ENGINEER TO ENGINEER
Gearbox for UK’s only gondola
gets serviced in three weeks
SEW Eurodrive has repaired and serviced
a 3,800kg Lohmann & Stolterfoht
planetary gearbox that drives the only
mountain gondola in the UK, in the Nevis
Mountain Range in Scotland.
Located on the north face of Aonach
Mor, the eighth highest mountain in
Britain, the Nevis Mountain Gondola
transports visitors from the base station,
near Fort William, to the top gondola
station at a height of 650 metres above
sea level in a 15-minute journey.
The system carries 75, six-seat,
closed-cabin gondolas running on a
continuous steel cable, some 4.6km
in length, and weighing 40,000kg. This
is supported between 18 pylons, two
masts, and two drive station structures
each anchored in 200 tonnes of
concrete.
Each gondola weighs 300kg and has
a maximum passenger weight of 480kg.
When fully loaded the combined weight
of the gondolas in total is 58,500kg.
Combined with the steel cable, the
maximum weight on the drive system at
peak capacity is 98,500kg.
As part of routine maintenance, SEW
Eurodrive was chosen to inspect, service
and carry out any necessary repairs to
the huge Lohman & Stolterfoht planetary
gearbox that drives the gondolas at a
speed of 3.2 metres per second.
A SEW Eurodrive engineer supervised
the removal of the gearbox and its
loading on to a road transport wagon
with a fi ve-tonne Hiab loader crane. The
process was made more di cult because
of the tricky mountainside location
of the gondola. Once securely
loaded, it was then transported
to SEW Eurodrive’s gearbox
service and repair facility in
Normanton.
On arrival, the gearbox
was disassembled and
inspected by SEW Eurodrive’s
engineers. Investigation
included oil analysis, digital
photography and information on
components that would require
monitoring during operation for
scheduled future repairs.
It was found that the 20-year-old
gearbox was generally in good condition,
due to the maintenance regime managed
by the engineering team at the Nevis
Mountain Experience. After cleaning all
the components, and removing small
amounts of corrosion, new bearings,
seals and O-rings were fi tted during the
reassembly of the unit.
After testing, the repaired unit was
returned to the mountain gondola and an
SEW Eurodrive engineer supervised the
reinstallation and subsequent
testing. The whole process
was completed within
three weeks.
Speaking of the
project, engineering
director Chris
MacPherson says:
“SEW Eurodrive had
carried out maintenance
for us on some smaller
items in the past. Due to the
quality of repair, the communication and
overall service, I was extremely confi dent
in its ability to carry out the main
gearbox servicing.”
30 www.operationsengineer.org.uk May 2019
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk