MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS OF SWITZERLAND.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13336, 27 March 1911, Page 3

MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS OF SWITZERLAND.

(From the “World's Work")

If one desires to experience the,* peculiar excitement and feeling of reverential awe at tire daring of the engineers, then do not hesitate to ascend by one, of the cable railways—the Beateuberg or the . Lautorbriumen-Grutschalp, for instance. It- is not travelling by railway here—it is rather like being hauled up the side of a house. On some of these cable railways the sensation of descent is very peculiar.- ' Looking down the track the lower station cannot be seen, because tire line bends, over a brow, the lower section being of. steeper grade. As the car drops over tnis brow tiro second stretch appears steeper than it really is, and the first impression' is that the ear must inevitably leave the track and swing- at the cud of the cable like a pendulum. In the course of a few', feet, however, the illusion: disappears; but at "first it is certainly . somewhat; disconcerting. As may be supposed, in order to ensure absolute safety, no risks are taken with the cables; they have been designed to withstand a strain many times in excess of that to which they are tested- to withstand a weight of no less than 62 tons. Some of these cable railways are practically no more than lifts, elevating the traveller to an eminence on which is situated some centre of interest or what merely serves as a point of view. Some, howeer, attain quite imposing lengths, and raise the visitor to a considerable height. On the Burgenstock yon have to overcome a difference in level between the two stations of 1,445 feet, while on the Muottas-Muraigl, in the Ehgadine,tho elevation is through a matter, of 2,315 feet. The most important of these lines, however*, from the point of alti tude, and one which will be greatly appreciated by tourists, is the Nicscn, to be opened this year. By its aid you are lifted 5,389 feet above the sea-level, and tho maximum gradient will be among tho heaviest on any of these peculiar lines, for in places it runs to 66 feet in 100.' But the mountain railway engineering feat which eclipses all others, renirakablc though many undoubtedly are, is the Jungfrau; The summit of this lofty peak is the objective of all mountaineers, and the panorama that is unfolded from its crest over a field of eternal snow and ice, is unrivalled in the Alps. The starting point for this line is the terminus of an older mountain railway, in the Bernese Oberlaud-Schiedegg. Detraining from the main line at Interlaken, one is whirled through the valley to Lauterhrumion over a narrow-gauge line, where stiff humps are climbed by' rack and pinion. Before 'lie has proceeded far; oh his rim through the rift between the' towering peaks, he runs into the Wilderswil station, and can there entrain on the Sohynige Platte cog-wheeled line, which, winding round sharp curves and darting in and out among pagged prominences for some 4-j- miles, will life him on to an open alp right in front of the Jungfrau and its white-capped companions. A ..little farther on and the narrow-gauge line bifurcates, one arm running to Grindewald, whence Schiedegg can bo gained by an alternate mountain route, and the other running to Lauterhrumicn. At the last-named station there rises up the'lad-der-like incline of tho Murren railway to. one side, while directly opposite is the cog-wheel Wongcrnalp railway, stretching up the mountain side to Schiedegg. From tho last point one can traverse the ■first section' of the Jungfrau "railway as" far as Eismeer Station on the Eiger peak. The line is operated upon the : cog-wheel principle, the motive power being supplied by electricity generated by the harnessing of a mountain torrent. The work of construction upon this railway was beset with such dangers and difficulties as seldom present themselves to the engineer. When it was found impossible to run the thin thread of sled along the slopes of tho mountain the 'engineers plunged boldly into the rock, hewing and blasting a cavernous tunnel to take them to their objective. In this wav they at last gained Eismeer, which is. a mere peephole m tho heart of the mountain.