Cliff railway, western England

There's a bit of a theme here with cliffs, and you would think that a cliff might mean that a railway line would need to either go around it - or through it.

In western England In the 19th century, the high cliffs separating Lynton from Lynmouth were a major obstacle to economic development. The twin villages mainly relied on sea transport because land travel was extremely difficult over Exmoor. Coal, lime, foodstuffs and other essentials arrived at Lynmouth in sailing vessels, but this freight had to be carried by packhorses or in horse drawn carts up the steep hill to Lynton.

Then there was tourism and the aptly-named daunting hill faced those who decided to walk up to Lynton. Ponies and donkeys could be hired at 6d a time, but the steep gradients severely tested the unfortunate animals. Other tourists travelled up Lynmouth hill in carriages, but the horses that pulled them, understandably had a very short working life. It was in December 1881 that a novel solution to the problem was first given a public airing.

This excitingly simple solution involved a tramway between the two towns worked by a stationary engine at Lynton, the motive power being taken from the river Lyn, put in tanks on rolling carriages and these let down the tramway under proper control. The weight of the water going down would, with the application of simple machinery, bring up anything that might be desired from Lynmouth.

What’s more I was ahead of the times by offering an eco-friendly solution. The Lifts need absolutely no power to operate, water is its motive power. This is not damaged or polluted in any way, just used as ballast and dropped on the beach at Lynmouth about 100 metres away from the river, from which it was taken. The lifts themselves do not create any emissions, their carbon footprint today has not significantly changed since the lift opened, it is probably one of the most environmentally friendly tourist attractions in the country and has been for well over a hundred and twenty years.

Best of all, it is fun and visitors love to travel this way and admire the views and the thrill of the steep climb.

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