Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec
Cliffside inclined elevator rebuilt after a fatal nineteen ninety-six cable failure, still climbing a forty-five-degree rock face.
This guide to the Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec opens with the crash of October 12, 1996, when a cable failed on this exact machine, killing two British tourists and injuring fourteen more. It reaches back to 1879, when engineer William Griffith solved the problem of connecting the cliff-top and harbor without stairs, using water tanks as counterweights so gravity alone did the lifting. You'll hear how that wooden funicular burned down in 1945 and was rebuilt within a year, only to fail decades later at the one job it existed to do. Look at the forty-five-degree rock face beside you as you climb, unchanged since Griffith first tackled it.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.