Kabelbaan van Ter Apel hand-powered cable ferry AI-pedia

The Kabelbaan van Ter Apel ("cable car of Ter Apel") is the name given to a reported hand-powered aerial cable crossing over the Ruiten-Aa-kanaal, a canal in the woods around the village of Ter Apel, in the municipality of Westerwolde in the Dutch province of Groningen. In the descriptions that circulate, walkers sit in a small cabin hanging from a cable and turn a hand-wheel to pull themselves across the water. No machinery or outside power is involved.

The crossing is said to be about 22 metres long. It is said to lie on a marked walking route near Klooster Ter Apel, a medieval monastery that is now a museum, close to the border with Germany. However, these details could not be confirmed from reliable published sources when this article was written. The existence, exact location, dimensions and current condition of the crossing should all be treated as unverified.

This article therefore does three things. It sets out what has been claimed about the crossing. It describes the setting, which is well documented. It explains how hand-powered cable crossings work in general and where they fit among Dutch and international crossing types. Points that are uncertain are marked as such.

Name and terminology

The Dutch word kabelbaan literally means "cable track" or "cableway". In everyday Dutch it usually refers to an aerial ropeway, meaning a system where a cabin, gondola or chair hangs from a cable above the ground or water. Ski-lift gondolas and aerial cable cars are both called kabelbanen. The word is also used for playground ziplines, which are sometimes called kabelbaantjes ("little cableways").

The English phrase "cable ferry" normally means something different. A cable ferry is a boat or floating platform that travels on the water and is guided or pulled along a cable stretched across the river or canal. In Dutch such a vessel is usually called a kabelpont, trekpont or trekpontje (a "pull ferry"). If the passenger pulls it along by hand, it may also be called a handpont.

The descriptions of the Ter Apel crossing combine these two ideas. They speak of an "aerial cable ferry", meaning a hanging cabin that crosses water the way a ferry would but travels through the air instead of floating. To avoid confusion, this article uses the neutral term "hand-powered aerial cable crossing" for what has been described. If the crossing in fact turns out to be a surface-level pull ferry (a trekpontje), which is a much more common type of crossing in the Netherlands, some of the details below would not apply.

Reported description

The following points come from informal descriptions. None has been confirmed by an official source such as the land manager, the municipality or a published guidebook.

• Location: in the woods around Klooster Ter Apel, sometimes written Ter Apelerbossen, Ter Apeler bossen or Ter Apelderbossen. The spelling varies between sources. "Ter Apelerbossen" (literally "the Ter Apel woods") appears to be the most common form.
• Waterway crossed: the Ruiten-Aa-kanaal.
• Route: said to be part of a Boswachterspad ("forester's path"). This is the name of a type of marked walking route used by the Dutch state forestry service, Staatsbosbeheer.
• Vehicle: a small cabin, described as green, hanging from a cable over the canal.
• Operation: the user turns a large hand-wheel inside the cabin. This pulls the cabin along the cable to the other bank.
• Length: about 22 metres.
• Power: entirely human. No motor, electricity or automatic control is mentioned.

Several things are not stated in any description: who built the crossing, when it was built, who maintains it, whether it is open all year, how many people the cabin can carry, and whether there are age, weight or supervision rules. These are open questions (see Open questions below).

Setting

The surroundings of the reported crossing are well documented, and they help to explain why a crossing of this kind might exist there.

Ter Apel

Ter Apel is a village in the far south-east of the province of Groningen, in the north-east of the Netherlands. It lies directly on the border with the German state of Lower Saxony. Until 2018 it belonged to the municipality of Vlagtwedde. On 1 January 2018 Vlagtwedde merged with Bellingwedde to form the new municipality of Westerwolde, named after the historical region in which both lie.

The area is part of the Veenkoloniën ("peat colonies"). This is a belt of land in Groningen and Drenthe where large peat bogs were dug away from the seventeenth century onwards. The peat was cut for fuel and shipped out by canal. As a result, the landscape is crossed by many straight, man-made canals. After the peat was removed, the land was mostly turned into farmland.

Today Ter Apel is also widely known in the Netherlands for something unrelated to its landscape: it is the site of the country's main registration centre for asylum seekers. This has no connection with the cable crossing, but it is often the first thing Dutch readers associate with the name.

Klooster Ter Apel

Klooster Ter Apel is a monastery founded in the fifteenth century. From the 1460s it was run by the Crosiers (in Dutch Kruisheren), a Catholic religious order of canons. After the Reformation the monastery was closed as a religious community, and its property passed into secular hands. Parts of the buildings were lost over time, but the church and part of the cloister (the covered walkway around the inner courtyard) survive.

It is often described as one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in the Netherlands. It is now a museum and a venue for exhibitions, concerts and other events. The monastery is the main tourist attraction of the village, and walking routes in the surrounding woods often start from it.

The woods (Ter Apelerbossen)

The monastery is surrounded by woodland. This is unusual in the Veenkoloniën, where most of the land is open farmland. The woods grow on higher, sandy ground that was never covered by deep peat. They include old avenues of trees and are used heavily for walking and cycling. Much of the woodland is managed by Staatsbosbeheer, the Dutch state forestry service, which marks walking routes in many of its areas.

The Ruiten-Aa-kanaal

The Ruiten-Aa-kanaal is a canal in Westerwolde. It runs roughly north from the Ter Apel area, more or less parallel to the small river Ruiten Aa, from which it takes its name. Like other canals in the region, it was originally dug for practical purposes such as drainage and transporting peat and farm goods. In more recent decades, several canals in the area have been restored or made suitable for recreational boating as part of efforts to attract tourists to the region.

A canal like this is a barrier for walkers. Bridges are expensive to build and maintain, and they must leave enough clearance for boats or be able to open. This is one reason why simple crossings, such as hand-pulled ferries, are used on walking routes in the Netherlands, and it would also explain why a cable crossing might be built.

How hand-powered aerial cable crossings work

The general principles below apply to hand-powered aerial crossings everywhere. They describe the type of device reported at Ter Apel. They do not confirm how that particular device is built.

Basic parts

1. Support cable (track rope): a strong steel cable stretched between two fixed points, one on each bank. The cabin hangs from this cable. Its ends are attached to towers, posts, frames or heavy ground anchors.
2. Carriage: a set of grooved wheels (sheaves) that rolls along the top of the support cable. The cabin hangs from the carriage.
3. Cabin or basket: the container in which the passenger sits or stands. Small crossings may use an open seat or basket. Others use a closed cabin.
4. Hauling system: the means by which the cabin is moved. On a hand-powered crossing this is usually one of the following:
   • a separate pulling rope that runs past the cabin and is fixed at both ends, which the passenger pulls hand over hand;
   • a hand-wheel or crank inside the cabin that turns a drum or wheel gripping a fixed haul rope, so that turning the wheel winds the cabin along;
   • a winch on one of the banks, turned by a helper.
5. Platforms: landing stages on each bank where passengers get in and out.

The reported Ter Apel crossing uses a hand-wheel inside the cabin, which corresponds to the second option.

Sag and effort

A cable stretched between two points always sags in the middle under its own weight and the weight of the load. This means a cabin runs slightly downhill for the first part of the crossing and slightly uphill for the second part. On a short span of around 20 metres with a well-tensioned cable, the sag is small. Even so, the second half of the crossing usually takes more effort. A hand-wheel with a gear ratio (one turn of the wheel producing less than one turn of the drive wheel) makes this easier, at the cost of more turns.

Safety features

Well-designed hand-powered crossings usually include some of the following:

• a brake or ratchet, so that the cabin cannot roll back towards the low point of the cable if the passenger stops turning;
• a cabin with enclosed sides or a locking door, so passengers cannot fall out;
• a weight limit and a limit on the number of passengers;
• a way to bring the cabin back to the bank where waiting users stand, such as a return rope;
• regular inspection of cables, anchors and wheels, because steel cables wear and corrode, particularly near water.

It is not known which of these features, if any, are present at Ter Apel.

Comparable crossings

Hand-pulled ferries in the Netherlands

The most common hand-powered crossing in the Netherlands is not aerial at all. It is the self-operated pull ferry (trekpontje or handpontje). This is a small flat boat or raft attached to a rope or chain stretched across a ditch, stream or canal. The user steps on board and pulls the rope to move the ferry across. Such ferries are found in many nature areas and on walking routes across the country. They are popular with walkers and families because operating them is part of the experience.

If the Ter Apel crossing were in fact a trekpontje, it would be one of many. If it is truly an aerial cabin, it would be much rarer. Hand-powered aerial passenger crossings over water are not a common feature of Dutch walking routes.

Hand-powered aerial crossings elsewhere

Hand-powered or human-pulled aerial crossings have long been used in mountainous regions where rivers run through deep valleys and bridges are hard to build. Examples include:

• the tarabita, a traditional cable crossing in the Andes, especially in Ecuador and Colombia, in which a basket or small cabin hangs from a cable over a gorge;
• wire-and-basket river crossings in parts of the Himalaya and other mountain regions, which local people use to cross rivers where no bridge exists;
• small material ropeways and occasional passenger ropeways in the Alps, some of which were historically operated by hand.

Some of these traditional crossings have been replaced by bridges or motorised systems, partly for safety reasons. Others survive as tourist attractions.

Transporter bridges

A transporter bridge (in German Schwebefähre, "suspended ferry") is a large structure that carries a gondola hanging from a high girder across a river or canal. It works like a ferry that hangs in the air. Examples in Germany include the transporter bridges at Rendsburg over the Kiel Canal and at Osten over the river Oste. Transporter bridges are much larger than a walking-route crossing and are usually powered by electric or other motors, though the basic idea of a hanging cabin crossing water is similar.

The Wuppertal Schwebebahn

Informal descriptions have compared the Ter Apel crossing to the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, calling it a "muscle-powered cousin". The comparison works only loosely. The Schwebebahn, opened in 1901 in the German city of Wuppertal, is an electric suspended monorail: its cars hang below a fixed steel rail, not a cable, and run largely above the river Wupper. It is a public transport system carrying many thousands of passengers each day. It shares with the Ter Apel crossing only the idea of a vehicle hanging above water.

Recreation and tourism context

The north-east of the Netherlands has promoted walking, cycling and recreational boating as a way to support the local economy in a region that has faced population decline and the loss of traditional industries. Interactive features on walking routes, such as pull ferries, stepping stones, viewing towers and play elements, are a common way for land managers to make routes more attractive, especially to families with children.

A hand-powered crossing fits this pattern. It replaces a bridge with something that is cheaper to build, does not block boats on the canal (if it hangs high enough), and gives walkers an activity. These reasons are general ones. No published statement from the builders or managers of the Ter Apel crossing explaining why it was built has been found.

Safety and regulation

In the Netherlands, attractions where people are moved by mechanical devices may fall under rules for attraction and play equipment (attractie- en speeltoestellen). These rules require that devices be inspected and certified. Whether a small hand-powered crossing on a public walking route falls under these rules depends on how it is classified. This article does not state how the Ter Apel crossing is classified, because no reliable information on that point has been found.

In general, users of any hand-powered crossing should follow the instructions posted at the site, respect weight and passenger limits, and not use a crossing that looks damaged. Crossings over water carry an added risk of falling into the water, which matters especially for children and for people who cannot swim.

Verification status and open questions

As of the writing of this article, the information about the Kabelbaan van Ter Apel comes from informal descriptions rather than from verifiable sources such as Staatsbosbeheer, the municipality of Westerwolde, the Klooster Ter Apel museum, or a published route guide. The following questions remain open:

• Existence and type: Does a hand-powered aerial cabin crossing exist at this location, or is the crossing actually a surface-level pull ferry, a bridge, or a crossing elsewhere in the region?
• Exact location: At which point does it cross the Ruiten-Aa-kanaal, and how far is it from the monastery?
• Dimensions: Is the span really about 22 metres? How high above the water does the cabin travel?
• Construction: Who built it, when, and with what funding? Who maintains it?
• Operation: Is it open all year? Are there limits on age, weight or number of passengers? Is supervision required?
• Route: Is it part of a Staatsbosbeheer Boswachterspad, another marked route, or a separate attraction?
• Current status: Is it still in use, or has it been closed, moved or replaced?

Readers who know the area, or who have documentation from the land manager or the municipality, could help resolve these questions. Until then, the details given in the "Reported description" section should not be relied on for planning a visit.

See also

• Klooster Ter Apel
• Ter Apel
• Westerwolde (municipality)
• Ruiten-Aa-kanaal
• Veenkoloniën
• Staatsbosbeheer
• Cable ferry
• Pull ferry (trekpontje)
• Aerial lift
• Tarabita
• Transporter bridge
• Wuppertal Schwebebahn