Contents

Material ropeway

Amaterial ropeway, ropeway conveyor (oraerial tramway in the US)^[1]: 659 is a subtype of gondola lift, from which containers for goods rather than passenger cars are suspended.

Description[edit]

Material ropeways are typically found around large mining concerns, and can be of considerable length. The COMILOG Cableway, which ran from MoandainGabontoMbinda in the Republic of the Congo, was over 75 km (47 mi) in length. The Kristineberg-Boliden ropewayinSweden had a length of 96 km (60 mi).

Conveyors can be powered by a wide variety of forms of energy, such as electricity, engines, or gravity (particularly in mountainous mining concerns, or where running water is available).^[2] Gravity-driven conveyors may qualify as zip-lines, as no electricity is used to operate them, instead relying on the weight of carts going down providing propulsion for empty carts going up.

Double-rope (bi-cable) ropeways, have a stationary carrying rope and a separate hauling rope that controls their movement. Single-rope (mono-cable) ropeways use one carrying-hauling rope.^[3][4]

History[edit]

The first recorded mechanical ropeway was by Croatian Fausto Veranzio who designed a bicable passenger ropeway in 1616. The world's first cable car on multiple supports was built by Adam WybeinGdańsk, Poland in 1644. It was powered by horses and used to move soil over the river to build defences.^[5]

InEritrea, the Italians built the Asmara-Massawa Cableway in 1936, which was 75 km (47 mi) long. The Manizales - Mariquita Cableway (1922) in Colombia was 73 km (45 mi) long.

Amongst the first material ropeways in India was the Amarkantak Ropeway^[6] in Chaktipani, Korba, Chhattisgarh, which was 16.8 km (10.4 mi) long with capacity of 150 TPH constructed by Damodar Ropeways & Infra Ltd. (DRIL) (formerly known as (Damodar Enterprises Ltd. (DEL). It was made for Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) in collaboration with Nikex, Hungary.

In the United Kingdom, aerial ropeways used for conveying mining goods and materials were historically common; however, just one remains in existence and operation, in Claughton, Lancashire, constructed in 1924 and used for quarrying shale to make bricks. It is scheduled to be demolished in 2036, once the last of the shale has been quarried.^[7][8]

List[edit]

Closed ropeways[edit]

Support type

Length

Fall/Rise

City/State

Country

In operation

Notes

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Searsport, Maine

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

1,050 feet

150 feet

Augusta, Maine

 USA

1899 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Steel

1,150 feet

Plymouth, Massachusetts

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Chesire, Massachusetts

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

2,340 feet

Ithaca, New York

 USA

1901 -

Trenton-Bleichert

290 feet

25 rise

Benson Mines, New York

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

16,500 feet

239 feet

Syracuse, New York

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,056 feet

48 feet

Syracuse, New York

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

4,170 feet

Smith's Landing, New York

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

3,668 feet

406 feet

Port Henry, New York

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Iron

1,640 feet

West Point, New York

 USA

1901 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

360 feet

20 feet

Edgewater, New Jersey

 USA

1901 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,600 feet

Proctor, Vermont

 USA

1894 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

2,400 feet

Stockbridge, Vermont

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,100 feet

70 feet

Pottsville, Pennsylvania

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Steel

3,260 feet

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

2,337 feet

Bolivar, Pennsylvania

 USA

1903 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Single cable reversible

West Shenandoah Colliery, Pennsylvania

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,500 feet

Chester, Pennsylvania

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,400 feet

200 feet

East Brady, Pennsylvania

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Single cable reversible

Wood

600 feet

Earlington, Kentucky

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

700 feet

level

Charleston, South Carolina

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

650 feet

level

Charleston, South Carolina

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

960 feet

494 feet

Buchanan, Virginia

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

2,800 feet

820 feet

Prince, West Virginia

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Atlanta, Idaho

 USA

1903 - 1931

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

9,000 feet

713 feet

Wardner, Idaho

 USA

1891 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,200 feet

370 feet

Wardner, Idaho

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

320 feet

level

Minneapolis, Minnesota

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Koehler, New Mexico

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Bingham, Utah

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

12,700 feet

Bingham, Utah

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

20,975 feet

Bingham Canyon, Utah

 USA

1910 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Bingham Canyon, Utah

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Bingham, Utah

 USA

Hallidie

Single-rope

Wood

2,400 feet

600 feet

Little Cottonwood, Utah

 USA

1872 - 1874

Leschen

Double-rope

Wood

16 miles

Grand Encampment, Wyoming

 USA

1904 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Mound House, Nevada

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

Animas Forks, Colorado

 USA

1906 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

3,200 feet

920 feet

Aspen, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

9,850 feet

2,409 feet

Aspen, Colorado

 USA

1890 - 1893

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Steel

Trinidad, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

1,850 feet

1,050 feet

Howardsville, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,850 feet

57 feet

Hastings, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Single cable reversible

2,370 feet

Denver, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

760 feet

515 feet

Howardsville, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

1,610 feet

Howardsville, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

6,240 feet

989 feet

Idaho Springs, Colorado

 USA

Huson

Single-rope

2,279 feet

Silverton, Colorado

 USA

1891 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double cable reversible

Wood

1,400 feet

524 feet

Silverton, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double cable reversible

Wood

8,625 feet

Silverton, Colorado

 USA

Double-rope

Wood

10,000 feet

Silverton, Colorado

 USA

1929 - 1960

Huson

Single-rope

Wood

Silver Plume, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

3,150 feet

Creede, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

3,310 feet

Creede, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Single cable reversible

Wood

850 feet

400 feet

Creede, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

400 feet

Telluride, Colorado

 USA

Leschen and Sons

Double-rope

Wood

Telluride, Colorado

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

2,370 feet

Denver, Colorado

 USA

Double-rope

Wood

Death Valley, California

 USA

Montgomery

Double-rope

Wood

5,5 miles

Keeler, California

 USA

1909 - 1914

Leschen

Double-rope

Wood

5,6 miles

Keeler, California

 USA

1914 - 1959

Double-rope

Wood

Keeler, California

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

5,800 feet

1,600 feet

Sierra City, California

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

13,5 miles

3,000 feet

Swansea, California

 USA

1913 - 1936

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

13,300 feet

Slatington, California

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

6,600 feet

1,820 feet

Monte Cristo, Washington

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

5,000 feet

2,000 feet

Cornucopia, Oregon

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,250 feet

Globe, Arizona

 USA

1892 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

7,500 feet

1,850 feet

Kelly Switch, New Mexico

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

2,500 feet

El Paso, Texas

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

9,750 feet

1,225 feet

Granite, Montana

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

8,750 feet

1,207 feet

Granite, Montana

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

8,250 feet/7 miles

1,070 feet

Chillkoot Pass, Alaska

 USA

1898 -

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

11,600 feet

2,297 feet

Juneau, Alaska

 USA

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

11,400 feet

Victoria Mines, Ontario

 Canada

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,500 feet

15 feet

Montreal

 Canada

Trenton-Bleichert

Single cable reversible

Wood

1,453 feet

730 feet

Coahuila, Mexico

 Mexico

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Wood

8,650 feet

Santa Catarina, Mexico

 Mexico

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Steel

Chihuahua

 Mexico

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

825 feet

425 feet

San Luis Potosí

 Mexico

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

1,950 feet

Coah

 Mexico

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Iron

5,100 feet

80 feet

La Brea, Trinidad

 Trinidad

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Iron

12 miles

Port de Paix, Haiti

 Haiti

Trenton-Bleichert

Double-rope

Iron

625 feet

Vivero, Spain

 Spain

1899 -

Bleichert

Double-rope

Steel

3.5 miles

500 feet

Murrurundi, New South Wales,

 Australia

1911-1915

Carried oil shale^[9]

Single-rope

Steel

0.75 miles

Cadia, New South Wales

 Australia

1918-1928

Carried iron ore^[10][11]

No.1

Single-rope

Steel

3 miles

Kandos, New South Wales

 Australia

1915-

Carried limestone^[12]

Single-rope

Steel

3.25 miles

Kandos, New South Wales

 Australia

1920-

^[12]

Double-rope

Steel

Kandos, New South Wales

 Australia

1989-2011

^[12]

(Construction phase)

Single-rope

Steel

22 km

Near Penrith to Warragamba Dam construction site, New South Wales

 Australia

c.1952-c.1960

Carried gravel and sand^[13]

See also[edit]

• Ropeway
• Zip-line

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• La Teleferica Massaua-Asmara (pictures of Ethiopian ropeway) www.trainweb.org
• Conveyor & Ropeways Services Pvt. Ltd. www.crspl.com
• Low-tech Magazine: "Aerial ropeways: automatic cargo transport for a bargain"
• Financial Express: "Tracing the course of infra technology Indian ropeways have been using since the 1970s"
• An Unedited, Rain-Soaked Ride on Claughton's Aerial Ropeway
• Trenton-Bleichert System of Aerial Tramways
• The Bleichert System of Wire Rope Tramways
• Wire Rope Transportation in All Its Branches
• Aerial Rope Transport by J. W. Mackie (1916)