Claughton Aerial Ropeway
at Manor Works, Hornby Road, Claughton, Lancashire
Described as the sole surviving industrial aerial ropeway in Britain.
Constructed in 1924 to bring shale 1 1/4 miles from a quarry on Claughton Moor to Hanson Brick Works, 750 ft below. The ropeway is powered by gravity. The weight of the loaded buckets pulls the empties back to the loading point. A braking system is used to maintain the correct speed.
The buckets are suspended from the rope by a hanger, the head of which has two free running wheels, and two clips. The clips sit on top of the rope, to which they are held fast by a combination of gravity and friction between the rope and the clips. As a bucket approaches its destination, the wheels engage with a rising rail to lift the clips off the rope. The bucket is then free to run along this rail, which allows it to be manually controlled during the loading and unloading processes.
The ropeway generally operates with between 40 and 46 buckets with a round trip for an individual bucket of about 32 minutes. The daily capacity is 250 tonnes.
The above information is condensed from the National Transport Trust website.