Aberystwyth Cliff Railway. Funicular Railway. Welsh Tourism.
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- The Aberystwyth Cliff Railway was opened the 1st August 1896 and initially operated by a water balance system until electrification in 1921. It was the longest funicular railway in the UK but lost this title to the Cairngorm Mountain Railway in Scotland in 2001. The Aberystwyth Cliff Railway is now content with the title of longest cliff railway, 778 feet (237 metres), which is certainly a honourable title as seaside resorts and towns of the United Kingdom have many and varied examples of this type of railway.
This design is the work of George Croydon Marks, raised to the peerage as Baron Marks of Woolwich, ( a man well worth looking up ! ), who designed several interesting projects of funicular construction during his distinguished engineering and political career.
The construction of this project included a winding footpath to cross overhead on a series of bridges giving excellent views of the passage of the vehicles and of the surrounding scenery. To achieve this, the railway was placed in a deep cutting where 12,000 tons of rock were excavated - no mean achievement for this size of project at that time!
Once the Victorian tourist had either walked up Constitution Hill or taken the train, like today, they could enjoy refreshments, entertainment and a grand view of the town of Aberystwyth especially when viewed through the Camera Obscura installed at the summit.
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Very nice railway! Awesome scenic views! Thanks for sharing!
+efbeVideo Dear efbeVideo, Thank you very much for your kind comments. It is a very interesting Victorian railway and it does have the atmosphere to go with it in a very nice sort of friendly holiday kind of way. It certainly is worth a visit when in the area. Very Best Wishes and thank you for kindly contributing to WooWooMad.
This is a very enjoyable vudeo. But I'm glad you added the rider 'longest electric cliff railway', because, aside from the Cairngorm line, surely the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in Devon is longer? According to Wikipedia, that is 862 feet long; but it is still of course operated by water power. I wonder why Aberystwyth gave up water for electricity? Perhaps because the water source was unreliable?
Dear P L Richards, Thank you for the kind comment. When I made the video I remember being very conscious of publications from the council being very precise in the wording of the claims on length of the funicular. It being a "cliff" railway and not a mountain one. Also electric and not water powered. I decided in the end just to photograph the signs outside the station building and then avoid any problems later with folk claiming their railway is the one with the claim to whatever. I think that has worked so far! I also think that you are correct in regards to the water power. It's very flat up on top of that trip and it probably was an easy conversion in all honesty. That is not to say water is not a good power source for funiculars. There is a great example in Portugal and it just keeps on working with no effort at all. This is a future video when I finally get round to editing it all. Thanks for the interesting comment. Very best wishes to you and your channel. WooWooMad.
I like the waste water poop version in France. Smelly but doesn’t use any fossil fuels, Fart gas works great
Dear O.K. Frax, Is this a methane gas ride that I don't know about? More info would be appreciated. Very best wishes and thanks for the comment. WooWooMad.
Nice video, Sir. We went up there in June 2017 it was a glorious day and the views were incredible and to top it off, they had my favourite cider on tap :)
Dear Mark Harper, Yes, it is a great day out for all the family and the ride gives a great taste of functional engineering as it use to be rather than the clinical approach that is now adopted with all the stainless steel etc etc. Very best wishes to you and your channel and thank you for commenting on WooWooMad.
@@WooWooMad You're more than welcome! I'm an engineer so I do enjoy these installations. There's one in Llandudno too but it was closed when we were there ☹
Dear Mark Harper, Ah! I understand what you may like. Do have a look at my video on the Peak Tram in Hong Kong. This has also been built in the "Brit" style of engineering. Very Best Wishes, WooWooMad.
@@WooWooMad I shall. I would love to visit Hong Kong but my wife won't go!
do you have any videos about rack railways ?
Dear Indonesian Railfan, Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, I do have a package of video that I have shot but I have not yet been able to find the time to edit it all into a video for CZcams. You can check the railway out on the internet as I am sure someone else has done something that you can see. The railway is ACHENSEEBAHN and it is in Jenbach, Austria. The whole area is very spectacular amongst the mountains and the trip ends with a boat ride across a magnificent lake. I will eventually find some time to make this video but at the moment I am very worried that all the video that I have just shot on a Japanese trip has been lost in a broken camera due to the typhoon over Japan. I just hope that the engineers can salvage all the footage for me. Very best wishes and thank you for contributing to WooWooMad.
Is cliff railway just a localized term for a funicular railway or incline?
Dear Koohlwranch Doughreetoes, This is a very good question to ask as I am not quite sure of the answer. I think that the real solution to all this is that the Aberystwth Cliff railway is accentuating the " Cliffness " in the title since the title of longest funicular in the UK was lost to the CairnGorm Mountain railway in 2001. In fairness though, there is a strong British tradition of cliff railways, mainly constructed in the Victorian era, that were constructed for holiday towns and became an important part of the vacation/holiday experience. This is in comparison to city or town communication funiculars that were built purely to provide a transport service for the community. The difference is quite a fine line but the individual companies knew their customer base and chose the title of their operation accordingly. So the Aberystwth Cliff railway is " Cliff " and the service is to the holiday trade and they are still very proud of the particular service they offer to visitors. If anyone out there can provide any more information, please let me know at WooWooMad. Very best wishes and thank you for your interesting comment on WooWooMad.
Just found this, czcams.com/video/hZdiEBZbQzI/video.html bloody brilliant. My wife is from Scotland and never knew about it, I'd love to travel on this one day!
Dear Mark Harper, Ah, Yes . . . I know this one as I have visited and have produced a whole load of video. The only trouble is finding the time to sit in front of the computer to edit it all up ! I was up there in all the snow and the scenes are quite spectacular. This is the problem with all this CZcams lark, finding time to edit it all sensibly. At the moment there is about twenty videos that need my attention. It will get done some day I suppose. Do encourage your wife to do a trip to Hong Kong as it is a smashing holiday to experience. Vintage trams in the streets that run the normal service and a Underground network built the same as in London. All the signs everywhere are in English as well so you can't get lost. We went on P&O cruise so it wasn't like leaving England actually and they do all the work for you. Very best wishes to you, WooWooMad.
@@WooWooMad My wife is a vegan and is far too concerned about what she may see there, she's very animal welfare charged. She never puts that on myself or our daughter and indeed prepares meat and cooks for us. I respect her view but, it doesn't mean I have to agree with it. On the other side, you'd never get me on a cruise lol, planes yes (I'm mad about them) boats, no chance lol. Thanks for your reply.
Dear Mark Harper, How about the National Railway museum in Kyoto, Japan. What a place ! ! ! There is also live steam there as well. Now that is flying only and everything, including the bus ticket to get there, is also in English nowadays. That reminds me, must do that Bullet Train video . . . Very Best wishes WooWooMad.