Funicular points query

[JKF]

Below is a picture of the points for the passing loop on a funicular I travelled on last week in Genoa. Could anyone explain to me how this works? It doesn’t look like any parts move, and appears that it would derail any vehicle unless there was some kind of retracting wheel mechanism on the vehicle. I’m genuinely perplexed!

 

[John Luxton]

I think it is double flanged on the outer rail and unflanged on the inner. Many moons ago in 1977 I went on a schook trip to Innsbruck and went up the old (it has since been rebuilt I understand) Hungerbergbahn. That was the first time I saw that arrangement.

 

[wibble]

"Each car has double-flanged wheels on one side and unflanged wheels on the other—the two cars are a mirror image of one other. This means that at the passing loop, each car is automatically directed to its own side of the loop, whether it is traveling up or down."

Taken from: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/principe-granarolo-funicular-railway

 

[Haywain]

@John Luxton is correct that each vehicle will have a double flanged wheels on the outer rail, with a broader unflanged wheels (more like a roller) on the inner rail. The shine on the inner rails across that junction give an indication of how wide the inner wheels are.

 

[dazzler]

As John says, there is a double flanged wheel on one side and a flangeless roller on the other, pictures of the wheelsets are available on the funicular railways wikipedia page. Specifically the section regarding the Abt switch

 

[100andthirty]

This is a typical funicular wheelset - from Prague

 

[JKF]

Thanks everyone. I had considered the inner might be flangeless but then thought the other wheel wouldn’t stay on the rail, hadn’t considered double flanged!

 

[jupiter]

My first thoughts were the outer wheels on the way up would be the inner wheels on the way down, but not if each car has a dedicated side of the passing loop, red left blue right, rather than up left down right. Also explains the gap in the rails for the cable. Was puzzling over this points arrangement in Bergen when I saw it.

 

[ian1944]

Each of the wide gaps is for the cable, the narrow one is because it's easier to make two rails almost coming together than a single X one. If the roller is wide enough for there always to be a contact with part of the track, there should be no jolt when passing over a gap.