Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

190 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. CAR NEARING THE LOWER STATION. Observe the double cable track and the method of suspending the car. thus forming a compact, almost rectangular, truck of narrow width. The car itself is supported from the trolley, and is hung from a transverse axle in such a way that it maintains an absolutely perpen- dicular position whatever the The Car gradient may be. At the prow Attachments. . . of the trolley is an attach- ment, to which the two ropes which haul the carriage up the cableway are fixed. The track wheels are equipped with guide channels for directing the track ropes through the grooves of the upper and lower running wheels respectively, so that the two are kept the requisite distance apart and the wheels obtain the maximum amount of adhesion, and are secured from derailment. A journey up the railway is a thrilling ex- perience. The traveller is hoisted through the air, to a height of some 5,280 feet above sea-level, to Enge Station, a halting-place perched on the face of the mountain. The lower, or departure, station is at the foot of the mountain, some 4,000 feet above sea-level, at the snout of the Grindelwald Upper Glacier and about an hour’s walk from the terminus of the surface railway at Grindelwald, and in close proximity to the Wetterhorn Hotel, which is the centre for mountaineering and other expeditions throughout the district. The higher station at Enge is situated on the goat path climbing round the face of the mountain, and is carried on a convenient ledge some 1,250 feet above the de- parture station below. A sub- Power- house, stantial pier-like structure of masonry has been built here, projecting from the mountain side, to serve as a convenient stage at which the travelling carriage may- land and embark passengers. Above the station is placed the power installation. The erection of this power-house on the steep mountain side was no light task. At its outward end the power-house rests upon a substantial heavy steelwork foundation, the side trusses being built diagonally and cross- ing and locking with the central vertical section at angles of about 45°, to give the foundation ironwork the form of the letter V. This plan was adopted on account of the great strength conferred, and because it offered the most convenient arrangement for the disposition of the hauling cables and drums. There are two main horizontal wind- ing drums, driven by electric motors. The ropes from the drum pulleys pass through the station and over vertical grooved pulleys to the prow attachment of the car truck. The track cables are anchored at either end to a depth of thirty feet into the solid rock, and are covered with cement piles and masonry. For the purpose of carrying out the work of construction—undertaken by the Fonderie