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| Here there was one place where the Gravity Man worked. (Drawing by William McMurtrie, March 21, 1855) |
When I was growing up in California, I once heard about a mysterious man--a "Gravity Man" that did amazing things in a "Gravity Car." I knew that there was some interesting backstory to this person, but I never quite realized how fascinating this story was.
Later I learned that a "gravity man" was really a kind of brakeman in a special kind of train, and that one of these trains used to be on a mountain not far from Palo Alto, where I now live.
Just recently, I learned that the local train was a "just for fun" version of a train that was originally built for serious work. That surprised me, maybe it will surprise you as well.
Here are the questions for today:
1. What did a gravity man do? Where did he do it in California?
2. Is there any place you can ride a gravity car now?
3. Can you find a video of people descending in a gravity car?
4. Can you find a gravity car that was used for serious work? Where were they located, and what were they used for? (Once you find the answer to one piece of this, the rest will come for free.)
This is a purely fun challenge. Not that hard, but it illuminates an interesting piece of Americana. (And maybe beyond--were there Gravity Cars elsewhere in the world?)
Remember to tell us HOW you found the answers.
Search on!
Based on what you put in #4 I began with
ReplyDelete[ gravity car ]
Gravity Railroad and A Visitor's Guide to Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods
1. A gravity man operated the brakes on the gravity railroad. He did it on Mount Tamalpais in California.
2. A quick look at the gravity railroads in the US - the answer looks to be no. If you count roller coasters which are based on gravity railroads, the answer would be yes. One would be The Blue Streak at Cedar Point, Ohio.
3. This is a video of a switchback railcar that is a type of gravity railcar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipic6XyHf_8
4. Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad
"The road was designed to carry the output of the D&H's mine at Carbondale, transporting 100,000 tons per year (91,000 t) to the canal."
Good Morning, Dr. Russell, fellow SearchResearchers
ReplyDeleteSearched:
[gravity man california]
Gravity Hills Wikipedia Shows hills in all the world.
["gravity man"california]
Gravity Car, passengers and a "Gravity-Man" on the Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad, Marin County, California, circa 1914 [photograph]
Gravity cars history and facts
A question of gravity, Newspaper
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said of this railroad
["gravity man" Mt Tam] in Google Videos and on regular web search
Gravity man job Ctrl F "Gravity man"
(US) MOUNT TAMALPAIS & MUIR WOODS RAILWAY. Present, past, maps and videos.
Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway wikipedia
Mount Tamalpais - The Crookedest Railway in the World Site shows more images, video, talks about book.
Pdf provided by previous site with duties of Gravityman.
Muir Woods by Gravity Car Historical Essay
[The Crookedest Railway in the World] in Google Books
[gravity car serious job]
Gravity railroad Site mentions serious job and links to company
["gravity car" minery]
Answers
1. What did a gravity man do? Where did he do it in California?
The primary duty of a gravityman was to operate gravity cars as they coasted
down the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, controlled by two brakes. The secondary
duties were all operating tasks that more senior employees didn't want to do. Source pdf mentioned before. They job was to mantain a safe speed.
California Mt Tamalpais and Muir Moods
3. Can you find a video of people descending in a gravity car?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJg-Zzd589Q
4. Can you find a gravity car that was used for serious work? Where were they located, and what were they used for? (Once you find the answer to one piece of this, the rest will come for free.)
They were used in quarries. In United Kingdom, 1832 Wales.
In United States, Delaware and Hudson Canal Company (Pennsylvania to NY) operated extensive gravity railroad.
Used to ship anthracite.
Logan quarry gravity car loading
Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway
I also found that Hershey will open a gravity coaster. Sky Rush
Delete[gravity railroads | railway]
Shows Railway enthusiasts group
Also I think you can see and be on one gravity car in Gravity Car Barn Museum.
[gravity railroads railway experiences]
The Gravity Railroad was suggested by engineer Benjamin Wright, engineer of the company, as a more practical means of hauling coal over the Moosic Mountains than sleds and wagons used previously. It was on the tracks of this railroad that the first commercial locomotive - the Stourbridge Lion -turned a wheel by steam in America.t
Bill Thomas developed the railway’s signature innovation – the gravity car.
[ Bill Thomas intext:gravity car]
Photo
#1 Answer
ReplyDeletehttp://www.friendsofmttam.org/railroad/gravity-car-barn
Here’s the Gravity Man at work
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt7w1038zk/
“who used two independent brakes to maintain the car at the blazing speed of 12 miles per hour”
Mount Tamalpais railway
#2 Answer
I have to post this link. It’s a bit of a take on gravity when it comes to squats.
http://ragamuffinsoul.com/2013/11/squatride/
or this idea of for the future
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2703.htm
#3 Answer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFac8BHteJU
The Crookedest Railroad - Mount Tamalpais
All the men wearing hats; they need to bring that style back!
#4 Answer
Here’s one example of using a gravity train for hauling slate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northwestwales/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8668000/8668443.stm
Using gravity trains in mines would be a very logical use.
Thanks for an easy and fun challenge.
This challenge was solved using Youtube & the keywords [gravity train OR car OR railroad OR railway]
1. What did a gravity man do? Where did he do it in California?
ReplyDeleteThe main job of the gravity man was to turn on the gravity so the railcar could descend Mt Tamalpais.
http://www.friendsofmttam.org/railroad/gravity-car-barn
The railway ran from 1896 to 1930, and a document from the Friends of Mt Tam described an ideal day during the period: “Locals and tourists alike delighted in jaw-dropping vistas as they reached the summit of the East Peak for a day of unparalleled sightseeing, dinner at the Tavern of Tamalpais and dancing at the Dance Pavilion. At day's end, the daring would climb aboard the Gravity Car, and the 'Gravity Man' would 'turn on the gravity', and down they would coast around 281 turns on the mountain's route to the Mill Valley Depot. The rising popularity of the automobile and the Great Depression tolled the death knell of the railroad, and service was discontinued and tracks torn up in 1930.
The cars were pushed up the top of the 2,600 foot hill by a Shay or a Heisler.
One of the highlights of the trip was taking the midnight gravity train back to Mill Valley. {That would really be a treat!]
http://www.mendorailhistory.org/downloads/Western-Railroader_Mount-Tamalpais.pdf
The whole issue was written by a gravity man,
This has a brilliant map
Pay in 1927: $3.00 per day (gravityman), or $2.00 for two-thirds of a day when
called late. (Brakemen got $3.50; conductors $4.00; and engineers $5.00)
The primary duty of a gravityman was to operate gravity cars as they coasted
down the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, controlled by two brakes. The secondary
duties were all operating tasks that more senior employees didn't want to do.
Early morning duties included sweeping out the necessary number of open-side
passenger cars. When this was completed and seats wiped clean, the engine
had usually drifted down from the shop to take on water and oil, couple up to
the train
The senior Gravityman at the front left had two separate brake
systems with two handles-and there was a gravityman in each car.
2. Is there any place you can ride a gravity car now?
Yup. Any roller coaster will do; here is a big one
Strata coaster: The tallest coaster in the world, the 456 ft tall Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure.
3. Can you find a video of people descending in a gravity car? Yup. Youtube.
4. Can you find a gravity car that was used for serious work? Where were they located, and what were they used for? (Once you find the answer to one piece of this, the rest will come for free.)
Wikipedia to the rescue: The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company Gravity Railroad (D&H Gravity Railroad) was an historic gravity railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Google IMAGE has several pix; here is one
http://www.waynehistorypa.org/plid/51
You Californians are so clever. This was a marvelous Search.
jon
Thanks, Jon. And thanks for all the details in your answer. Sweet!
Deletemisread and was mired in boatloads of data about gravy trains & Hugh Nanton Romney… must learn to zoom that text —
ReplyDeleteby the time I realized the gravity of the error, even a great Béchamel sauce couldn't save the day and Fred, Ramón & Rosemary had done some master sleuthing
(although a fine sawmill example and matching biscuit can go a long way to rectifying any perceived wrong in the day.)
gastronomy detour aside, looked/listened at Rosemary's BBC link and was intrigued by the notion of wolves in Wales - as a side benefit, the video includes footage of the gravity train tracks
and the steam engine bringing it back… and the start of the willow wolf & thought it was worth passing along… even though phantom Welsh wolves may not have the gravitas of gravity…
on or off the rails.
Vale of Ffestiniog
‘Howling Wolf’
an Addingham High Moor cousin
an Elon Musk project? 43 minutes, 12 seconds
Gravity Express in theory
w_wolves in the UK
put the kids up front - Mt. Tamalpais pics
am curious and can't seem to find an answer regarding the watercolor illustration used…
ReplyDeletefound it on Wikipedia for Mt. Tamalpais:
Mt. T
and that led to this ref that explains the Table Hill title:
(the T Valley aka known as Coyote Hollow in the 19th century)
Dreams of Tamalpais
but here it is identified as [Table Hill near Red Rock, CA.] — fwiw: this does allow close examination of the work…
LUNA/University of Colorado Boulder Libraries Collections
… and that's my question - I can't seem to find any reference to a Red Rock, CA. in the Bay area - any ideas?
Then there is the Accidental Gravity Train.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia has a pretty good article "Lac-Mégantic derailment" which starts this way
The Lac-Mégantic derailment occurred in the town of Lac-Mégantic, located in the Eastern Townships of the Canadian province of Quebec, at approximately 01:15 EDT,[1][2] on July 6, 2013, when an unattended 74-car[3][4][5][6][7] freight train carrying Bakken formation crude oil ran away and derailed, resulting in the fire and explosion of multiple tank cars. Forty-two people were confirmed dead with 5 more missing and presumed dead.[8] More than 30 buildings in the town's centre, roughly half of the downtown area, were destroyed.[2] Initial newspaper reports described a 1 km blast radius.[9]
The 10,000 ton train coasted 11 km down to disaster. It derailed at 100kph downtown and most of the cars exploded.
jon
question 1) Did as search for "gravity man" train California and this led us to
ReplyDeletethe Friends of Mt. Tam website http://www.friendsofmttam.org/railroad/gravity-car-barn
This site gave some information about the gravity man who was the brakeman on a car that went up the side of Mt. Tam and then came down using gravity. Then did a search for Mt. tam gravity train and got this result
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tamalpais_and_Muir_Woods_Railway which said the brakeman was responsible for keeping the train from going faster than 12 mph.
Question 2) Roller coasters all work on the principals of gravity cars. There is a gravity train in Wales Festiniog Railway Gravity Train Found this by doing search gravity trains worldwide
question 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJg-Zzd589Q
We knew from our first result that Mt. Tam had a gravity car. So we did a search for video Mt. Tam gravity car and this was first result. Also found the same video from Internet Archive. According to that site https://archive.org/details/MountTam1917 this is the only known video from this site.
Question 4) we did a search for gravity train function that didn't really give us good results but one of the search results led to a Wikipedia article on gravity railroads (hadn't used the term railroad and hadn't thought of using until seeing this. The summary for this entry mentioned these cars hauling minerals. So we did a new search gravity train mining and led us to a Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_railroad Reading this article which stated that these trains were used in the US and in Great Britain to haul coal and other minerals
Not sure if it's exactly the same system, but Denniston in NZ's South Island had a similar system for taking coal out. It's called the Denniston Incline and locals called it the eighth wonder of the world. The railway wagons transported coal from the Mount Rochfort Plateau to Denniston, a fall of 518 metres in a track distance of 1670 m. Info here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/itemdetail.cfm?itemid=47
and a video of the wagons in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cCwscH8_9s
They say that once the wives of the workers got to the Plateau they rarely left because it was too scary to go down in the wagons...can't say I blame them after watching that video!
When I first read the challenge this week, I was sure I had rode on a gravity railroad in Katoomba, Australia. When I went to check it out I learned that it is a funicular railway. The difference between a gravity and funicular is the cable. Gravity = no cable attached until it is at the bottom and needs to be pulled up. Funicular always has the cable and uses counter weight of one going down to pull the other back up.
DeleteI did a search [ denniston incline funicular ] the Wikipedia page for Cable Railway lists Denniston as an example.
In the video you shared it looks like it shows the coal-laden car is actually pulling the other cars up the mountain because of how heavy it is.
Great video BTW and even if they opened it up as a ride, I don't think I would ride that. :-)
Exactly right. A funicular has a cable; gravity cars don't.
Delete(Scary ride down. Wonderful video, though.)
1) the gravity man "turned on the gravity" (released the brake.) Source http://www.friendsofmttam.org/railroad/gravity-car-barn. found by googling ["gravity car" "gravity man"].
ReplyDelete2)My first thought was that the train might be a maglev train (clearly not engineer material here) so I googled [maglev train palo alto "gravity car"] which led me to a Wikipedia article for Mill Valley, California. CTRL-F on train brought me to a link for Gravity Cars, which led to an article on gravity railroads. This article stated that roller coasters are designed from gravity train technology, so I'd say you can ride one in any amusement park in the country (or probably out of it, too.) This was confirmed by http://entertainmentdesigner.com/history-of-theme-parks/the-history-of-roller-coasters-the-mauch-chunk-gravity-railway/ which I found by googling [roller coaster gravity train]. I tried various searches, but didn't have any luck finding an actual railroad gravity car you could ride. The Mt. Tamalpais/Muir Woods Gravity Car Barn has a working replica, but I couldn't find any evidence that they actually give rides on it.
3)Went to You-tube and searched [gravity car]. Was impatient with irrelevant hits, so searched gravity train car. The first hit was Mount Tamalpais Gravity Railroad 1917. Tried the next one, Mill Valley Railroad Gravity Car Dedication thinking that the 1917 one would probably be still images. They didn't show the car running, let alone with passengers in the Dedication video, so I tried the 1917 one just in case. Lo & behold--it was a video!
4)The Wikipedia article on gravity railroads had a link to the Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad. That line, in Pennsylvania, carried coal from the mine at Carbondale to the canal at Honesdale. It was also a popular passenger line.
5)There were also gravity cars in the U.K. according to Wikipedia