Lincoln's Proposed Funicular Railway

The idea of a form of transport to carry passengers up and down Lincoln's Steep Hill had been around since the early 1890s.  This was the idea of William Lilly, a surveyor and City Sheriff in 1908.

The plan was to build a terminus at the east end of St Martin's churchyard at the top of the High Street; it would have meant knocking down houses in the Drapery, courts and yards off St Martin's Lane, the worst slums in Lincoln.  The track would then enter a tunnel under Michaelgate and emerge at the upper terminus behind 2 Exchequergate.  

St Martin's Lane, the railway would have 
a tunnel about 200  feet from this point.

Steep Hill would be have been crossed underground near the former Harlequin Inn and the Norman House. Lilly bought houses that were in the line of the route or negotiated easements beneath buildings including the Precentory and the Norman House (then known as Aaron the Jews House). Lilly intended to hand the houses and the easements to the City Council without profit to himself once the project had been agreed. He said he was doing all this work for the good of the people of Lincoln and did not want to make a profit from building it or operating it. He proposed that fares would be 1/2d (about 1/4p).

The total length of the railway was planned to be 1,000 feet and it would rise 142 feet.

The Dean & Chapter at Lincoln Cathedral were consulted on the plans about 1900, they were in favour along with all the Cathedral dignitaries.  The Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted an easement under the Precentory garden for 999 years at £1 per year. 

There was a new impetus to build the railway in 1908.  Three twenty-foot deep holes were dug to inspect the geology of the ground where the tunnel would pass beneath; at Birdcage Walk on Michaelgate, near the Harlequin and in the grounds of the Precentory.   Harley Hugh Dalrymple-Hay was an engineer working on the London Underground, he visited Lincoln to inspect the ground where the trial holes were dug, he descended the Birdcage Walk and Harlequin holes, he was satisfied that the land was stable for the digging of the tunnel.  

The upper terminus would have been
behind this building.

The train was to be propelled by electricity, like the recently electrified trams on the High Street.  There were alternative schemes proposed for the way the trains would operate, both using double tracks:

1. A funicular railway, using an electrically powered winding drum at the head of the track to pull a car up on a steel cable while releasing a second car to travel down on a second cable.
2. Using cars similar to the electric trams running on the High Street.

The Intended Route of the Railway

In November 1909 Lincoln City Council voted against the Steep Hill railway proposed by William Lilly, the council did not have the finances to complete the project, they were committed to spending £200,000 on improvements to the quality of water following the typhoid epidemic and £30,000 for new schools.

It was an ambitious plan, probably too ambitious.

Saltburn Funicular Railway

http://www.engineering-timelines.com/