Hello,
Mike Gill wrote:
> ...
> Ignoring Blondins,
Sorry, could you please explain the term 'blondin'?
> there are two principal types of ropeway. The first has
> one continuous rope (to which the buckets are attached) and which runs over
> pulleys. The second type has a fixed carrying rope and the buckets are hung
> from it and run on pulleys. Motion is given by a lighter haulage rope.
>
A few of the latter type have been in operation in Germany not too
long ago:
I can still remember a 7 km long ropeway from the ironore mine
'Fortuna' in the Westerwald area operating in about 1980.
The mine is preserved as a museum, but the ropeway is gone.
You will find photographs of a ropeway (approx 1.5 km long)
connecting a limestone quarry to a (AFAIK) concrete plant
in Grevenbrück. This one was in operation until about 1990.
http://www.hfinster.de/StahlArt2/archive-RopewayGrevenbrueck-en.html
An other one, which might still be in operation, is located
near Blaubeuren (South Germany, near Ulm).
Yesterday, I discovered (just by chance!) an old lead and
zinc mine in Lontzen (Belgium near Aachen), which has been connected
to the main part of the mine and the dressing plant in Kelmis
(La Calamine, also known as Altenberg) via ropeway.
I asked the current owner of the buildings for information,
and was told, that a brick-tower (which is still there)
was part of the ropeway. I will try to find out more.
Finally, the Odda Smelteverk in Odda (Norway) probably still makes
use of an aerial ropeway in order to transport raw material from the
harbour to the plant (length about 800m).
I have seen this one in operation in June 2000 .
There is an interesting site about ropeways in Luxemburg:
http://www.rail.lu/funiculaireottangedifferdange.html
Greetings
Harald
--
Dr.-Ing. Harald Finster / Aachen Germany
http://www.finster-stahlart.de industrial history and architecture
http://www.astrid-aix.de gallery: watercolours and oil paintings
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