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Lynton and Lynmouth Historic Cliff Railway
The Lynton and Lynmouth cliff railway was opened in 1890, the railway was built to help with the struggling trade and transport problems due to the steep cliff that surrounded Lynmouth, the two towns relied heavily on the sea for transport and travel.
The gradient of the track is 1:1¾, and covers a vertical height of about 700ft. The track is about 860ft long. There are two cars that are connected by one long length of cable, and the cable travels around a large pulley at each end of the track.
A car can carry 40 passengers and has a large water tank capable of holding 700 gallons of water, the water that the cars use is from the West Lyn River that runs down through Lynmouth, the water is piped from the river, these pipes start about a mile away from the railway
Both cars are held in place by brakes that straddle the track, when the water tank of the top car is full of water and the passengers are safely onboard, the bottom car is emptied of water and the brakes are released. Then due to gravity the top car descends down the track whilst pulling the lighter bottom car up the track, the speed of the cars are controlled using the brakes so the descent is smooth and steady. The cliff railway is a very popular tourist attraction that is listed as a monument.
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