Virtual Railfan Tour of Chile - Valparaiso Funiculars
Mary and I spent a few periods at Vina del Mar a pleasant seaside resort close to Valparaiso. Valparaiso is a naval city just a few minutes away by this electric train. We went into Valparaiso several times by train and were intrigued to watch a dog board our train. He would climb on board and sit down under one of the seats, invariably where a lady with a full skirt was sitting. When the conductor came by the dog would hide under the skirt. He would get off a stop or two before the terminus.
Valparaiso is a hilly city and there are sixteen funiculars (including one vertical elevator) to get people to the various districts. We decided to ride each one of the sixteen. This was not as easy as it might seem. These were mostly built in the early 1900s and although we found a map their locations were frequently very difficult to find. I didn't take pictures of all of them but this is what I have.
There is a funicular in there somewhere, quite often operated by a housewife who had other more important things to do - like preparing a meal
Each funicular took us to a different interesting district.
The views of the city were excellent
With the hit and miss type of operation one wonders what the safety requirements were
This one had its station built into a house
This was opne of the more obvious, easily found ones
Here the funicular is through the open passage way behind the vehicle. A pleasant lady will take your money and show you to the funicular car.
We achieved thirteen funiculars the first day and came back on the train the next day to complete the other three. We eventually found the sixteenth one only to see a hand written notice that it was closed for the rest of the day! Ah well.
There ae many good pictures of the Valparaiso Funiculars:
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