Two cars. One beautifully simple idea.

The original cars were of wooden construction on a steel chassis. They were replaced with up-to-date cars of aluminium monocoque construction in 1955.

Simple sliding doors at each end of the cars still run on their original ball-bearing rollers. Each car weighs approximately 5.5 tonnes when fully laden with eighteen passengers.

The track is 201 ft long with a rise of 111 ft, consisting of a double run of rail — one for each car — with concrete steps between. The rails are standard bull-head section of about 1972 vintage, on a gauge of 3 ft 6 in.

Original timber sleepers, which spanned the full width of both tracks, gradually rotted and were patched with a multitude of secondary fixings — allowing the rails to drift slightly out of line for a less than smooth ride. New steel sleepers set in concrete have since been inserted under the existing rails, using standard main-line spring clips. The Railway remained open throughout the eighteen-month programme.

The track rollers supporting the ropes appear to be of the original design — solid steel rollers carried each end by a ball-bearing plummer-block — with sealed roller bearings now used as replacements.

A fail-safe compressed-air system operates one of the three braking systems. Two large steel weights keep brake shoes applied to the two 4 ft diameter brake drums.

Compressed air at 50–100 p.s.i. operates vertical pneumatic rams which act against the weights to release the brake. In the event of an air failure, the brakes are simply re-applied by the weights.

The speed of the cars is also regulated by air brakes acting on the haulage drums, together with proximity devices which slow the cars as they approach either end of the track. Should a rope ever break, the car's own emergency brake grips the rails until it comes to a halt.

110 V — A low-voltage circuit runs the safety systems — the four station and carriage doors, the passenger indicators, the two overspeed switches and controllers, the dead-man's pedal and the drum winding-plate switches.

240 V — A standard system supplies lighting, power and a mains-operated radio telephone linking the two stations (backed by batteries for power failure).

415 V — A three-phase system drives the 32 hp AC motor through the drum controller — similar to the arrangement used on trams.

The driver's two indicator panels carry two air-pressure gauges, a speed indicator, a voltmeter, an ammeter, a trip indicator and various speed and door control lights.

The controls themselves consist of the motor control handle — governing both the speed and the direction of the motor — and the compressed-air brake, operated by the brass handle on the right. In addition, the driver must stand on a floor-mounted dead-man's pedal in order to start driving.

There are three steel safety ropes — one from each car to the winding drum, and a safety rope running from one car to the other via the original winding wheel. These are 26 mm multi-strand ropes tested to an actual breaking strain of 58 tonnes. They are examined in great detail for defects every six months and are replaced every five to seven years.