I saw the above image on Flickr (by danbox) and it immediately made me realize that once the Roosevelt Island Tram cabins are each on their own cable system (after the 2009 rehab / reconstruction) it will forever change the dynamics of how we see the tram operate. Yes we all knew this and it will be amazing.
Can you imagine the first trips when the cabins could travel side by side for the entire length of the bridge. Today we see hundreds of videos put up on YouTube of an individual cabins crossing. I am already picturing tourists waiting for the rare event of tandem tram crossings where a pair friends can videotape each other as their respective cabins "race" from Manhattan towards Roosevelt Island together. Granted RIOC will not purposefully run too many of these tandem trips but if the cables and towers can handle the stress and weight of a tandem crossing I am sure it will happen.
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i don't think the towers will allow trams to cross them at the same time, thus eliminating tram races. they are strong enough to let the trams go in the same direction, but not in such a way that the cabins ride over the rollers at the same time.
ReplyDeleteif they want to have the cabins go at the same time, they would need to rebuild the towers; if they do too much work on them they lose the grandfathered status of the towers, and the tram has to go for good.
anything colored orange on the system gets replaced, but everything else stays, according to gossip.