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Mountains, not surprisingly, have always been regarded as a major obstacle to railways. The railway engineers have had to decide whether to go round, under or over them, not always easy when you are planning to run trains at reasonable speeds. Roads can curve more than railways and so are relatively easier to construct. Tunnels through mountains can be very expensive, though the technology is available. And there are many long rail tunnels under mountains, particularly in Switzerland, which seems to have more than its fair share of mountains !
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The other requirement with mountains is not necessarily to get round or under them – but up them ! And here the real mountain railways come into their own. Yet with very steep gradients to climb and descend, normal track and trains are not feasible, so special systems have been invented to ensure these mountain trains can be controlled. Most mountain railways use a rack system, where a large cog under the train connects to a toothed rack rail along the centre of the track.
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On very steep inclines (though not necessarily just on mountains) funiculars are used, where the "train" (often a single car) is attached to a cable. To be honest these, along with cable cars, although of interest – and featured elsewhere in this exhibition – are not really trains. They are perhaps, more akin to elevators. But back to real mountain railway systems.
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Perhaps the best-known mountain railway is that in the Bernese Obeland Bahn (BOB), in Switzerland, which runs from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, the latter a charming town at the foot of the Eiger. Running on narrow gauge track with overhead wires, the route runs for just over 19 kms, double track for almost the entire length and it connects with Swiss Federal Railways at Interlaken and to the Wengeralpbahn (a true mountain railway) at both Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. Steam trains initially ran on this route though electric traction was introduced in 1904, with locomotives and carriages, though since 2005 three-car EMUs have been in operation in a modern blue-and-yellow livery. The line is a mix of traditional narrow-gauge track with a couple of sections of rack railway where inclines are steep.
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At both Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen the BOB connects to the Wengeralpbahn (WAB) a very narrow gauge continuous cogwheel railway which climbs to Kleine Scheidegg. At Kleine Scheidegg it connects to the Jungfraubahn, an incredible railway which climbs through the Eiger and Mönch mountains to a breathtaking (literally !) 3,454 metres (11,332 feet) at Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe. The trains run on continuous cogs with a double pantograph, there being two overhead power lines.
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The Jungfraubahn starts at 2066 metres (6,778 feet) at Kleine Scheidegg, climbing 1,388 metres (4,554 feet) through three lengthy tunnels with a station stop inside the Eiger itself. Passengers can get out for a few minutes and look through a specially bored "window" in the mountain wall with a fantastic vista before them. It then climbs further and comes to rest still inside the mountain at Jungfraujoch. There passengers get out and walk a little on the glacier, though with the air being so thin it takes a lot of effort to walk uphill slowly. But the experience is worth it !
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