The Waterweight

The Waterweight climbs the cliff beside the Veil, from the porters' yard at the foot of the falls in Veilmere to the wheelhouse on the lip above, where the road runs on to Briarbrook. It is two cars and one rope. The cars are square boxes of dark oak bound in iron, each with benches for a dozen riders and a deep tank under the floor. They ride a timber rail pinned to the rock in a long straight climb, and the rope that joins them runs up over a great wheel in the wheelhouse at the top.

Nothing pushes. When the top car is ready, the wheelhouse opens a sluice from the river and fills its tank until it is heavier than the car waiting below. Then the brake comes off, the heavy car rolls down, and the rope hauls the light one up past it. At the bottom the tank is emptied into the river, and the whole thing waits to be done again. The ride takes about as long as a slow song, and the cars pass each other halfway up close enough to trade insults.

The fare is sixty copper bits a head, paid at the foot or the top, and the Porters' Guild runs it. Hob Tallow keeps the brake in the wheelhouse and has done for longer than he admits. His daughter Ness works the foot station, takes the coin and rings up to her father when the car is loaded. Riders who would rather keep their coin can always take the Stair, the old switchback path cut into the cliff beside the lift. It is free, steep, wet all the way and takes most of a morning, and the Guild's porters still carry heavy loads up it on their backs.