Fairfax Manor Incline New Photo

Great and rare photo of the Fairfax Manor Inclined Railroad (1913-1930) in Marin County (California). It was an inclined railway with only one carriage and a counterweight. The carriage was rolling on the external pair of rails while the counterweight used the internal pair of rails. So… the counterweight was flat and passed under the carriage at the middle point.

Nouvelle photo du Fairfax Manor Incline

Exceptionnelle et donc rare photo du Fairfax Manor Inclined Railroad (1913-1930) dans le Comté de Marin (Californie).
Ce fut un funiculaire, aujourd’hui complètement disparu, à quatre rails avec une seule cabine et un contrepoids.
La cabine roulait sur la paire de rails extérieurs alors que le contrepoids utilisait les rails intérieurs.
Le contrepoids était donc plat et passait sous la cabine à mi-parcours.

Fairfax Manor Inclined Railroad
Fairfax Manor Inclined Railroad

Thanks to Joe Thomson and Guy Span for the photo in Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society.

5 thoughts on “Fairfax Manor Incline New Photo”

  1. Similar system to the Southend Cliff Lift whose car runs on 4ft 6ins gauge and its counterbalance rums on 1ft 10ins gauge below.

  2. Thank you Dave for your comment…
    Not exactly the same system because Southend Cliff Lift car and counterweight are not at the same level and on different tracks … counterweight runs on a track which is below the car track. At Fairfax Manor Incline, car and counterweight were at the same level on the same track. 😉

  3. This is a very interesting system, but I have a question: How does it work after the crossing, when the cabin is on the lower side and the counterweight on the upper side of the track: The counterweight would have to run under the rope of the cabin! Would the counterweight have some rollers or pulleys on the top of it?
    This wouldn’t be a problem is the cabin was connected to the rope on the outside of the track, but we can clearlely see that there are free pulleys on the inside of the track, and nothing on the outside

  4. Dear Sebastien… I don’t know…. I have no more informations about Fairfax Manor Incline.
    May be there was a special pulley on top of counterweight.

    It reminds me the new cabins of Châtelard-Emosson funicular. In the superior half part of the line, the superior cabin has to pass over the cable of the inferior cabin… but in some part of the line there are great concavities so the cable of the inferior cabin is in the air! So you know there are rollers in the air also to support the cable in these part. But do you know that below each cabin there are also rollers to support the cable of the other cabin in the superior half part of the line?

  5. Hello,

    That is true, the funicular Chatelard-Emosson is very interessting with its uncommon profile and “Flying” cable. However, I find disapointing that the counterweight car has been removed at the exchange of the cars. There must be more “waisted” power on the motor as the rope still has the same lenght and i assume a similar weight.

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