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"QUANTUM SHOT" #698
Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams


      Cog Trains & Incline Systems: Clockwork Precision & Marvelous
        Engineering

      Cog railways, which are also known as rack railways or rack and pinion
      railways, have a rack rail with teeth, usually located in between the
      track’s running rails. Trains operating on cog railways have their own
      cogwheels that fit the rack rail, allowing them to travel up and down
      steep gradients. Consequently, most of the world’s rack railways are
      located in mountainous regions, but there are some which are used for
      trams and transit systems in urban areas where there are steep hills to
      deal with:

      
      
      (top image: Mount Washington Cog Railway
        via; bottom: Pikes Peak Cog Railway
        via)

      The very first cog railway was the Middleton Railway in West Yorkshire in
      the UK. In 1812, Salamanca, the first commercial steam locomotive, ran
      along the tracks there, hauling coal wagons.

      
      (image
        via)

      Here is an interesting sketch of the vintage incline system:

      
      (image
        via)

      The earliest mountain cog railway, using a system developed by Sylvester
      Marsh, was built in New Hampshire in the late 1860’s. On July 3, 1869, a
      steam-powered train completed the first trip to the 6,288 feet summit of
      Mount Washington and was considered one of the wonders of the age. The
      Mount Washington Railway is the second steepest rack railway in the
      world and is still running today, with seven steam locomotives and one
      using diesel:

      
      
      
      
      (images credit:
        MrToastie, Cog Railway,
        M J Klein)

      Also in the USA, another cog railway, known as the
      Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway, is located in Manitou Springs,
      Colorado. This one, dating back to the early 1890’s, runs to the top of
      Pikes Peak. The railway now uses diesel engines, but some of the earlier
      steam locomotives are still on display there:

      
      
      (images credit:
        Lisa M. Hadley, 2)

      In part inspired by the Mount Washington railway, the first mountain rack
      railway in mainland Europe opened in 1871 on Mount Rigi in
      Switzerland. The Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn railway is still in operation today and
      uses the Riggenbach system, which is similar to the one developed by Marsh
      in the United States:

      
      (image credit:
        Peter Walter)

      The number seven locomotive first entered service on the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn
      railway way back in 1871 and in 2011 still runs on occasion, for special
      events and for tourists:

      
      (image
        via)

      In Konigswinter in the German Rhineland near Bonn, this museum exhibit
      shows the mechanism of Riggenbach system (left). Another system, invented
      by Emil Strub in 1896, is apparently very easy to maintain and is now used
      in many of the world’s cog rail systems (right):

      
      (images via
        1,
        2)

      The steepest cog railway in the world is also located in Switzerland. The
      Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn line runs to near the top of Mount
      Pilatus, with an altitude of almost 7000 feet, from Alpnachstad on Lake
      Lucerne, and has a maximum gradient of 48%.

      
      (images via)

      The line was opened in 1889, but was so steep that the main engineer,
      Eduard Locher, had to design a whole new rack rail system, which you can
      see here (below left):

      
      (images via
        1,
        2)

      In the Locher system, there are none of the usual switches or points on
      the line, but rotary switches instead. Here’s a rotary switch at the
      station near the top of the mountain (shown above right).

      
      (images via 1,
        2)

      Here we see the train close to the summit of Mount Pilatus:

      
      (image via)

      The Schynige Platte Railway or Schynige Platte Bahn is another cog
      railway in Switzerland near Interlaken, which passes through some
      absolutely spectacular alpine scenery:

      
      (image
        via)

      Still in the Alps, here we see the locomotive from the cog railway in
      Puchberg/Schneeberg in Austria:

      
      (image credit:
        Andra Moclinda-Bucuta)

      Also in Austria, the Achenseebahn railway is located in Tyrol and
      some parts of the line are so steep that the Riggenbach rack system had to
      be used. The Achenseebahn thus qualifies as the oldest steam powered cog
      railway in Europe:

      
      (image
        via)

      The Schafbergbahn cog railway in Upper Austria:

      
      (images
        via)

      Roman Abt, who worked as an engineer for Riggenbach and devised a rack
      system that improved on Riggenbach’s design - the Abt system, used by the
      Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway mentioned earlier. The Abt system was
      first employed in Germany in 1885 and is still used today on the Snowdon
      Mountain Railway in North Wales in the UK. Here we see the wheels, axle
      and rack wheel:

      
      (image
        via)

      Here’s the Snowdon locomotive making its way up the mountain:

      
      (image credit:
        Howard G. Millichap)

      So for now, this is a brief overview of the world’s cog, rack railways and
      rack and pinion railways. In the next part we will highlight more of
      beautiful European cog railways, and speak about vintage incline systems -
      often a long-gone feature of many historic urban landscapes.

      ALSO READ: AWESOME MONORAILS! ->

      READ THE REST OF COOL TRAINS CATEGORY ->

      Simon Rose is the
        author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including
        The Alchemist's Portrait,
        The Sorcerer's Letterbox,
        The Clone Conspiracy,
        The Emerald Curse,
        The Heretic's Tomb
        and
        The Doomsday Mask.




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YOUR COMMENTS::

6 Comments:

Anonymous Dave L. said...

Fun fact...for cog railways that are steam powered, great effort has to be put into ensuring the boiler remains level. If it doesn't, and the firebox (where the coal or oil is burned to produce heat for the engine) is left uncovered, then the metal components can overheat and create an explosion hazard. That's why cog steam locomotives are designed to either sit level, or at least so that their boilers set level, during the course of their ascent/descent.

___  
Anonymous Tom said...

Really enjoyed this article, Avi! I come from the West Riding of Yorkshire and there's definitely plenty of railway history around there. Also check out funicular railways - popular in the Welsh mountains I believe, at least once, and driven by a cable, so slightly different to the rack/cog but same principle.

___  
Blogger Michael Aironaut said...

I've been up Snowdon twice on the trains. Fascinating stuff!

___  
Blogger Unknown said...

I would like to share an other interesting cog railway!

http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budav%C3%A1ri_Sikl%C3%B3

___  
Blogger Rob Lang said...

Cog railways are also called rack railways. The earliest cog-driven railway was actually in the UK in 1812: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very interesting.

http://trains-and-railroads.blogspot.cz/2013/12/lokomotivy-t-426001-t426003-pro.html

___  

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