Bellevue funicular
| Bellevue funicular Funiculaire de Bellevue |
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The funicular and station around 1900. Today it is the Brimborion station on Paris Tramway Line 2
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| Overview | |
| Type | Funicular |
| Status | Demolished |
| Locale | Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine |
| Termini | Bellevue-Funiculaire Gare de Bellevue |
| Ridership | 266,662 (1895) 171,126 (1923) 23,293 (1934) |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1893 |
| Closed | 1934 |
| Rolling stock | Two bespoke cars |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 183 m (600 ft) |
| Number of tracks | 1, with 1 passing loop |
| Track gauge | 1,440 mm (4 ft 8 11⁄16 in) |
| Operating speed | 2 m/s (7.2 km/h; 4.5 mph) |
| Rack system | bespoke |
The Bellevue funicular (French: funiculaire de Bellevue), in Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine department, was from 1893 to 1934 a funicular running from the Bellevue-Funiculaire station on the Coteaux line (today, Brimborion), to the Gare de Bellevue, on the Paris–Brest railway line.
The line, designed by the engineers Guyenet, Madamet and Tinel, was 183 m (600 ft) of single track rising 52.44 m (172.0 ft).
After being permitted to cross the Coteaux line, the lower station was raised 3.5 m (11 ft) to connect with the route from Vaugirard (Bas Meudon), thus requiring passengers to climb a staircase, clearly seen on the left of the station.
With a constant gradient of 16° 56' (about 30%), it was entirely built on a viaduct of twelve metal sections, resting on five lattice pillars and two masonry abutments with a foundation of solid brick. A passing loop was provided in the middle of the route. The Vignole rails weighed 30 kg/m (20 lb/ft), at a track gauge of 1,440 mm (4 ft 8 11⁄16 in). Safety brakes were provided by a rack rail.
Traction was provided by two fixed 54 hp (40 kW) steam engines, though only one was used in normal conditions. The cabins were attached by herringbone gears to cables wound on drums of 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) diameter, moving at a speed of 2 m/s (7.2 km/h; 4.5 mph), one drum winding and the other unwinding, to haul a cabin of 59 passengers. The weight of the ascending carriage would be partly counterbalanced by that of the other descending. The journey took between one-and-a-half and two minutes.
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Wikipedia