Lets look at this --
Despite that, I agree with you more than Mil-tech Bard. The height would require multiple supports for the cables, and the cliff is steep enough to make building them extremely difficult. The cliff is close enough to vertical that it would be an elevator, not a cableway, and Wikipedia says that today's longest elevator is 1,654 ft:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa. That's maybe than half the distance we're talking about, and using materials the Sharonians almost certainly don't have. Basically, the cliff is too close to vertical and far too tall for a cableway as we usually use the term if there is any chance of intermediate supports.
You have missed several points that push the plausibility of Sharonan ropeways to support the cut.
1. There was an overwhelming need to get large amounts of work crews, draft animals, explosives and steam engine powered equipment to the bottom of the cliff to support the Traisum cut's construction, and
2. The TTE civil engineering capability was effectively a generation or more beyond any turn of the 20th century technology we knew, particularly in terms of steam engines (See the Bison snippet text), and
3. Sharona has telekinetic talents capable of making cliff side construction both far faster and far safer (Think about the motion pictures of workers moving of hot rivets in 1920-30's skyscraper construction...and now replace with T-K Talents)
4. Finally, you really need to go back and read this link closely --
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/01/ ... sport.htmlThis was the range of capability of ropeway/cableway technology circa 1911:
Length, speed and capacity of the lines
Length and capacity of aerial tramways gradually increased throughout the century. In 1911, aerial ropeway lines were typically 1,000 to 15,000 feet (305 to 4,600 metres) long, with a daily cargo capacity of 15 to 200 tons and speeds of around 2 to 5 mph (3,2 to 8 km/h). Some gravity powered installations were faster, with speeds around 15 to 30 mph (24 to 48 km/h), but higher speeds were considered to be a negative influence on wear and tear. Weight of the individual loads varied from 25 to 375 kilograms.
Motive power, if applied, was generally from about 2 to 15 HP. The fall was between zero (almost horizontal lines) and 4,000 feet (1,220 metres). Working staff amounted to 2 to 5 people. Some lines were built parallel to each other in order to increase cargo capacity (the maximum capacity of a single ropeway was about 800 tonnes per day). Some early ropeways were longer and more powerful. The Usambara ropeway in Africa was 5.6 miles (9 kilometres) long and transported tree trunks weighing up to one tonne each (picture above). At its highest point, the ropeway was 130 metres above the ground.
and
Transport infrastructure
Ropeway towers could be constructed from timber or iron and were generally between 100 and 300 feet (30 to 90 metres) apart, although much longer spans were possible if necessary. In bicable ropeways the tension in the track cables was produced by weights applied at one of the terminal stations. However, in longer lines it became necessary to apply additional tension at intermediate points.
For this purpose tension stations were built at distances of about 3000 to 6000 feet. The cars passed from one section of the cable to the next by means of intervening rails - so that no interruption occurred in the continuity of the track. This means that there are no limits to the length of a ropeway: each (longer) ropeway consisted of multiple sections that could be considered as separate ropeways.
The same technique was applied to "angle stations", which were used to make a curve in a ropeway (tension stations and angle stations could be combined - see the illustration above, right). The largest drawback of an aerial tramway, also relevant today, is that it can only be built in a straight line. Every angle in a ropeway requires the erection of an angle station, which raises capital costs. However, in general, few angle stations are needed because ropeways can be constructed above most obstacles.
If you are using rappelling, then elevators, in stages down the cliffs. You can build multiple platforms out the sides of the cliffs -- First for those rappellers and, then later, for elevators.
Then you drill/blast/cement support foundations for metal structures out from the sides of the cliffs, in stages, all the way down.
Finally, you construct a zig-zap pattern of ropeways down the cliff side with a series of combined tension stations and angle stations at the zig or zag end with towers in between the "T&A stations" to keep the tram cars from entangling/scraping the cliff sides.
Considering that the Swedish the 96 km (60 miles) long Norsöj aerial tramway had 514 towers and 25 tension stations and was built in 370 days in the late 1930's/Early 1940's. I think the TTE civil engineering crew could easily match that, simply from three generations of increasingly larger capital equipment investment.
And even if the TTE could not match the Sweds of the late 1930's, this circa 1905 Mina La Mejicana tramway they certainly can. And in a great deal less than the two years it took to build. After all, they are only looking to go to the bottom of a cliff.
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... rev=search...it was built between 1903 and 1905 one cableway linking a distance of 34.3 km and a difference height of 3510 meters.
The cableway was composed of eight sections, joined by 9 stations each of which provides traction to the next stage by steam engines fed with wood, and an additional section that connected the station II with the casting of Santa Florentina. The total laying including this section is 35,128 meters.
and
The cableway had the following characteristics: the speed was 2.5 m / s , 450 trucks had separated from each other by about 112 meters, each with a load of 500 kg and a capacity of 0.3 m³ . In some places the height above the ground reached 450 m.
Each station is linked to the next by a wire and cable supporting traction, supported by towers placed at regular intervals. On arrival at each station, the trolley wire is unhooked traction and was coupled to the next station. The support wire is 32 mm and the pulling of 23 mm, both of steel with hooks lead between cable runs. In total, there are 262 towers have a height between 1 and 50 meters; They were used 140 km of steel cable, 100 km of booking.
Besides bulk cargo, there were special wagons for transporting water, fuel, food, construction and demolition materials, and people. There was also a special grease and varnishing of trolley wires leading to a person, a lubricant reservoir and a hand pump that allowed such a task as each section is walked.
For the construction of the cableway they worked around 1,600 people and pack animals were used as means of transport, particularly donkeys and mules , on average 90 asses to transport foods and 600 mules to transport construction materials. In the last phase of construction, the Argentine Army facilitated 200 mules of its body of artillery , coming at that time to deal with some 1000 animals.
The inauguration of the first sections was the 4th of July of 1904 and launched on January 1 , 1905.
