4 views of Leas lift, all on Sunday 27 September 2015: Watching a trip from above, another from the beach, a third riding it up the cliff, and finally a quick look at the mechanism inside the top station.
How amazing ! I haven't seen it for more than 50 years ! I went for my first holidays ever abroad with my parents to Folkestone, and we stayed in an hotel called "Princess Hotel" at the top of the cliff. And it was an every day entertainment for me to take the funicular for going to the beach... Thank you for bringing back to me these long forgotten memories.
Thanks for the video. I used to love this when I was a kid. A real treat. Back then, 1940-50s, Folkestone was still a seaside holiday resort. Near the bottom of this railway were a swimming pool, funfair and more. What with the Cross Channel ferry and other attractions - I lived on the edge of town in Cheriton near farmland - it was a pleasant place to grow up in. I haven't been back (from Australia) since 1981, partly because most people I knew are dead, but also because of how downhill it had gone, with where I played as a child now given over to the Channel Tunnel entrance.
Never seen one powered by water before. I remember going to Scarborough on holiday when I was 10 years old, there were 3 funicular railways at that time... I think there's only one left now, and still is operational.
Here's how it works: under the cars there there are tanks of water, to make the cars move the driver in the upper post fills the tank of the car while the driver in the lower post dumps the water out of the other car, (not shown) so the upper car becomes heavier and begins the descent, pulling up the other car
19th Century - not sure exactly when - I loved to ride in this when I was a kid in the 1940s. There was another one further along the Leas, but it closed when WW2 broke out I think. As a seaside resort Folkestone never fully recovered after the War.
Funicular just means that the 2 vehicles are attached by a rope, and the weight of one going down is used to help the other going up. While in some cases the vehicles share track (apart from at the passing point), that isn't part of the definition of funicular railways.
It was simple enough. There are water tanks under the carriages. The carriage tank at the top of the hill is filled with water until it outweighs the carriage (and the people in it) at the bottom. Gravity, and a system of cables, then enables the top car to descend while pulling up the bottom car, and everything in it. Once the top car is at the bottom all the water is released and the top car is filled to repeat the process all day long. It used to be filled with sea water which was pumped up to the top but more recently the same fresh water was recycled round and round. I say "was" because the whole thing is shut now and has been for a while. The Victorians would be spinning in their graves if they knew how we have neglected everything they built for us. It used to cost a penny (old money 1d) when I was aboy which meant you could go up (or down) 240 times for a pound.
