Funicular Redux

Probably a bit off topic but in the last couple of days I've come across the word "funicular" twice. Once, oddly enough, on the "Simpsons"

and another time an LA Times article on the reopening of the Angel Flight funicular after an accidental death closed it in 2001:

Rebirth of Angels Flight Six years after it was closed following a fatal crash, downtown L.A.'s landmark railway is slated to reopen. By Cara Mia DiMassa, Times Staff Writer January 24, 2007

When Angels Flight, the L.A. landmark dubbed "the shortest railway in the world," closed in 2001 after a fatal crash, many wondered whether it was gone for good. Officials announced Tuesday that the funicular will reopen this summer ? but Angels Flight will return to a decidedly different downtown Los Angeles. . . In many ways, the downtown that Angels Flight will return to is more similar to the one it was originally built to serve in 1901, when Col. J.W. Eddy built the funicular as a way to spare Angelenos the walk up Bunker Hill ? for the price of one cent a ride.

Interesting article, but registration is required )-:

Free stuff about Angel's Flight can be found here:

That article talks about why the funicular failed:

"The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted an investigation into the accident, and determined that the probable cause was the improper design and construction of the Angels Flight funicular drive and the failure of the various regulatory bodies to ensure that the railway system conformed to initial safety design specifications and known funicular safety standards . . . "

More importantly, as some people posited on the previous thread, the failure point was the gearbox:

" . . . failure of this gear train which was the immediate cause of the accident as it effectively disconnected Sinai both from Olivet's balancing load and from the service brake."

-- Bobby G.