Page 76 - Bulletin 17 2013

73

MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS AND AERIAL CABLEWAYS

OF THE CAPE PENINSULA

Louis de Waal & Barrie Gasson

Introduction

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During the late 19 – early 20 centuries railways and cableways were constructed on the
Peninsula’s mountains for practical purposes of bringing down quarry-stone or taking men
and materials up to water reservoirs then under construction. Concurrently, entrepreneurs,

inspired by trends in the mountain regions of Europe and North America, promoted the idea

of tourist railways and aerial cableways, particularly up Table Mountain.

This paper deals first with proposals and constructions on the North Peninsula and then on
the South Peninsula. Before doing so, it would be useful to describe the more popular

passenger modes of mountain transport:

Surface mountain railways operate with either cables or racks between the rail-lines. If cables

are used, the passenger cars are attached by the cable to a central pulley at the top station. The
simultaneous use of a descending and an ascending car requires little power other than that to

overcome friction and any (passenger) weight difference between the cars. This system is
usually referred to as a funicular. (Latin: ‘funiculus’ means a cord). It differs from a rack-rail

(also called rack-and-pinion or cog railway) passenger vehicle which has an onboard engine
that operates a large cogwheel (pinion) that meshes with a cog rail situated between the rail-

lines. This allows the railway to operate on gradients steeper than 7% which is the limit for

normal rail traction.

Aerial cableways, on the other hand, use stationary track / carrying ropes and moving haul /

heel ropes to move the cable-cars between a lower and an upper station. This form of
transport tends to be more exciting for passengers and, in the modern era, often consists of

chairlifts gondolas, and cable-cars. Note that in the cableway business, “cables” are generally
referred to as “ropes”.