Wheels of history turn in Lisbon's elevadores

By Andrei Khalip

LISBON (Reuters Life!) - Old brass relays set off bright sparks, electricity hums and creaking capstans pull the cables of Lisbon's 106-year-old Santa Justa street lift, whose engine room looks like the laboratory from a Frankenstein film.

A few hundred meters from the neogothic iron tower of Santa Justa, clumsy cable cars on distinctive asymmetrical chassis crawl up and down steep cobbled streets, clanging and with bells ringing, as they have been doing for more than a century.

This summer is a rare period when Lisbon's four "elevadores" are all working simultaneously after repairs and urban works.

Different in shapes but serving one function -- simplifying access to the upper town in the hilly Portuguese capital -- Lisbon's street elevators are national monuments. The motors and most moving parts date back to early 1900s when the machines swapped steam for electricity.

But they are more than just functioning museum pieces or charming tourist attractions.

City dwellers who work in the upper town still hurry to catch them in the morning to avoid a tiring hike up the cobbled pavement and to save their soles and heels. Riding an antique item doesn't bother them, as long as it keeps working.

"It's good, but when it breaks down, I miss it," said Audete Sirodo, a 61-year-old secretary, stopping briefly by the brass "National Monument" plaque of Lavra funicular after making sure the yellow carriage was still warming up for its morning ride.

"It had to be repaired twice over the past year or so, and walking this route on foot is very exhausting," she said.