Cable railway

Cable railways are railways with very steep gradients and use stationary engines to haul the wagons up and down the hills. They are slow, but do the job.

Examples

• Cromford and High Peak Railway opened in 18xx with grades up to 1 in 8.

• Liverpool and Manchester Railway
  • Opened with cable haulage down 1 in 48 grade to dockside.
  • Designed with for cable haulage up and down 1 in 100 grades at Rainhill just in case locomotive haulage was impracticable. Rainhill Trials showed that locomotive could handle 1 in 100 gradients.