h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today, you can ride the Incline: A87815244

Initial thought: "Breaks! I hope the breaks work! "

...or brakes even

"I hope the brakes don't break! "

I get you.

Actually, there's a terrific system for that. I remember them explaining to us.

Somehow, if the cable breaks, the whole car locks onto the tracks, and won't move until they fix it. Something like that. I didn't understand it very well.

Actually, it's extremely safe, though.

I once heard all elevators/lifts have a similar system. According to what I heard only once was a lift damaged so badly that it actually dropped down the shaft. But nothing much happened since the fall was softened by the lift landing on a cushion of air it had compressed under it - or something like that.

If memory serves this happened when a WWII bomber crashed into the Empire State Building.

I'm sure paulh could build this into his najopomo-thingy

I'll bet he could!

I remember seeing that plane that flew into the Empire State Building.

Yeah, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUlWpqLsOVs

"Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a plunge of 75 stories inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall recorded."

So it says in the comment just below the clip, but apparently others were not so lucky

Check out the building worker strolling along the scaffolding hundreds of feet above the ground

I am always amazed at these people. I have no balance at all.

They scare the living daylights out of me frequently

In New York City, a lot of high-altitude construction workers are be Mohawk Indians. According to the Straight Dope, it's a warrior thing:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/659/why-do-so-many-native-americans-work-on-skyscrapers

Couple of friends and I actually met a Mohawk once. Here in Denmark. He was giving a lecture about what it had been like to grow up as a native American. When asked if the Mohawks had no fear of heights he whispered "of course we do, but admitting to it openly would be bad for business". He was a , I enjoyed his company immensely

Another anecdote: Five years ago Britt-Marie Johansson Dufwa, an elderly Swedish woman, saw a photograph called 'Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper', allegedly taken by one Charles Ebbets in New York back in 1932.
Suddenly she recognized her father John Johansson who had once lived for some years in the states. He is number 6 from the left on the photograph. Here's a Danish article about it:

http://www.bt.dk/utroligt-men-sandt/opdagede-sin-far-paa-verdenskendt-billede

According to the article her father had once told her about the shooting of the photograph, but he died in the 1982 without ever having seen the photograph which suddenly became a very popular poster and hangs on thousands of walls around the globe.
Ms Johansson is quite positive that number 6 is her father and several people in her neck of the woods are certain that also number 5 is (was) a Swedish migrant, but sadly there is no evidence (how would one be able to prove this?) - hence the term anecdote.

Wow. What a cool photograph!

And exactly what this whole project is about. Finding our stories in photographic history.

I can't look at that photo without feeling my blood starting to drain away.

I remember staring down from the top of Empire State Building and thinking about the cool guys building it. They really had something to tell their grandchildren!

I know what you mean. I think that about things I know my dad worked on - he was a civil engineer.

It always makes me think of that song from Schwartz/Taylor's 'Working', the musical based on Studs Terkel's book about workers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSyHLNA2zA

[Amy P]

having spent my formative years in western New York it took me 40 years to learn that Washington did not, properly contain an 'R'

The main reason I wanted to post here was as someone who has worked 'high' over the years.

One of the main products I have been designing are balcony handrails. To produce a product that fits the building you must carefully measure the balcony for proper fit. As I recall the highest I have been is about 550 feet (168 metres) In the old days we depended on our own sense of survival, today they insist on fall protection (safety ropes) below about 40 feet (12 metres) the odds are you will hit the ground before they deploy, however they do give you something else to trip over.

When I am over a few feet, or a couple metres above the ground I always use extreme caution, but these days I leave most of it up to the young kids.



F S

Whoah, the heady heights! All very interesting!

There's a funicular cliff railway in Hastings, UK. I think it's the steepest in the country. I remember riding on it in childhood and wondering what happens if the cable breaks. .

I don't know how to post a picture of it here. Icy might know about it, because it's in 1066 country. (haha I remember Icy's posting about tuning the car radio to 1066 country ).

I didn't travel on it, but I saw the funicular when I visited Hastings earlier this year.

One I have travelled is the one in North Devon, linking Lynton & Lynmouth.