05 / 11 / 2008
There has been much speculation on how the technical maintenance team were going to lift the carriages off the track. Go to the Photo gallery for pictures and a solution. Carriage Lift - 5th Nov 2008
All very exciting.... Seven years since the train was commissioned and so this year is considered a "major mileage service" - all measured according to the number of running hours.
This is the first time we have lifted the train and the bogeys off the track. There are 2 per carriage and this morning the engineering team along with a team from Doppelmayr succesfully lifted the first carriage.
The carriage was moved into the Base Station and lifting gear was assembled using eyelets that were built into the existing steel framework of the the Base Station Platform area. The train carriage was first disengaged from the 2 bogeys. The carriage lifted clear of the bogeys and then the bogeys were each lowered down the track to the resting position and lifted out onto the bottom platform floor. They will now be inspected, serviced and reassembled and the whole process will then be repeated with carriage 2.
The whole process has taken 3 days from setting up the lifting gear, testing and checking it to getting the first bogey off the track. However, all the pre planning and the neccessary expertise in the right place and the right time has taken 4 months of preparations.
Please go to the photo gallery to look at the images from the lift. (Carriage Lift 5th Novemebr 2008)
ENDS
Wdnesday 5th November 08
