through taubanesentralen

Taubanesentralen (The Cableway Central) can in many ways be described as the heart of the of the cableway system. Cableway can only go in a straight line in the terrain and therefore it needs stations to be able to turn in a new direction. Taubanesentralen at Skjæringa is in principle a large station with multiple entries that brings together all the cableways from Longyearbyen and Adventdalen into one line out towards Hotellneset, Line no. 3.  

It was only possible to run one line at a time, and the change from one line to the other took place at the central. Taubanesentralen housed a forge, a workshop and lubrication station. It was also the place where the daily decisions regarding the cableway were made. From the control booth, the site manager had a direct connection to all the cableway stations and to the foreman and department manager.   

The first Taubanesentralen at Skjæringa was built in 1920 and led the first line from Mine no. 2 out towards Hotellneset. Later, the line from the new Mine no. 1B section was connected, and in addition the power plant was connected directly to the Taubanecentralen, so it easily could be fed with coal when needed. The buckets automatically disconnected from the traction rope, but inside the station they had to be pushed on rails and manually connected to the traction rope again. Three men were needed to push empty buckets and loaded buckets through the station.  

"We had to walk almost all day. The men who moved the buckets were called circus horses." 

Was it hard to push? 

"No... there were plain bearings on the buckets, but it was the feet that got it." 

Was it great work? 

"Well, it was idiotic work. It was cold and there was only a roof. Yes, you had walls, but Line no. 1, 2, 3 and the power station where you tipped a bucket of coal once in a while... so there was heavy draught in the building!" 

In 1957, a new cableway central was built on top of the old one, the Taubenesentralen. The existing tracks from Mine no. 1 and no. 2 were raised directly up, and in addition, the tracks from Mine no. 5 and Mine no. 6 were connected around 1959/60. The central was of German manufacture and had automatic chain traction of the buckets through the station. 

The conditions for the site manager were greatly improved at the new Taubanesentralen, and he was consequently called the “loft general” with his office in the large, heated control booth. In the lubrication booth there was an experienced and reliable worker and up to six skilled repairmen worked in the forge under the direction of the site manager. In winter, two men also worked on the night shift, but in the fall, when the line was running smoothly, everyone worked during the day. The repairmen at the forge were also trained to run the cableway so that there was a backup crew. The workers at the Taubanesentralen were also responsible for maintaining the stations and other maintenance jobs on the cableways. The repairmen were considered by management to be quite tough - especially in cold and bad weather. "The mechanics were outside too, but they spent a whole day putting on their overalls." 

Before every startup of the cableway all the stations had to give a call sign. When everyone had given the signal, the cableway could be activated. “At 8 o’clock the cableway had to go. Excactly. If someone wasn’t ready at 8  they got scolded...! It was a question of honour to begin at 8.”  

In addition to reparations and maintenance, the number one job was to have control with the buckets which entered and left the Taubanesentralen. The usual accidents which happened were a socalled bypass. The buckets would not connect to the traction rope again on the way out of the station. To avoid this kind of accident a mechanical brake was installed to stop the bucket. Above the governors house a big safety net was installed in case the brake malfunctioned and the bucked would fall down onto the house. A malfunctining bucket was a serious matter, but if a bucket fell down on the guvernors house it wouldn’t happen with a certain amount of joy from the workers. “... we wanted it to happen, he-he. But we were discrete if a bucket fell into the net... it usually happend in the dark season, - on the night shift.”