The Brake at San Rafael

The Letter in the Drawer

引き出しの中の手紙

The funicular of San Rafael was a hundred and twelve years old, thirty-one metres high, and the shortest link between the harbour of Valparaíso and the neighbourhood on the hill. Two wooden cabins hung from a single cable; one went up while the other slid down, and halfway along the track, at the passing place, they greeted each other with a squeak that every child in the neighbourhood could imitate.

サン・ラファエルのケーブルカーは築112年、高低差31メートルで、バルパライソの港と丘の上の地区を結ぶ最短ルートだった。1本のロープに2台の木製客車が吊り下げられており、一方が登る間にもう一方が下っていき、線路の中間にある行き違い場所では、地区の子供なら誰もが真似できる軋み音を立てて互いに挨拶を交わしていた。

It had been built by a Swiss engineer who had never been to Chile and had sent his plans on paper with the remark that Valparaíso was “a city for goats and optimists”. Since then the railway had survived two earthquakes, a fire and, as people in the neighbourhood said, seven mayors, which had been far more difficult.

これを作ったのはチリに来たことのないスイス人技師で、彼はバルパライソは「ヤギと楽観主義者のための街」だと注釈を添えて図面を紙で送ってきたのだった。それ以来、この鉄道は2度の地震と1度の火災、そして地区の人々が言うには、それらよりはるかに困難だったという7人の市長の交代を乗り越えてきた。