Funicular railways, ascensors, cable cars - worth a visit

An invention of the late 1800s, some original funicular railways around the world are still operating.
The ascensor (funicular) Artilleria in Valaraiso, Chile was built in 1893 and still runs every few minutes from the busy Port area to the houses and Maritime Museum at the top of the hill.
I rode it last year.
In Wellington New Zealand people are building private funiculars to transport themselves to their houses built on the inaccessible steep sides of hills overlooking the bay.

The funicular railways still operating in Scarborough, Yorkshire, attract locals and tourist and for me they are a reminder of childhood holidays at the seaside town.

If you would like to read more go to my new site I'm building about funiculars.
Pic: Ascensor Artilleria in Chile
Pic: Scarborough, UK, funicular

THE BLACK THREAD by Margaret Muir now in large print

This month sees the publication of the Ulverscroft large print edition of my third novel THE BLACK THREAD (HaleBooks 2007).
This dramatic story is set against a background of the Yorkshire Woollen Mills and the towns of Leeds and Saltaire.
Much of the drama revolves around a journey on a working barge on the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
The year is 1895.
The cover on this edition is quite different to the artwork on the Hale publication.
Unfortunatley the picture depicts modern day narrowboats not 19th century shortboats.
But it does indicate it is a canal story.
Photo: Ulverscroft cover - THE BLACK THREAD