Cable car

[brozma]

(With the American custom of placing trafficlights After the intersection )

Hmmm. I wonder how are ropes guided through intersection, so when they cross, they don't rub against each other?
Maybe this sounds strange, but if you take a metallic rope (the one used on chairlifts to carry seats, or on funicular to move and secure the cars) and twist it on two pulley wheels, so it resembles infinite symbol, move the rope and let it rub on the spot, where it crosses, the rope will snap after some time of rubbing. That's why the tracks on funiculars have flanged cylinders (a pair of cylinders if the track is singular) so the rope doesn't rub against the ground, track sleepers nor any piece of structure and doesn't cause problems like:
1st: Rope snaps in half, because it wears out quickly, due to rubbing against something
2nd: Rope carves a furrow in something, because it's rubbing against it.
3rd: Rope gets caught by something and snaps in half or twists around the thing, which caught the rope.

[Sjoerd]

Hmmm. I wonder how are ropes guided through intersection, so when they cross, they don't rub against each other?

No; the cables are kept apart from each other using a few guidewheels below the surface.

Typically, the cable of the first-build track will be on top, and cable cars using this cable can stay attached when passing the crossing. Cable cars on the newer line with have to release the cable before the intersection, coast through, and re-attach on the other side. If a driver ("gripman") forgets to release the cable, the grip will hit a bumper bar to force it to release (this is a safety feature, but it may cause damage).

[SFMUNI]

Once upon a time a cable car waiting for the signal to proceed through the crossing intersection nearly got into a scrap with the secret service, the agent wanted the cable car to move to allow then-president Bill Clinton's motorcade to leave the hotel, but the grip-person couldn't because the signal wasn't green, and if he stopped before the intersection, he wouldn't have enough momentum to get through it, possibly causing an accident. Cable car grip-person (surprisingly imo) won the argument.

[Sjoerd]

Powering the system...


https://i.postimg.cc/VNshn5HJ/Powerhouse.gif

[Leipzig_LP]

We need MSB Gifs on Tenor

[remy]

Powering the system...

So is the entire cable animated underneath the track?

[Nicolas]

I do wonder if someday we could get a "classic" rendition of Glasgow, when it was cable hauled. Although that one didn't have any switching opportunities, as the depot was isolated from the tracks via a crane.

[Sjoerd]

Now starting activity testing;

[brozma]

Oh nice. A well managed and spacy depot. I actually wonder, how is the rope guided through switches, AFAIK, it's impossible to separate a single rope without damaging it, or making it weaker. If you take a metallic rope and look at it, you can see, that the rope is made out of bundles of tough steel wires twisted around themselves in circles and welded together. It's virtually impossible to separate these bundles apart. Also if you cut the rope in half vertically and look at the cut piece from the front, it'll look like stars or flowers.

I also wonder, If you can stop the winch in depot from moving? Like for example stopping it, because all cable cars are in depot and it's not necessary to keep it running, or stop it during the activity to simulate winch malfunction.

[SFMUNI]

the cable doesn't split with a switch, it continues along the straight alignment. when operating, you for sure let go of the cable when making a diverging move, and i think the cars grip the cable when going straight, but i don't fully remember. crossovers don't have cables on the actual crossover track, the cable car just coasts through or rolls back with gravity through the crossover. in the yard, none of the tracks are powered, crews push the cable car around or the car is pushed/towed by a truck. most mainline switches are on downhill slopes, so its not necessary to have a switch with a cable in it to provide forward motion for the cable car.