Shipley Glen Tramway - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Shipley Glen Tramway is a historic funicular

Funicular

A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

way situated in the wooded Shipley Glen near the village of Saltaire

Saltaire

Saltaire is a Victorian model village within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...

in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

county of West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

.

The lower station of the funicular is some 600 metres (1,968.5 ft) by foot from Saltaire railway station

Saltaire railway station

Saltaire railway station serves the village of Saltaire near Shipley in West Yorkshire, England.-History:The original station was opened in May 1856 by the Midland Railway, which had absorbed the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway between Shipley and Colne in 1851...

, and a similar distance from the historic Salts Mill

Salts Mill

Salt's Mill is an art gallery, shopping and restaurant complex located in Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is inside a former mill, built by Sir Titus Salt. The 1853 gallery takes its name from the date of the building in which it is housed...

, now occupied by shops and restaurants as well as the David Hockney

David Hockney

David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....

gallery.

Operation

The line is operated by volunteer staff on behalf of a charitable trust. It normally operates only on Sunday afternoons.

Number of cars	2
Number of stops	2 (at terminals)
Configuration	Double track
Track length	0.25 mile (0.402335 km)
Maximum gradient	1 in 7
Track gauge
Maximum speed	7.5 miles per hour (3.4 m/s)

History

The line was opened in 1895 by Sam Wilson, a local publican, showman and entrepreneur. It was intended to ease access to a number of other, now long closed, atttractions at Shipley Glen, including a wooden toboggan ride and a Japanese garden. As built, the line was powered by a gas engine

Gas engine

A gas engine means an engine running on a gas, such as coal gas, producer gas biogas, landfill gas, or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous...

. Since 1928 the line has been electrically operated.

In 2002, operation of the line was taken over by a charitable trust under a lease from Bradford City Council. The line was closed in 2009, and has been rebuilt to bring it up to modern safety standards. This involved fitting the two tramcars with new chassis, wheels and decks, relaying the track, and improving braking systems on both cars and haulage drum. The line reopened in 2011.

External links

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