NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Mountain railway

A mountain railway is a railway that ascends and descends a mountain slope that has a steep grade. There are funiculars that use a winch and cables to haul a cable car or wagons up and down a generally straight track. There are also centre traction rail systems that may use a rack and pinion system or a friction wheel system that allows the railway locomotives to haul themselves up the rail. Mountain railways commonly have a narrow gauge to allow for tight curves in the track and reduce tunnel size, and hence construction cost and effort. Mount McKinley in Alaska has one of the largest visible base-to-summit elevation differences anywhere A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. ... In topography, the slope of a hill, mountain, road or anything else inclined, is more often referred to as its grade (or, sometimes in the US and usually in the UK, gradient). ... Angels Flight, Los Angeles, California with gantlet track configuration A funicular, also called funicular railway, inclined railway, inclined plane, or, in the United Kingdom, a cliff railway, is a system of transport in which cables attached to a tram-like vehicle on rails move it up and down a very... A winch is a machine that is used to wind up a rope. ... Cable car at Zell am See in the Austrian Alps. ... The rack rail on a cog railway. ... Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. ... A locomotive (from lat. ... Narrow-gauge railways are railroads (railways) with track spaced at less than the standard gauge of 4 ft 8 in (1. ... A disused railway tunnel now converted to pedestrian and bicycle use, near Houyet, Belgium A tunnel is an underground passage. ... Cranes are essential in large construction projects, such as this skyscraper In project architecture and civil engineering, construction is the building or assembly of any infrastructure. ...

Without a mountain railway system, on steep grades gravity can apply sufficient adhesion to the locomotives' wheels to overcome the friction between the wheels and the rails, and the locomotive will simply slide down the track. Ordinarily, railway locomotives require grades no steeper than 1 in 40 (2¹/₂%)for practical operations. While ordinary railway locomotives can operate on grades as steep as 1 in 30 (3¹/₃%), their hauling capacity is limited and more powerful locomotives are normally required. Germany's high speed (at 300 km/h) train ICE 3 can easily pass grades of 4%. Traction rail systems can easily operate on grades as steep as 1 in 12 (8¹/₃%), a grade that challenges all but the lightest locomotives or railcars. It has been suggested that gravitation be merged into this article or section. ... Not to be confused with Railroad car. ...

On even steeper grades cables are used. The car itself is often custom built for the slope, with specially raked seating and steps rather than a sloped floor. Taken to its logical conclusion as the slope becomes vertical, a funicular becomes an elevator (British English: lift). Angels Flight, Los Angeles, California with gantlet track configuration A funicular, also called funicular railway, inclined railway, inclined plane, or, in the United Kingdom, a cliff railway, is a system of transport in which cables attached to a tram-like vehicle on rails move it up and down a very... A modern elevator has buttons to allow passengers to select the desired floor. ...

List of mountain railways

Australia

The West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway between Queenstown and Regatta Point. ... Glenreagh Mountain Railway known as the GMR, was established in 1989 as a heritage tourist railway at Glenreagh, near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. ...

Austria

The Schneebergbahn The Schneebergbahn is a cog railway leading from the small town of Puchberg in Lower Austria up to a pleateau beneath the Schneeberg, with 2076m the highest mountain of Lower Austria. ... Schafbergbahn near St. ...

Brazil

Corcovado Rack Railcar The Corcovado Rack Railway is a mountain railway line in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. ...

China

The Qinghai-Tibet railway, or Qingzang Railway (Simplified Chinese: é’è—é“è·¯; Traditional Chinese: é’è—éµè·¯; Hanyu pinyin: ), is a railway which connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Peoples Republic of China. ...

France

The Mont Blanc Tramway or Tramway du Mont-Blanc is a mountain railway line in the Haute-Savoie region of France. ... View of the train and the Mer de Glace The Montenvers Railway or Chemin de fer du Montenvers is a mountain railway line in the Haute-Savoie region of France. ... A rack-railway train of line C at the station Croix-Paquet. ...

Germany

The Drachenfels Railway or Drachenfelsbahn is a mountain railway line in Germany. ... Narrow gauge group of railway lines running in the Harz Mountains of Germany. ...

India

A typical Nilgiri train on the rack section The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) connects the town of Mettupalayam with the hill station of Ooty (correctly Udhagamandalam), in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India. ...

Italy

The Superga Rack Railway (or Sassi-Superga Railway) is a mountain railway line in the city of Turin in Italy. ...

Japan

New Zealand

The Rimutaka Incline was a 3-mile (5-km) stretch of steeply-graded line between Summit and Cross Creek on the original Wairarapa railway line between Wellington and Masterton in New Zealand. ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1955 (MCMLV in Roman) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Spain

The Montserrat Rack Railway or Cremallera de Montserrat is a mountain railway line north of Barcelona in the Catalonia region of Spain. ... The Vall de NÃºria Rack Railway is a mountain railway line in the Pyrenees mountains in the north of the Catalonia region of Spain. ...

Switzerland

See also List of railway companies in Switzerland The funicular above Lauterbrunnen Two trains pass in Winteregg station The Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-MÃ¼rren (BLM) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland, which connects the communes of Lauterbrunnen and MÃ¼rren. ... A train of the BOB in Interlaken The Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB, pro. ... The Jungfraubahn (JB) is an 1000 millimetre gauge rack railway electrified at 3-phase 1,125 volts, which runs 9 kilometres from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch. ... The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn (LSE, pro. ... The Monte Generoso Railway or Ferrovia Monte Generoso (MG) is a mountain railway line inaugurated the 5th of June 1890 in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino, in south-east Switzerland. ... Pilatus Railway train at the summit station The Locher system rack and pinion Rotary switch in operation The Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn (PB) is a mountain railway in Switzerland and is the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on... A descending Schynige Platte Bahn train The Schynige Platte Railway or Schynige Platte Bahn (SPB) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland, which connects the town of Wilderswil with the famous wildflower gardens of the Schynige Platte. ... Also called Mount-Rigi Railways, see Rigi-Bahnen and List of railway companies in Switzerland ... A group of standard gauge mountain railways or cog railways around Rigi and Vitznau, see also Swiss-Rigi Mountain Railway http://www. ... A group of standard gauge mountain railways or cog railways around Rigi and Vitznau, see also Swiss-Rigi Mountain Railway http://www. ... A group of standard gauge mountain railways or cog railways around Rigi and Vitznau, see also Swiss-Rigi Mountain Railway http://www. ... The Wengernalpbahn (or WAB) is a 19. ... Zermatt is a village located (46Â°1â€² N 7Â°45â€² E) at the northern base of the Matterhorn in the German-speaking and predominately Roman Catholic section of the Valais canton in southern Switzerland. ... BVZ Zermatt-Bahn is a narrow gauge railway in the Canton of Wallis, Switzerland. ... The BrÃ¼nigbahn (SBB BrÃ¼nig) was the only narrow gauge railway of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and passes through Interlaken over Brienz, Meiringen, the BrÃ¼nigpass, Giswil, Alpnachstad after Lucerne. ... Location within Switzerland View of the city from Lake Lucerne Another view across Lake Lucerne The Lion Monument Lucerne (German: Luzern) is a city in Central Switzerland with a population of 60,274 (December 31, 2003), capital of the Canton of Lucerne. ... Interlaken is a municipality in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland. ... The RhB (Rhaetian Railway / RhÃ¤tische Bahn (German) / Ferrovia Retica (Italian) / Viafier Retica (Rumantsch)) has the largest network of all the private railways in Switzerland. ... The Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. ... The Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn (BD) is a privately-owned railway company in Switzerland. ... The Ferrovia Mesolcinese is a touristic railway in Canton Ticino, Switzerland. ... The Ferrovia Lugano-Ponte Tresa is a local railway line in Canton Ticino in Switzerland. ... The Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB) is a narrow gauge railway in Switzerland. ... The Forchbahn (German for Forch railway) is a narrow-gauge (Schmalspurbahn) light railway in ZÃ¼rich, linking central ZÃ¼rich (ZÃ¼rich Stadelhofen) to the eastern suburbs near Esslingen via Forch. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Meiringen-Innertkirchen Bahn (MIB) is a narrow gauge railway in Switzerland with a rail gauge of 1 metre. ... List der Swiss railway companies: // Standard gauge The following is a complete list of all standard gauge railway companies which operate routes on Swiss territory. ...

United Kingdom

External links Official website Photos Categories: Stub ... A train at Llanberis station The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Wales. ...

Isle of Man

The Snaefell Mountain Railway is an electric mountain railway connecting the town of Laxey with the summit of Snaefell Mountain which is, at 2036 feet (620. ...

United States

The Mount Washington Cog Railway The Mount Washington Cog Railway was the worlds first cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). ... M&PPR locomotive Pikes Peak circa 1893 The Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway is a cog railway in Colorado (United States), climbing the well-known mountain Pikes Peak. ...