Falcon Cliff Lift is a closed, 5-foot (1,524 mm) gauge cliff railway, just off the promenade at Douglas on the Isle of Man, which was built to serve the Falcon Cliff Hotel on the clifftop above. This distinctive castellated building, which now houses offices, was once one of the town's busiest nightlife venues, with its own cabaret bar, and the cliff lift provided a simple way for guests and visitors to arrive at their destination. An original car was supplied to carry approximately four passengers and this was replaced (as was the mechanics and workings) in 1929, resulting in the car that remains extant today. The line last operated in the summer of 1990, and its future and ultimate ownership are uncertain, although several groups have made expressions of interest in its restoration at an alternative site.
Famous quotes containing the words falcon, cliff and/or lift:
“My falcon now is sharp and passing empty,
And till she stoop she must not be full-gorged,
For then she never looks upon her lure.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Men, forever tempted to lift the veil of the future—with the aid of computers or horoscopes or the intestines of sacrificial animals—have a worse record to show in these “sciences” than in almost any scientific endeavor.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)