Elevator

An elevator is usually understood to mean a vehicle which travels along morphic-polyxylene wires, otherwise known as downline. The elevator is usually powered by current running along the line itself, although larger elevators often have other types of reactive engines to provide additional lift without increasing strain on the line.

Usually, elevators connect the surface of a planet to orbital line stations, or are used as the easiest form of travel between rocks in a settled asteroid belt or scattered world. However, on worlds with a higher infrastructure class it isn't unknown for larger buildings to have an internal elevator. For buildings under half a kilometre in height, however, the complexity of a downline installation is not normally cost effective.

On the planet Callifrey, the word elevator is also used to mean a cheap carriage which travels vertically within a building, raised and lowered on the end of a cable by a winch above. Elsewhere in the universe, this usage may cause confusion as these contrivances are commonly known as vertical trains, or in many places as lifts or dropboxes.