fiber optic cables.

In 1886, Greathead used a larger version of his shield to dig a tube for the City and South London Railway under the Thames near London Bridge. Greathead proposed cable traction for the City and South London, but it was built as an electric line and was the first successful tube railway.

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London - City and South London Railway

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Llandudno, Wales - Great Orme Tramway

Great Orme Tramway car 5 (Saint Silio) rolls into Victoria Station. Photo by Martin Schönherr. All rights reserved. August, 2002 Picture of the Month.

A stretch of single track on the lower section of the Great Orme Tramway. Photo by Martin Schönherr. All rights reserved.

Great Orme Tramway car on the lower line.

from London and Its Environs by Karl Baedeker - 1906 - Page 297-8 Llandudno. Cable Tramway from Church Walks to the top of the Great Orme (6d.). Visitors should not omit to ascend to the top of the Great Orme, either by cable-tramway (p. 297) or on foot ... The tramway ends at the Telegraph Station (inn) on the summit.

The seaside town of Llandudno lies on the coast of North Wales between the Great and Little Orme headlands. Llandudno became a popular resort town during the Nineteenth Century. Promoters decided that a cable tramway to the top of Great Orme would be a big draw.

The tramway, which operates only from March to November, consists of two funiculars, the lower line and the upper. The lower line, which opened on 31-Jul-1902, starts in Llandudno at Victoria Station. The first half of the lower section is single-tracked through the streets of Llandudno with the cable in a conduit. There is a switch at the mid-point where the line splits to a passing loop and then to gauntlet tracks. This keeps the cable centrally attached to each car away from the other. This is the only street-running funicular outside of Portugal.

The two lines meet at Halfway Station, where passengers transfer from the lower section to the upper. The upper line, which opened on 08-Jul-1903, is a counterbalanced funicular with an automatic passing loop in the middle. It has all gauntlet track except for the passing track. The upper section runs entirely on private right of way and uses an endless rope, attached off-center on each car. The upper section terminates at Summit Station, which is part of the Great Orme Country Park Visitors' Centre.

The gauge of each section is 3'6". The cars carry trolley poles and a wire runs above the entire line, but the poles and wire were for communication between the cars and the winding house, rather than for power. Wireless radios have been used since 1990.

The cables were steam-driven until 1957 when the winding house at Halfway Station switched to electric power. The cables and tracks run through the two car houses at Halfway Station.

Cars 4 (Saint Tudno) and 5 (Saint Silio) work the lower section. Cars 6 (Saint Seiriol) and 7 (Saint Trillo) work the upper section. Work cars 1-3 were scrapped before 1930. The cars have trolley poles on their roofs. These were used for communication. Communication has been wireless since 1991.

On 23-Aug-1932 the system had its only fatal accident. Car 4 became detached from the cable while descending the lower section. The car derailed and killed the operator and a 12-year-old passenger.

On 30-Apr-2000, the two cars on the upper line collided at the passing loop and 17 people were injured. The accident was probably caused by a problem with the automatic switch. The upper line reopened for the 2002 season.

The tramway is now owned by the Conwy County Council.

Special thanks to Martin Schönherr for sharing his beautiful photos. Visit his website.

Great Orme Tramway car on the lower line looking down towards Llandudno. Note the cable slot and gauntlet tracks.

Car 7 on the upper section of the Great Orme Tramway. Photo by Martin Schönherr. All rights reserved.

A dramatic view of the passing loop on the upper section of the Great Orme Tramway. Photo by Martin Schönherr. All rights reserved.

A cachet issued in 1972 for the 70th anniversary of the opening.

Visit the Great Orme Tramway official site.

Read Walter Rice's article "The Great Orme Tramway: The Cable Car of Wales".

The Great Orme Summit complex, was once owned by middleweight champ Randy Turpin.

Danger Ahead has a preliminary report on the 30-Apr-2000 accident.