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How a funicular works
Double track. Sikló in Budapest.
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Double track
Another variant is to have two tracks parallel to each other; each car uses its own track all the way up and down. They are connected by the cable via the driving wheel at the top station, so they serve as each other's counterweights just as with a "normal" funicular.
Single track. Funicular at Nacka Strand.
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Single track
Yet another type is a single track, with a single car going up and down, balanced by counterweights instead of by another car, just like a conventional lift. This counterweight runs on its own "track," underneath the car's track, so the counterweight and the car meet at the midpoint of the line.
Diagonal lift?
There is another type of line that is better called a diagonal lift. This is a matter of definition, and the Swedish company Liftbyggarna, which has built the "diagonal lifts" at Skärholmen and Nacka strand in Stockholm, defines these two as funiculars. They are built outdoors using a different kind of technology from those diagonal lifts that operate indoors, such as those found in the Stockholm underground.
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© Text och photo: Bruse LF Persson
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