Incline, tramway, Funicular

[Anonymous]

If we're going to talk about models of rack railways, mention has to be given the working tinplate models of rack railways made by Marklin and Bing in gauge O and 1 in the prewar era. Very nice (and expensive)! Marklin even made a special accessory consisting of large mountains, a station and bridges for these trains to run on. This was all one unit and measured 10 feet in length! It's probably the rarest of all the accessories that Marklin made.

[Anonymous]

There's a fair amount of RTR rack (cog) railway equipment out there - Fleischmann offer it in N and HO, LGB offer a couple of G scale locos (all with working rack gear) and Bemo offer some HOm equipment as well. I've heard of some others in the past too but these seem to be the easiest to get hold of. Hope this is of interest!

[Anonymous]

I remember an old 1970's MR I had that had a full color ad for an o-scale narrow gauge cog train set offered by MRC (the transformer people). It was patterned after the trains running on pikes peak so follows euro-styling, it was probably imported using exisisting molds in the new US type paint. It had its own special ladder track for the cogs to catch and the ad said it could make a 30 degree incline. It was from before my time and have never seen one in person but it is something I always thought would be a fun piece to have and try to keep an eye out for it.

[laz 57]

PITTSBURGH Pa. has the real thing. I think it is coming down Mt Washington down to the three rivers.
laz57

[FJ and G]

These tramways are very interesting. I recall a primitive tramway going down the steep side of a hill at Occoquan Reservoir in Virginia. It was a narrow gauge and the simple platform over a truck held a small motorboat. The little one-car train was raised and lowered with a rope.

Also, in Canada, there are short portage railroads, one of which was featured recently on the History Channel special on Yorkshire Boatmen. It may have been a century old.

Some cities, NY and LA among them, used short inclines to climb steep streets (for passengers). I believe that LA may have revived theirs.

To my knowledge, no one has ever made an entire layout based on an incline or tramway.

[lionelsoni]

Ah, yes, Austin is a hotbed of railroad innovation.

[pbjwilson]

I saw something similiar to this when I was working at a house on Lake Michigan. The one I saw looked like it would hold four people. It also looked very victorian. It was a little run down but repairable. Check these out, what a gas.

http://www.marineinnovations.com/resgal_5.html