We're off to Switzerland and taking a trip on a cogwheel
steam train!
Relax and enjoy the ride through some beautiful
countryside (and wish YOU were on board)!
The Furka Cogwheel Steam Railway is a largely volunteer
operated heritage railway which operates a partially rack and
pinion-operated line between Realp and Oberwald in Switzerland.
It is an old mountainous section of the Furka-Oberalp-Bahn (FOB) that
was abandoned after the construction of the Furka Tunnel.. It has been
gradually brought back into service by the Verein Furka-Bergstrecke with
the use of only steam locomotives, with the entire line completed in
2010.
The rebuilding of the line has also not been without new difficulties. Requiring to cross a busy main road on a rack operated section, the rack over the road is retractable, actuated to raise at the same time as the level crossing barriers by radios fitted to the line's locomotives. Another section, running through a forested nature reserve, has had to be fitted with a sprinkler system that operates before and after trains pass, again actuated by the radios aboard. Relays allow the system to cascade up or down the section in line with the train, to save water which is supplied by natural water supplies near the summit of the line.
The rebuilding of the line has also not been without new difficulties. Requiring to cross a busy main road on a rack operated section, the rack over the road is retractable, actuated to raise at the same time as the level crossing barriers by radios fitted to the line's locomotives. Another section, running through a forested nature reserve, has had to be fitted with a sprinkler system that operates before and after trains pass, again actuated by the radios aboard. Relays allow the system to cascade up or down the section in line with the train, to save water which is supplied by natural water supplies near the summit of the line.
The DFB steam engine HG 3/4 N° 1 "Furkahorn" pictured in Oberwald on September 16th, 2012.
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