Editing Cable transport (section)

=== The first cable railways ===
[[File:Special feature in Y Cymro on the Llechwedd slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog (15367488824).jpg|thumb|right|A gravity incline in use in 1955 at [[Llechwedd quarry]] in [[Wales]]. Empty wagons are arriving at the top of the incline – the winding drum is in the shed in the background]]
[[File:Harvey Cable Car.jpg|thumb|right|A test run on the Westside and Yonkers Patent Railway Company line in 1867]]
[[File:LLOYD(1876) VIEW OF CLAY STREET SHOWING THE WIRE RAILROAD pg191.jpg|thumb|right|Hallidie's Clay Street Hill Railroad, the first successful cable railway running at street level]]
The earliest form of [[cable railway]] was the '''gravity incline''', which in its simplest form consists of two parallel [[Track (rail transport)|tracks]] laid on a steep gradient, with a single rope wound around a winding drum and connecting the trains of [[Railroad car|wagons]] on the tracks. Loaded wagons at the top of the incline are lowered down, their weight hauling empty wagons from the bottom. The winding drum has a [[brake]] to control the rate of travel of the wagons. The first use of a gravity incline isn't recorded, but the [[Penrhyn Railway|Llandegai Tramway]] at [[Bangor, Gwynedd|Bangor]] in North [[Wales]] was opened in 1798, and is one of the earliest examples using iron rails.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Alun John |title=The Slate Railways of Wales |date=2001 |publisher=Gwasg Carreg Gwalch |location=[[Llanrwst]] |isbn=978-0-86381-689-5 }}</ref>

The first '''cable-hauled street railway''' was the [[London and Blackwall Railway]], built in 1840, which used fibre to grip the haulage rope. This caused a series of technical and safety issues, which led to the adoption of [[steam locomotive]]s by 1848.<ref>{{cite web |title=The First Docklands Railway : The Story of the London and Blackwall Railway |url=https://isleofdogslife.wordpress.com/2016/07/13/the-first-docklands-railway-the-story-of-the-london-and-blackwall-railway/ |website=Isle of Dogs Life |access-date=9 July 2018 |date=13 July 2016}}</ref>

The first '''[[Funicular]] railway''' was opened in [[Funiculars of Lyon|Lyon]] in 1862.<ref>{{cite web |title=First Funicular Railway |url=https://www.cremallerademontserrat.cat/content/pdf/montserratfunicularssantjoanhistory.pdf |access-date=11 July 2018}}</ref>

The [[IRT Ninth Avenue Line#West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway|Westside and Yonkers Patent Railway Company]] developed a '''cable-hauled [[elevated railway]]'''. This 3½ mile long line was proposed in 1866 and opened in 1868. It operated as a cable railway until 1871 when it was converted to use [[steam locomotive]]s.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1UPAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA455 |pages=455–456 |title=Report of the Public Commission for the First District of the State of New York |date=1907|last1=First District |first1=New York (State). Public Service Commission }}</ref>

The next development of the [[Cable car (railway)|cable car]] came in California. [[Andrew Smith Hallidie|Andrew Hallidie]], a Scottish emigre, gave [[San Francisco]] the first effective and commercially successful route, using steel cables, opening the [[Clay Street Hill Railroad]] on August 2, 1873.<ref>{{cite web |first=Joe |last=Thompson |date=1998–2004 |url=http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/ccwho.html |title=Who Was Important in the History of the Cable Car?}}</ref> Hallidie was a manufacturer of steel cables. The system featured a human-operated grip, which was able to start and stop the car safely. The rope that was used allowed the multiple, independent cars to run on one line, and soon Hallidie's concept was extended to multiple lines in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hughes |first1=Stephen L. |title=San Francisco Cable Car – the gripping tale of an aged compact |url=http://www.cablecarmuseum.org/archive/Library/road_track.html |website=www.cablecarmuseum.org |access-date=9 July 2018}}</ref>

The first cable railway outside the [[United Kingdom]] and the United States was the [[Dunedin cable tramway system|Roslyn Tramway]], which opened in 1881, in [[Dunedin]], [[New Zealand]]. America remained the country that made the greatest use of cable railways; by 1890 more than 500 miles of cable-hauled track had been laid, carrying over 1,000,000 passengers per year. However, in 1890, electric tramways exceeded the cable hauled tramways in mileage, efficiency and speed.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESnBiR7vLPQC |title=World Railways of the Nineteenth Century: A Pictorial History in Victorian Engravings |last=Harter |first=Jim |publisher=JHU Press |date=2005|isbn=9780801880896 }}</ref>