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Bavarian Zugspitze Railway
The Bavarian Zugspitze Railway (german: Bayerische Zugspitzbahn) is one of four rack railways still working in Germany, along with the Wendelstein Railway, the Drachenfels Railway and the Stuttgart Rack Railway. The metre gauge line runs from Garmisch in the centre of Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the Zugspitzplatt, approximately 300 metres below Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. The line culminates at 2,650 metres above sea level, which makes it the highest railway in Germany and the third highest in Europe. It is also the railway in Europe with the biggest height difference: 1,945 metres, the lower half being open-air and the upper half being underground. The line is operated by the ''Bayerischen Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG'' (''BZB''), whose majority owner is the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Municipal Works. In 2007 the Zugspitze Railway was nominated for a ''Historic landmarks of civil engineering in Germany'' award. The Zugspitze is accessible via the Seilbahn Zugspitze fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grainau
Grainau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in southern Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the foot of the Zugspitze mountain, the tallest mountain in Germany in the sub-mountain range of the Wetterstein Alps which is a branch off the main mountain range it is connected to, the Alps. Lake Eibsee in Grainau lies at the foot of the Zugspitze surrounded by forest. Geography Grainau lies at the foot of the Zugspitze in the Wetterstein Mountains. It is part of the seven municipalities of the former County of Werdenfels, along with Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Farchant, Mittenwald, Krün and Wallgau. Grainau is also home to two mountain lakes, the Badersee and the Eibsee. Waxenstein mountain sits to the south, while the Kramerspitz mountain and Ammergau Alps sit to the north. The district of Grainau is made up of: * Obergrainau (parish village) * Untergrainau and Hammersbach (church village) * Schmölz (village) * Eibsee (hamlet) Notable people * Lorenz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Highest Railways In Europe
This is a list of highest passenger railways in operation in Europe. It only includes non-cable railways whose culminating point is over 1,200 metres above sea level. Most of them are located in the Alps, where two railways, the Jungfrau and Gornergrat railways, exceed 3,000 metres and nine other exceed 2,000 metres, including four railway crossings. The Pyrenees, which come second in height, include several railways above 1,500 metres. In the Alps, the tree line and the permanent snow line lie respectively at about 2,000 and 3,000 metres.These lines are lower in Scandinavia and higher in southern Europe Because of the harsh weather conditions that prevail at those higher altitudes, maintaining working railways there is an expensive and difficult task. Snow, avalanches, rockslides and wind, added to the absence of protection by the forests, pose a challenge in every season. Lower elevation railways (even well below the tree line) are also exposed to more severe weather conditions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zugspitze
The Zugspitze (), at above Normalhöhennull, sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the ''Zugspitzplatt'', a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Schneeferner#Northern Schneeferner, Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Schneeferner#Southern Schneeferner, Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares. The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus, his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental (Wetterstein), Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal (Wetterste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the Oberbayern region, which borders Austria. Nearby is Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze, at above sea level. The town is known as the site of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games, the first to include alpine skiing, and hosts a variety of winter sports competitions. History Garmisch (in the west) and Partenkirchen (in the east) were separate towns for many centuries, and still maintain quite separate identities. Partenkirchen originated as the Roman town of ''Partanum'' on the trade route from Venice to Augsburg and is first mentioned in the year A.D. 15. Its main street, Ludwigsstrasse, follows the original Roman road. Garmisch was first mentioned some 800 years later as ''Germaneskau'' ("German District"), suggesting that at some po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metre Gauge
Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, large metre-gauge networks remain in use in Switzerland, Spain and many European towns with urban trams, but most metre-gauge local railways in France, Germany and Belgium closed down in the mid-20th century, although many still remain. With the revival of urban rail transport, metre-gauge light metros were established in some cities, and in other cities, metre gauge was replaced by standard gauge. The slightly-wider gauge is used in Sofia. Examples of metre-gauge See also * Italian metre gauge * Narrow-gauge railways A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuttgart Rack Railway
The Stuttgart Rack Railway (German: ''Zahnradbahn Stuttgart'') is an electric rack railway in Stuttgart, Germany. It is the only urban rack railway in Germany, and one of only four rack railways operating in Germany, along with the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, the Drachenfels Railway and the Wendelstein Railway. Overview Affectionately called ''Zacke'' (''spike'') by the residents of Stuttgart, the line was opened on 23 August 1884. It connects the urban districts of Stuttgart South (Marienplatz) and Degerloch (Albplatz). The route runs along the ''Alte Weinsteige'', which was historically the main route to the ''Filder'' towns until the ''Neue Weinsteige'' was built in 1826. Over its route the line climbs a height of (from AMSL). The maximum grade on the route is 17.5% (7 in 40) (between Liststrasse and Pfaffenweg). On the branch line to the depot of the (old) rack railway yard, the maximum is 20.0% (1 in 5). Between the stops at Pfaffenweg and Wielandshöhe there is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drachenfels Railway
The Drachenfels Railway (german: Drachenfelsbahn) is a rack railway line in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. The line runs from Königswinter, on the east bank of the Rhine, to the summit of the Drachenfels mountain at an altitude of . Besides the two terminal stations, an intermediate station serves the Schloss Drachenburg. The Drachenfels Railway is one of only four rack railways still operational in Germany, along with the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, the Stuttgart Rack Railway and the Wendelstein Railway. Operation The line is long and is single track. There are two terminal stations, ''Königswinter Drachenfelsbahn'' and ''Drachenfels'', and a single intermediate station, ''Drachenburg'', which also has a passing loop. The line has a track gauge of and uses the Riggenbach rack design to overcome a height difference of and a maximum gradient of 20%. The line is electrified, with overhead supply at 750 V DC. The service is operated with a fleet of four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wendelstein Railway
The Wendelstein Rack Railway (german: Wendelsteinbahn), sometimes just referred to as the Wendelstein Railway, is an electrically-driven metre gauge rack railway (with several adhesion sections) that runs up the Wendelstein in the Upper Bavarian Limestone Alps. Together with the Wendelstein Cable Car (''Wendelstein-Seilbahn'') it is operated by the ''Wendelsteinbahn GmbH''. The mountain railway climbs through a total height of . The Wendelstein Railway is one of only four working rack railways in Germany, the others being the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, the Drachenfels Railway and the Stuttgart Rack Railway. It is also the second-highest railway in Germany, after the Zugspitze Railway, but the highest when considering only open-air railways. Conception The construction of the Wendelstein Railway was the vision of privy councillor (''Geheimer Kommerzienrat''), Dr. h.c. Otto von Steinbeis, an industrialist, who was involved in forestry and agriculture in the alpine forel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rack Railway
A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades above 10%, which is the maximum for friction-based rail. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment. The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, where the first commercially successful steam locomotive, ''Salamanca'', ran in 1812. This used a rack and pinion system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop. The first mountain cog railway was the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, which carried its first fare-paying passengers in 1868. The track was comple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zugspitzplatt
The Zugspitze (), at above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the ''Zugspitzplatt'', a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares. The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus, his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (''Österreichische Schneekar''). One of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schneefernerhaus
The Schneefernerhaus is a former hotel in the Alps, that is now used as an environmental research station. It lies immediately below the summit of the Zugspitze at a height of 2,650 m and was opened on 20 January 1931. It used to house the top station of the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway as well as a tourist hotel. There was then a cable car from the Schneefernerhaus to the Zugspitze summit. In 1938 a gallery for pedestrians was opened from the ridge station of the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car to the Schneefernerhaus. From 1945 to 1952 the hotel was commandeered for use as a "recreation facility" by the US Forces. On 15 May 1965 an avalanche, that swept over the sun terrace of the hotel and the lifts on the ''Zugspitzplatt'', claimed 10 lives and injured 21. This tragedy was the impetus behind the introduction of a state avalanche warning service and local avalanche commissions. In 1988, after the new station of the Zugspitze Railway was opened on the ''plateau'' and, in 1989, the ''S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
