Saltburn Cliff lift

The Saltburn Cliff Lift is a funicular railway in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It provides access to Saltburn Pier and the seafront from the town. The cliff lift is the oldest operating water-balance cliff lift in the United Kingdom.

Saltburn Cliff Lift was constructed between 1883 and 1884 to replace a vertical cliff hoist, designed by John Anderson, which was used to transport passengers up and down the steep north-facing cliff between the town and the pier. It improved access for tourists to the seafront and beach. Designed by George Croydon Marks for the manufacturer Richard Tangye, the cliff lift has a height of 120 feet (37 m) and a track length of 207 feet (63 m), resulting 71 per cent incline. A pair of 12-person cars, each fitted with a 240-imperial-gallon (1,100 L) water tank, run on parallel standard gauge tracks; by removing or adding the water to their tanks, movement is achieved, regulated by a brakeman at the top.

The lift opened on Saturday 28 June 1884. The original cars have been replaced with aluminium counterparts and the top station restored, but little of the underlying mechanism has been changed since it was installed. Owned since the Second World War by the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland, the lift remains in regular use between March and October each year. It is one of Saltburn's most popular tourist attractions. Reportedly, the service was being used by an estimated 150,000 passengers per year by the twenty-first century. ~ WiKi