Friday, February 7, 2014

Friday Night Steam

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 DFB steam engine HG 3/4 N° 1  Furkahorn  pictured in Oberwald on September 16th, 2012.

The DFB steam engine HG 3/4 N° 1 "Furkahorn" pictured in Oberwald on September 16th, 2012.












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