A funicular that has been carrying passengers up a hillside in Portugal since three years after Thomas Edison patented the commercial light bulb has done so for more than a century without needing a plug. In 1882, Portugal built a water-powered funicular on the hillside of Bom Jesus, and this oddity still carries passengers up the slope on its own. The Elevador do Bom Jesus is situated on a wooded area of land overlooking the city of Braga in northern Portugal. The funicular opened to the public on March 25, 1882, making it not only the first funicular in the Iberian Peninsula but also the only one to have operated on water power since its opening.
According to the Confraternity of Bom Jesus do Monte, which has managed the sanctuary and the funicular for centuries, Braga industrialist Manuel Joaquim Gomes initiated the transportation system, which has used the same mechanism since its opening. The funicular doesn't require electricity, as it carries passengers up and down the slope using a seesaw-like principle, but with large water tanks instead of two children.
Two tanks of water, one very old trick
The mechanism is so simple it can't be wrong, yet it has run for more than 140 years without a single major overhaul. Two cabins sit on rails that run along an incline. A cable connects the two cabins and goes up and over a pulley at the top of the incline. Mounted on the floor of each cabin is a water tank. To prepare each descent, the operator fills the tank on the cabin waiting at the top of the incline with just enough water to offset the combined weight of the passengers boarding the other cabin. The extra weight in the first cabin causes it to slowly roll down the incline while the second cabin is pulled up the hill. When the first cabin reaches the bottom of the hill, the water in the tank is released, allowing the two cabins to reverse roles.
The track is nearly 900 feet long, and a ride from top to bottom takes about three minutes. The only things that must be refilled during the day are small water tanks, and the only things that must be recharged each night are a few batteries that power the onboard computers. There is no throttle to open or close and no engine to pollute the air, only a set of precisely timed mechanical switches to control the flow of water.
