AN ALPINE RAILWAY.

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11999, 27 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN ALPINE RAILWAY.

Tourists will soon be able to take tickets in London for the top of Mount Blanc. The line is already half way up the mountain, and the first part of the line will shortly be opened for traffic. Up to a height of 8220 feet the railway will shortly be open, and. will command magnificent views of Alpine scenery, glaciers, snowfiolds, crevasses and precipices. From this altitude to 11.900 ft the trains will pass through a gallery bored through the mountain side, and having frequent openings in the rock. From ll,9oo]feet to the Dome dv Gouter, oveT 3000 feet higher, a tunnel will be driven under the glaciers, so as to protect the line from avalanches, which fall frequentlyjduring the winter months. This last portion of the lin^ offers the greatest difficulties, and it will take many years to construct, but in the'meantime a path will be laid f torn the summit of the Aiguille dv Gouter to the top of Mount Blanc, to enable tourists to reach the Roof of Europe by means of sledges or on foot, without danger or fatigue. The Strub cog-wheel system, which has given satisfactory results on the Jungfrau and other mountain lines in Switzerland, will be employed on the new railway. Electric traction will be used, and the cost of the motor force, once the .electric stations are installed, will-be reduced to a minimum oy the numerous waterfalls and mountain streams which are to be found in the immediate neighborhood. The greatest grade will not exceed one in five, allowing a speed of four tv five miles an hour to.be obtained without inconvenience to passengers. When the line is compete twelve trains will be run each day to the mountain top, and the return fare will be 325. The cost of the line to the Aiguille dv Gouter will be £5,000,---000, and the final section will absorb another £2,000,000.