CHAPTER XV 
AERIAL TRAMWAYS 
Aerial tramways are used for carrying logs and other forest 
products up or down steep slopes, where other forms of trans- 
port are not feasible. 
A common type has a stationary main cable stretched between 
the terminals of the tramway. It may be a single span or 
it may be supported at frequent intervals on trestles or masts. 
The trolleys carrying the loads run on this cable, and are 
drawn along it by a smaller endless power-driven traction line. 
Tramways are seldom justified, except where other means of 
transport are not practicable. Their chief use has been for 
moving products in mountainous regions, especially where deep 
gorges must be spanned or ridges crossed. They may be built 
to operate on steep grades, and are relatively cheap to construct 
and operate in a very rough country as compared to a railroad. 
The amount of power required is comparatively small. 
They have been installed in the United States only to a very 
limited extent although frequently used in Europe and India 
especially for the transport of firewood. Their use in this country 
will increase as logging operations reach the more inaccessible 
stands of timber at the higher elevations. Aerial trams have 
advantages which flumes and slides do not possess, because the 
two latter require descending grades for operation and they are a 
one-way system only, while the aerial tram, on the other hand, 
operates successfully both on ascending and descending grades, 
and provides a means of transportation in both directions. 
Gravity tramways of several types have been used in this 
country to bring logs from benches to some form of transportation 
on the lower levels. One such installation in Tennessee was 
designed to bring logs from a plateau to the logging railroad about 
3700 feet distant. The |-inch standing line followed the general 
slope of the ground and was supported at intervals of from 150 
to 250 feet on brackets of varying length which were fastened to 
255 
^y 
