‹ Atlas V3 · Sonnet
Diagram of a span: two stationary carrying ropes and a haul rope between two supports Two lattice supports. Between them are two tracks: the upper one with a full cart moving right, the lower one with an empty cart moving left. A thin haul rope runs beneath each carrying rope. Near the ground is a small human figure as an illustrative scale. Illustrative diagram, not to scale and without rope sag. Diagram of a span in vertical layout: two stationary carrying ropes and a haul rope between two supports Two tall lattice supports. Between them are an upper track with a full cart moving right and a lower track with an empty cart moving left. A thin haul rope runs beneath each carrying rope. Near the ground is a small human figure as an illustrative scale. Illustrative diagram, not to scale and without rope sag.

Aerial ropeways of Silesia · Kostuchna–Gostyń–Łaziska

One rope carries, the other pulls

A luftbana is an industrial railway suspended above the terrain: a cart of coal rolls along one rope and another rope pulls it.

Our own illustrative diagram, not a map and not a document. The ropes are drawn straight (the model below calculates the sag). In reality the two tracks lie side by side; in the side view they are moved apart vertically. The human figure gives only a sense of scale: the height of the supports has not been established. The dashes on the ropes are diagram markers showing which rope is moving. The two-rope arrangement (carrying + haul) for this installation was taken over from V2 and from general descriptions of bi-cable ropeways [2]; to be verified.

What does this part of the system do?

Motion does not start by itself. At the end of the section the carts swap roles: the one that arrived empty is loaded at the station.

  • carrying rope: stationary, carries
  • haul rope: moves, pulls
  • full cart
  • empty cart

Supports: the carrying rope and the supports. The carrying rope is stationary relative to the supports. The cart rolls along it on wheels, and the whole weight (the steel of the cart and the coal) passes through the saddles to the supports and on into the ground. That is why the arrows point down and the haul rope recedes into the background. It is this rope that “hangs”; the model below calculates its sag.

Drives: the haul rope. This is a thinner endless loop. The carts are attached to it by a clamp and travel with it: one strand in one direction, the other in the opposite direction. The whole rope moves, so the markers on it travel, while on the carrying rope they stay in place. The haul rope is not what the cart rolls on; it transmits the pulling force, whose value depends on resistance and the gradient of the route and is not modelled here.

Together: two ropes, two jobs. The carrying rope stands still and carries; the haul rope moves and pulls. The full cart travels on the upper track towards Łaziska, the empty one returns on the lower track towards Kostuchna. Both are attached to one haul loop, so their cycle is shared: as far as one travels, the other travels the same distance in the opposite direction.

to be verified The two-rope arrangement in this installation was taken over from V2 and from general descriptions of bi-cable ropeways [2]; it has not been confirmed for the Kostuchna–Łaziska luftbana (see the note at the support).

Carts
Start of the section: full cart on the left (Kostuchna side), empty on the right. Gap: 100% of the section.
Carrying rope
displacement 0%: stationary, carries the weight
Haul rope
every point displaced by 0% of the section length, the carts travel with the rope
Vertical force
full ≈ 8.3 kN, empty ≈ 2.5 kN (model A: tare 250 kg + load 600 kg)

Up close at a support: why the cart passes the mast

The question: if the haul rope moves and the support stands still, what happens at the mast? Look along the route, from the Kostuchna side towards Łaziska.

Cross-section of a support head: mast, crossarm and two tracks with carts View along the route. A lattice mast with a crossarm. At the ends of the crossarm, outside the mast, lie the two carrying ropes. A full cart hangs on the left and an empty one on the right; the hangers run alongside the mast. Beside each hanger is a haul-rope symbol. A diagram of the principle, not a construction drawing.
Our own diagram of the principle, not a construction drawing of the support at Gostyń (there is no such drawing in the materials supplied). The number of arms, the spacing and the support rollers of the haul rope are omitted or unknown.

The same choice as above

Supports. The carrying rope lies in a saddle at the end of the crossarm, outside the mast. The weight passes through the arm into the mast and the foundation (dashed path of the weight). According to [1], it was the concrete foundations of the supports that remained in the terrain after dismantling.

Drives. The motion takes place along the route, so in the cross-section it appears only as a symbol: a cross means motion away from the viewer (towards Łaziska), a dot means motion towards the viewer (towards Kostuchna). The haul rope does not rest on the arm like the carrying rope; it is clamped at the cart’s hanger.

Together. The weight goes down, the motion goes along the route, and the two do not mix on a single rope. The cart hangs beside the mast, so it passes it on the side even though the mast stands in its way.

  1. carrying rope, in a saddle at the end of the crossarm
  2. haul rope, attached by a clamp at the cart
  3. cart hanger, outside the mast
  4. lattice mast
  5. crossarm
  6. bucket (full on the left, empty on the right)

A manufacturer of bi-cable ropeways [2] describes the two-rope arrangement (carrying and haul) as a general principle. That the Kostuchna–Łaziska luftbana worked in exactly this way was taken over from an earlier version of the page: it needs to be verified.

A 90° change of direction at Gostyń: what we know and what is a diagram

Reference [1] says that the drive and return station at Gostyń (in the area of ul. Tęczowa) changed the direction of the route by 90°. It does not describe how the cart negotiated this turn. Below is one general diagram, an example of the principle, not a description of this station.

Schematic plan of a corner station: two arms of the route at 90° and a cart at successive stages Plan view. The first arm runs horizontally from the Kostuchna side to the station, the second vertically towards Łaziska. At the station a dashed arc marks a general way of negotiating the turn, not confirmed for Gostyń. A yellow marker shows the stage: approach, arc, departure. Not to scale and not oriented to the points of the compass.
Plan not to scale and not oriented to the points of the compass. Solid lines: ropes (graphite is the carrying rope, blue the haul rope). Dashed grey: a conjecture about a rail or guide in the general diagram.

Stage of the passage

1 · Approach along the rope general diagram
The cart travels along the stationary carrying rope of the first arm of the route, attached to the haul rope.

2 · 90° arc in the station general diagram, not confirmed for Gostyń
A taut carrying rope does not turn through 90° like a road. In general bi-cable arrangements the turn is made in the station: the carrying rope ends here and the cart negotiates the arc along a short section of track or some other guidance. The dashed line on the plan is this conjecture. Whether at Gostyń the carts were detached from the rope, pushed, or pulled by a separate rope has not been established in the materials.

3 · Departure onto the second arm general diagram
The cart enters the carrying rope of the second arm and resumes moving with the haul rope. The order and method depend on the particular station; other luftbanas and other types of ropeway solved corners differently.

Established in the material per [1]

The drive and return station at Gostyń, in the area of ul. Tęczowa, changed the direction of the route by 90°.

General diagram not proof

The carrying rope ends at the station, a short rigid section or guide makes the arc, and the second arm begins a new carrying rope.

Not established ?

Whether the carts were detached from the rope. How they were guided and what drove them in the station. The radius of the arc. Whether both tracks turned in the same way. The height of the station.

How much the carrying rope sags: model A, illustrative

The carrying rope hangs, so it sags under its own weight and under the cart. Here you can check how load, tension and span change this. This is a model built from assumptions, not a measurement of this installation: we do not have an archival record of the span.

Assumptions: rope weight q = 40 N/m, cart tare 250 kg, g = 9.81 m/s², cart at mid-span, supports at the same height, constant tension. Small-deflection formula: f = q·L²/(8·T) + P·L/(4·T). It ignores vibration, the change in tension under the cart and the elasticity of the rope.

Bars showing the sag of the carrying rope in model A, on one fixed scale Two bars hanging from the level of the supports: the sag under the full cart and under the empty one, on a fixed scale from 0 to 26 metres, with a human figure 1.75 m tall alongside. The numerical values are given in the text beside the drawing.
A model, not a measurement. The vertical scale is fixed (0–26 m), so small sags give short bars. Grey: sag due to the weight of the rope alone. Yellow: due to the loaded cart. White: due to the cart’s tare alone.
Under the full cart
4.03 m
Under the empty cart
1.82 m
Difference
2.21 m
Sag / L
3.4% of the span

Sag below 5% of the span: the range in which the small-deflection approximation is reasonable for an illustrative model.

Sag at mid-span: under the full cart 4.03 m, under the empty one 1.82 m, difference 2.21 m.

The throughput calculator (t/h) from V2 has been removed: the spacing of the carts and the rope speed have no source here, and a result in tonnes would look like fact.

Route and traces in the terrain

A sequence, not a scale of time or distance: the lengths of spans, the heights and the exact course are not in the materials supplied.

  1. “Boże Dary” mine in Kostuchna per [1]

    Start of coal transport to the power station in Łaziska Górne in 1939. Freight transport only.

  2. Gostyń, area of ul. Tęczowa per [1]

    Drive and return station, 90° change of direction (details above).

  3. Power station in Łaziska Górne per [1]

    The recipient of the coal. The method of unloading is not confirmed in the material, so we do not describe it.

  4. 1966 and dismantling per [1], to be verified

    Operation ended in 1966; dismantling was said to last until 1970 (a record from the previous version, needing verification in the full text).

  5. Today no material

    According to [1], the concrete foundations of the supports remain in the forests of Gostyń. The page does not indicate their location and does not encourage searching for them in the terrain: the land may be private or protected.

What is missing here and has not been replaced

An archival photograph of a particular support, a document of the route (a drawing or plan) and a present-day photograph of a foundation taken from an established viewpoint. We do not substitute a photograph of a similar support in their place: it is not enough to locate the route. As the only analogy we give a link to the present-day Janikowo–Piechcin railway outside Silesia [3]; we do not embed the photograph, so the page works offline.

Sources (references from V2, not reopened in this iteration: they need to be checked)

  1. [1] Gmina Wyry: Ciekawostki z gminy Wyry: o „Princoku” i „Luftbanie” w Gostyni [Curiosities from the Wyry commune: on “Princok” and the “Luftbana” in Gostyń] (4 December 2020). According to V2, the source of the facts about the mine, the power station, the years 1939–1966, the 90° station at ul. Tęczowa and the foundations in the forests.
  2. [2] Leitner: Ropeways in tourism (bi-cable ropeways). The principle of separating the carrying and haul ropes in bi-cable ropeways; material about tourist gondolas, used only to explain the principle.
  3. [3] Wikimedia Commons: File:Przemysłowa kolej linowa.jpg [Industrial ropeway]. A present-day railway between Janikowo and Piechcin (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship), photo by Robert Bierwiaczonek, CC BY-SA 4.0. An engineering analogy, not a photograph of the Gostyń luftbana.

Limits of this page

  • The drawings are our own diagrams, not maps or documentation. The number of ropes, the heights and the spacing of the supports have not been established.
  • The values of model A (q, tare, load, tension, span) are assumptions, not historical data.
  • Dates and places come from reference [1] as recorded in V2; they were not checked again.
  • It is not for assessing safety, reconstructing the structure or planning an expedition into the terrain.
What has changed compared with V2
  • Removed the throughput calculator (spacing, speed, t/h): there is no source for these values. The formula W = 3600 / (d/v) · m/1000 remains only in this description.
  • Replaced the “profile / arch” switch with two views at once (the span and the cross-section of a support) and a shared choice of function.
  • Simplified five sliders to three and one fixed scale of the bars; the sag curve was replaced by straight ropes and bars.
  • Removed details without support in the material: the unloading mechanism, the “temporary solution”, the alleged savings on land, the reasons for choosing the route.
  • Changed a photograph embedded from the internet into a link.
  • Corrected the initial sag figures: the static values in V2 (3.71 m and 1.73 m) did not agree with its own formula (4.03 m and 1.82 m for the same assumptions).
  • Kept the sag formula and its assumptions, the presets, the reset and an optional start/pause without automatic motion.