Informed but opinionated commentary and analysis on urban transportation topics from the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal. Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

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From the Cabalmaster:

The following appears as an “introduction” to Funiculars.net (www.funiculars.net), a website maintained by Bruse LF Persson, a Swedish enthusiast:

Se där på berget!
Det är en spårvagn!
Det är en hiss!
Nej, det är en bergbana!

Look! Up on the mountain!
It's a tram!
It's an elevator!
No, it's a funicular!

And there ‘s much more to the site than the slogan!

The Webmaster has gathered together a database on funicular railways worldwide, past and present. The “Database” currently contains 626 entries from 43 countries – 58 from the U.S., 13 from Canada, and so forth. The country with the largest number of listings is Sweden – with 67 of them! That’s a lot more than we would have thought – but the database also includes inclined elevators, suspension railways and public elevators.

(Public elevators?? Yes, there are such things; Genova (Genoa) has more than ten. They are part of the municipal transit network and yes, you have to pay. If you don’t, and you get cautht (self-service fare system), then you're a “clandestine passenger” and you’ll get cited and fined.)

Answers to quiz questions (just in case you come across such queries):

1.) Pittsburgh. (“What U.S. city had the most funicular railways?”)

2.) Los Angeles (“What was the largest U.S. city with a funicular railway?”)

3.) Valparaiso, Chile (“What city, anywhere in the world, had the most funicular railways?”)

4.) If you want the answer to the logical “next” question, you’ll have to check out the site. And we’ll bet that you won’t believe the “all time” total number for Valparaiso!

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 4/29/2004 11:35:00 AM