Niche Transports

Water Transport.

Water transport is actually one of the oldest transports in recorded history, with dug-out canoes being used for thousands of years. According to the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia, a ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and possibly their vehicles, on a relatively short-distance, regularly scheduled service whilst a foot-passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, is called a waterbus.

In the present-day world the benefits of water transport as a form of urban transit is very much under-rated (and therefore under used), except perhaps by the tourist / leisure orientated industries. One city however where they have little modal choice is Venice, Italy, as here there are few roads and indeed alongside many watery thoroughfares few footpaths either. So even walking is not always an option! (OK so swimming might be another option, but it can be dangerous with the modern day motor boats and polluted water).

The primary focus of this page is look at water transports which are used as part of the overall local transport scheme. Not looked at in detail are the longer-run ferries such as those which cross the English Channel connecting Great Britain with the rest of Europe, or those which sail in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden and in many ways are more akin to full-blown car-carrying cruise ships (even though journeys typically last for just one night) than humble "ferries".

Perhaps Venice is a special case because it has so many "water streets" that for much of the city boats are the only viable option. Far more cities feature just a handful of watery routes where within the overall scheme of things the water transports perform just a secondary rôle. (Plus, sometimes leisure-orientated tourist services too).

London is one of these cities too and although there is widespread support for the riverbuses to take on a more high-profile rôle in the urban travel system the reality (so far) is that the river - as a thoroughfare - is primarily used by the leisure industry. The principal constraint is that the people who allocate funds raised from the London-wide "pay once & ride at will 'Travelcard'" to the transport operators will not give the riverbus operators sufficient money to make it commercially viable for them to accept the Travelcards. And having bought Travelcards (which are over-expensive as it is) Londoners will not then pay individual fares for transports which should already be included in their tickets.

London's river buses should not be confused with the Woolwich Ferry which links the north and south riverbanks but does not serve other destinations along the river. This ferry is completely free at point of use - but then it dates from an age when things were done for 'the social good'. (It is funded via local government).

Water transports are also frequently used for inter-urban travel, linking with offshore islands and remote riverside communities where difficult terrain makes the water an easier option than land transport and where inland lakes mean that the distances to be travelled across the lake can be much shorter than if the journey had been made by travelling on dry-land transports (rail or road). In the modern era some of these boats will also carry vehicles too, depending on local circumstances.

Transports for hilly locations.

Many hilly localities use funicular and / or rack & pinion 'cog-wheel' railways to overcome steep inclines where normal 'adhesion' would not be practical.

Perhaps the most famous British example of the rack & pinion system is the Snowdon Mountain Railway, which nowadays operates as a tourist orientated leisure service but was originally built to carry industrial freight. Being aimed at tourists the use of steam locomotives could be considered to be appropriate. Apart from the land trains all the other (land) transports shown on this page are electrically operated.

Switzerland is famous for its many different types of hill climbing railways and whilst some of these (nowadays) survive because they provide tourist-orientated services in areas of outstanding natural beauty (and winter ski resorts) there are still some which meet 'real' urban transport needs.

One of the best examples used to in the city of Lausanne, where métro line M2 featured the rack & pinion system. Dating back to 1877 the La Ficelle (as it was known then) was constructed to connect the lakeside resort of Ouchy with Flon in the city centre. There were several intermediate stops, one of which was conveniently located for the Swiss Federal Railways Station (Gare CFF).

There were two complimentary services, with one being a two-station shuttle between Flon and the Gare CFF and the other serving five stations with electric locomotives powering two-vehicle trains. For safety the locomotive was at the 'downhill' end of the train. As with many 'mountain' railways this line was predominately single-track, albeit with a passing loop in the middle. In Lausanne this loop was located at a station (called Montriond) and gave rise to a most unusual arrangement whereby uphill trains were required to enter the station first so that its tracks could then be used as the station 'platform' for the downhill trains. At quieter times when only one train was in service then both uphill and downhill services used the 'proper' platform.

On 22nd January 2006 the line was temporarily closed in connection with a northward extension, a process which will include adding several new stations, an upgrade to double-track throughout plus a conversion to driverless automated rubber-tyred "mini-métro" trains which will call at stations fitted with platform doors.

Clicking any of these Lausanne images will lead to a dedicated page showing larger and more images in a popup window; alternatively clickling here will open the page in a new full-size window.

Only some mountain lines use the rack & pinion system, others (generally shorter lines) use cables. These are usually single-track with two vehicles in service at a time with them being located at opposite ends of the cable so that the descending vehicle counterbalances the ascending vehicle and they pass at a half way loop. One such example exists at Lugano, in Switzerland.

The funicular railway of Lugano which links the city centre with its railway station.

Higher capacity examples come from the French City of Lyon, which actually has two funiculars, both of which use Viex-Lyon Métro station as their lower starting point. One serves the Basilica whilst the other goes to St Just.

Before electricity became the universal choice several cities used cable-operated tram / streetcar systems. Nowadays only San Francisco still uses this technology. Here the cable takes the shape of a large under-road loop which is in continuous motion; to obtain propulsion the cable cars use special 'grippers' which lock onto this cable through a slot in the roadway located between the running rails.

At one time there were many cable lines operated by rival private companies which used incompatible track gauges. Although most lines were closed or electrified a few survived long enough to be appreciated for what they were. Nowadays they have become part of the tourist scene but the locals do still use them as legitimate urban transit - especially in the morning peak hour before the tourists swamp them.

The Trammffordd Y Gogarth (Great Orme Tramway in English) in Llandudno, North Wales, is the only cable-hauled tramway still operating on British public roads.

First opening in 1902, and still using its original tramcars, this system features two funiculars where the ascending and descending tramcars must operate as matched pairs counter-balancing each other, so it is not a cable car system as in the San Francisco mold. The two funiculars meet at the middle, which is where the winding house is also located, and therefore passengers wanting to make a full journey need to transfer between vehicles at the midway station.

The upper level is at the Great Orme's 679ft (207m) summit, and on days when the weather is favourable the views can include Snowdonia, Anglesey, the Isle of Man, Blackpool and the Lake District.

The lower line includes sections of street running and roadside right of way. With modern day levels of traffic many people would question the suitability of a funicular for sharing busy roads with other road traffic.

Clicking any of these Great Orme Tramway images will lead to a dedicated page showing larger and more images in a popup window; alternatively clickling here will open the page in a new full-size window.

It is questionable whether modern health and safety legislation would permit the construction of a new system - complete with street running - such as operates here; however as this line is already open it probably benefits from what is known as "grandfather" rights. (There should be no reason why there would be a problem for a new system that is away from the public highway).

More information and photographs of the Great Orme Tramway can be found by following this link http://www.greatormetramway.com/ which opens in a new window and leads to the "offical" Great Orme Tramway website.

Elsewhere in Britain funicular systems mostly exist at seasides and are of the Cliff Lift variety, these typically being short cable railways located on very steep inclines featuring small 'cabins'. Although they can provide a useful transport service for local people nowadays these typically provide 'leisure-orientated' services in the summer months only.

Of course Cliff Lifts also exist overseas too... the two examples below come from France and the French Canadian Province of Québec.

Known as the Trampe Bicycle Lift the manufacturer describes this as being somewhat akin to a ski lift - except that most of it is located just below the street surface so that people and vehicles can cross the route of the cycle lift safely and without hindrance. Apart from the compact machinery & motor housing units at the start and end points the only things which protrude proud of the ground are the moving footplates used by the cyclists.

When using the lift the right foot is placed on the starting point (the left foot stays on the bicycle pedal), the keycard is inserted in the card reader and one pushes the start button. After a few seconds the user is pushed forward and a footplate emerges. A common mistake among tourists and first-time users is that they don't keep their right leg outstretched and their body tilted forward. This makes it hard to maintain balance on the footplate, and can result in falling off.

In the summer months it is used extensively by both commuting inhabitants of Trondheim and tourists with rented keycards. It is also sometimes used by thrill-seeking teenagers balancing on the footplate without a bicycle and by parents with young children in pushchairs (prams, buggies, etc.)

The footplates are 20 metres apart, which means that if several people wish to use it at the same time then they can, albeit with 20 metre gaps between them. The speed of the lift is 2 m/s (4-5 mph), giving a maximum capacity of 6 cyclists per minute or 360 cyclists per hour.

This installation opened in 1993, and in addition to being a useful facility for local people and tourists it acts as a working prototype with the aim of obtaining sales of similar systems elsewhere. It is 130 metres in length, although the concept allows for lengths of up to 400 metres, with longer runs being catered for by several installations.

Seaside Railways.

Although sometimes seen as 'leisure orientated' niche transports seaside railways can - and do - also meet real transport needs for which larger railways could be unsuitable.

The first views are of the former electric trains that operated on the 1½ mile long pier at Southend-On-Sea, in Essex. They were introduced in 1949 (replacing older trains which operated a pre-war service) and in all there were four 'trains' each of which consisted of seven four-wheel carriages. The system was electrified at 500v dc using a centrally located third rail and the track gauge was 3ft 6in (approx 106cm).

The line closed in the late 1970's - some reports suggest 1978 whilst others say that public services ended in October 1976 but for the benefit of the lifeboat crew some occasional trains continued to operate until July 1979. In 1986 a new two-train die-sel service was opened (diesel train not illustrated).

Clicking either of these two Southend Pier railway images will lead to a dedicated page showing larger and more images in a popup window; alternatively clickling here will open the page in a new full-size window.

Another electric pier railway is to be found at Hythe, Hampshire. These trains also serve a 'real' transport function in that they meet the ferry boats which ply across the Solent from Southampton and dock on the pier. This is reputed to be the oldest pier railway "anywhere" globally - the pier opened in 1881, the railway opened in 1909 and was electrified in 1922. The pier is 2100' (approx 640m) in length, the railway is electrified on the third rail principle at 240v dc and the trains run on 2ft (approx 61cm) gauge track. The two links below lead to external sites which will open in new windows.
This link:- http://dewi.colinwilliams.ca/trains/2004/hythe/index.html leads to an excellent collection of photographs by Dewi Williams.
This link:- http://www.hytheferry.co.uk/ leads to the "offical" Hythe Ferry web site.

In Blackpool the North Pier features a short (diseasel) tramway which links the pier entrance with the theatre at the far end. Of special note is that the entire journey from pier entrance to theatre is "weather protected" - either inside the tram or via sheltered platforms and walkways - obviously someone has realised that in inclement weather passengers (OK, in this case theatre patrons) don't want a soaking. Would that similar thoughtfulness applied to ALL British transport systems! The person (people?) responsible for this thoughtfulness should be given a peerage, knighthood, or similar - & made a British government Transport Minister!

Another seaside railway is the Volks electric railway on the Brighton seafront. This line provides a very useful service along the sea front and there are plans to extend it towards the pier as it will then also be nearer the town centre. It uses an unusual track gauge of 2ft 8½ in (approx. 83cms) and is electrified at 160v dc with an insulated 3rd rail offset between the running rails for the live with return being via both running rails.
This link:- http://www.volkselectricrailway.co.uk/ leads to the "offical" Volks Electric Railway web site. Link to an external site which will open in a new window.

Land Trains.

Not strictly a railway "land trains" are usually used to provide local transport within a specific area at seaside resorts, tourist destinations or special events where large crowds can be expected. Usually they consist of a motor unit pulling half a dozen or so passenger vehicles, perhaps with the entire 'train' being decorated to look somewhat like a steam engine pulling passenger coaches.

Land trains may operate either on a specially reserved lane within the public footpath or on the public highway as is used by other road traffic; in either situation they will travel at a sedate speed because the ride is itself part of the 'visitor experience'. Land trains sometimes come in for criticism from local bus companies because they often offer free (or very cheap) transport and the commercial bus companies see them as providing unfair, subsidised competition.

Specialist Winter Weather Transport.

Sleigh Rides.

In wintry weather when snow and ice can make the use of rubber-tyred transports hazardous the simple sleigh can be a solution!

Whether pulled by human or dog power this is certainly a much better option than trying to carry the children / shopping / other goods (etc.,) yourself!

Seen crossing the tracks at a station on Stockholm, Sweden's 'Nockebybanan' light rail line.

Lifts, Escalators & Moving Walkways.

Often overlooked as a form of transport are lifts, escalators and moving walkways.

In addition to railway stations, escalators and lifts (or 'elevators' in American English) can frequently be found at large department stores, shopping centres, on cruise liners (ships) and many other multi-floor buildings. Their purpose is of course to provide transport between the station platforms & entrances / exits, different floors, decks, etc.

A variant of the escalator is the moving walkway which is usually located where large numbers of people need transport along a long 'corridor' such as interchange passageways at railway stations or between the terminal and the 'gate' at airports.

It is very unusual for anyone to be charged a fee for travelling on these transports.

Although relatively rare there is no reason why escalators (or a series of escalators and / or moving walkways) could not be used over longer distances - although the travel time might be somewhat extended when compared to travelling similar distances on wheeled transports

One of the few examples of this is the Central-Mid-Levels escalator system in Hong Kong. With a total length of 800 metres this is the longest outdoor covered escalator system anywhere globally.

Consisting of 20 escalators and 3 moving walkways it carries over 35.000 people daily. The total travel time is 20 minutes although to shorten this most people walk while the system moves. It operates a tidal flow system running downhill from 6am to 10am and uphill from 10:30am to midnight everyday.

The total vertical climb is 135 metres, this being equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelled by car. It has been operating since 1993 although the official opening was on 15th October 1994.

This walkway transport system performs a very important role in Hong Kong since it links Des Voeux Road, in Hong Kong's Central district with Conduit Road in the Mid-Levels, passing through narrow streets. It is also a tourist spot, with many restaurants, bars, and shops lining its route.

Images (and much of this information) from the free online "Wikipedia" encyclopædia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central-Mid-Levels_escalator (link to an external site which opens in a new window).

Lift and escalator oddities.

Some of the weird and the wonderful aspects of lift, escalator & moving walkway transport.

Curved Escalators.

Also known as Spiral escalators these take up much less horizontal space than straight escalators. However early spiral designs were failures - for example, in 1906 a spiral escalator was installed at the London Underground Holloway Road station but it was dismantled almost immediately and little of the mechanism survives. However it is understood that this was a true spiral escalator (similar to the spiral fixed steps used as emergency stairways) and not the gently curved versions seen here.

Locations which use curved escalators include: the Westfield San Francisco Centre in San Francisco, California; Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada; The Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong; and the Wheelock Place in Singapore.

Much of this information comes from the free online "Wikipedia" encyclopædia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator#Spiral_escalators (link to an external site which opens in a new window).

Walkway Escalators.

The Double-Deck Lift.

Double deck lifts are lifts designed such that two lift cars are attached one on top of the other. This allows passengers on two consecutive floors to be able to use the lift simultaneously, significantly increasing the passenger capacity of a lift shaft.

Such a scheme can prove efficient in buildings where the volume of traffic would normally have a single lift stopping at every floor.

Architecturally, this is important as double-deck lifts occupy less building core space than traditional single-deck lifts do for the same level of traffic. In skyscrapers, this allows for much more efficient use of space as the floor area required by lifts tends to be quite significant.

However, double deck lifts gives rise to questions such as whether the lower deck only serves even numbered floors (and the upper deck odd numbered floors) or if both decks can access all floors (except perhaps the upper deck cannot reach the ground floor and the lower deck cannot reach the top floor??).

Additional information sourced from the free online "Wikipedia" encyclopædia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-deck_elevator
(link to an external site which opens in a new window).

The High-Speed Moving Walkway.

Dating from 2002 and originally introduced as an experimental prototype, this high-speed walkway is located at Montparnasse - Bienvenüe métro station in Paris, France. It is known as the trottoir roulant rapide which can be translated as fast rolling pavement (ie: fast moving pavement / footpath / walkway) which is sometimes abbreviated to TRR. It is also nicknamed the TGV, this being a well known term (in France) for the 180mph very high speed trains (train a grande vitesse) - although in this instance the initial T stands for trottoir and not train.

The TRR is designed for distances between 150 metres and 800 metres in length; this example is 185metres long and has a rated capacity of 10,000 passangers per hour. At first it operated at 12 km/h but too many people were falling over, so the speed was reduced to 9 km/h.

Using this walkway is like using any other moving walkway, except that for safety there are special procedures to follow when joining or leaving. Staff (seen here in yellow jackets) vet who can use it as you must have at least one hand free to hold the handrail. So, if you are carrying bags, shopping, etc or are infirm you must use the regular walkway to the right.

On entering there is a 10 metre acceleration zone where the 'ground' is a series of metal rollers - you MUST stand still with both feet on these rollers and use one hand to hold the handrail and let it pull you so that you glide over the rollers; the idea being to accelerate you so that you will be travelling fast enough to step onto the moving walkway belt. People who try to walk on these rollers are at significant risk of falling over.

Once on the walkway you can stand or walk; there is no special sensation of travelling at speed.

At the exit there is a deceleration zone where again you MUST stand still and let the handrail pull you as you slow down, again whilst gliding over metal rollers. Then you just walk off

It has been estimated that commuters using a walkway such as this twice a day would save 11.5 hours a year.

With the technology having been proven to be successful in 2007 a similar high-speed walkway was opened in the newly opened Pier F of Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada.

The Self Starting Escalator.

Escalators running needlessly when no-one is around consume energy and incur extra 'wear & tear', both of which add to the transport system's operating costs. To find a balance between what is needed and what is just 'convenient' escalators at quieter locations are often configured to only start moving when people are about to travel on them. This facility also makes two-way escalators possible, as seen below.

Self starting escalators are very difficult to demonstrate by means of static photographs, so to see this in action click the projector icon or here to download a 13 second hand-held video clip named 'Essen-self-starting-escalator320.mpg'.

The Two-Way Escalator.

This escalator seen at a German underground station works for passengers going both up and down.

Normally it is stationary (this also saves energy plus wear & tear) and only springs to life when someone walks on to it.

But, whether going up or down depends on whether you board it at the top or bottom...!

For safety the escalator must be allowed to come to a halt before changing direction, people who would rather not wait have the option of using the adjacent stairway.