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Home , Jungfraujoch, Jungfrau Railway, Wengernalp

The railway : a technical achievement

Autor(en): [s.n.]

Objekttyp: Article

Zeitschrift: The Swiss observer : the journal of the Federation of Swiss Societies in the UK

Band (Jahr): - (1931)

Heft 517

PDF erstellt am: 02.10.2021

Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-695129

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http://www.e-periodica.ch 2377 THE SWISS OBSERVER. September 19, 1931.

HOLIDAY REMEMBRANCES. THE . Mönchjoch down to the frozen surfaces of the and which 1st of August the Riitli. Jungfrau, remains, even throughout on A TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT. the summer months, an ideal practise ground for ski amateurs. A lateral branch of this Sphinx "Tom /erne sei Aerrfie/t (/eyrtissef gallery leads to the International Dm siii/es G'eiÖMcie am S'ee, The Jungfrau railway owes its world reputa- Research Institute, still under construction. In tion not the there exists other U'o s/heZe/uZ cite TFeZZen cer/ZtesseM only to fact that no the Bergbaus Hotel a life takes tourists up to a railway which can the tourist in the fDna/ircf comi ewif/ea NcAnee..." transport gallery, about 100 m. long, situated under the midst of magnificent alpine and glacier scenery, out on to the A modest honour roof, leading Jungfrau plateau. but impressive monument in but also because of the uniqueness and audacity Here the successively viewed from the of the author and of the panoramas composer "Riitli" of its conception. Commonly referred to as an Eigerwand and Eismeer form an imposing con- Lied has been erected on the historical birth place engineering and technical marvel, this is not a trast. To the North, the eye travels from the of beloved How of us have our country. many mere figure of speech, but a recognised fact. green pre- and plains of Central , in our past youth, on patriotic festivals, in Shortly after the opening of the Bernese Ober- over lakes, cities, and villages, to the distant Jura school those or in the sanctuary of our homes, sang land railway connecting with Lauter- to the and Beleben, the where chain, Feldberg highest verses, glorifying that unforgettable spot, brunnen and in 1890, three plans summits of the Black Forest and Vosges. South- the from the three forest cantons met ; envoys were simultaneously elaborated for the creation wards, one perceives, the endless expanse of the where they banded themselves in a league " that of a Jungfrau railway line. According to these Aletsch glaciers with its affluents and the innu- better defend themselves and they might their plans, a tunnel starting from the merable snow capped peaks of the Alps of Berne own." valley was to continue to a little below the sum- and . But I had to wait over 40 years before the mit of the Jungfrau in order to put through a Rock conditions greatly favoured the con- significance, the beauty and the spirit of this railway to be operated by steam, cable or com- struction of the tunnel. After the first 7.1 km. popular folk song came like a glorious revelation pressed air. None of these plans, however, were the hard marble-like mountain lime was replaced to me. filling my inner-self with an ardent and executed. In the meantime, the line by a still harder gneiss. With the exception of a never to be forgotten love for the land of my was completed whereby the Small Scheidegg, sit- few dislocations, it did not prove necessary to ancestors, and it dawned on me, that the proper uated at the foot of the three giants, the , wall the interior of the tunnel. The mountain means of increasing the love we bear our native Mönch and Jungfrau, could be easily reached from lime was drilled by means of electric drilling country is to reside for some time in a foreign Grindelwald as well as from Lauterbrunnen. machines, and for the gneiss special boring ma- land. Adolf Guyer-Zeller, a manufacturer of Zurich, chines, operated by highly compressed air were A feeling of unaccountable excitement,— was the first to recognise clearly that the Small employed. In order to expedite the evacuation which reminded me of those golden, alas, long Scheidegg was the only practicable starting point of the loose material and facilitate ventilation, past (lays of my youth when a school treat, or a for the Jungfrau railway, and his creative mind a gallery was drilled between the Eismeer and family event was iminent,—made me rise as early rapidly conceived the audacious plan in its minu- Jungfraujoch (Mönch gallery) in the southern as 3 o'clock a.m. on the last 1st of August, which test details. In 1894, the Swiss Federal Assembly wall of the Mönch. In this gallery a search-light, I spent at Seelisberg ; and richly was I rewarded granted the concession and two years later, con- of 96,000,000 candles lias been placed and on clear for curtailing my " beauty sleep " of which I struction was started. nights its brilliant rays sweep the dark sky, illu- am somewhat badly in need of,—not having been The line measures a total length of 9.3 kilo- minating the surrounding mountain sides as in blessed with a " radiant countenance."— metres. From »S'maZZ S'Ten/epr/ (2064 m. above bright day light. There stood silhouetted in the flush of the sea), the line stretches in the open along the The Jungfrau railway is a mountain line dawn, the two Mythen, in whose shadows watershed of the Black and White Liitscliine val- operating on a mixed system, that is, by cog-wheel lay the still slumbering town of Schwyz. leys up to the Eû/eiv/ZetscAer station (2000 m. from and adhesion. On the cog-wheel stretches (7 to The tops of the mountains around were now Small Scheidegg, 2323 in. above sea level, opened 25% grade) the cog-rail employed is that of the bathed in the light of the rising sun. Vast and in 1898). This first stretch offers a magnificent Swiss engineer Strub, who superintended person- deep the mountain shadows grew, and over the panorama extending from the glacier covered ally a part of the operations. The train's average silent lake grey clouds slowly mounted to the sun flanks of the Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau, Schwarze speed is 9 km. per hour, on the stretches operated kissed heights. Peace,—an almost uncanny still- Mönch, to the Trümmieten valley and the snow by adhesion (6.6% grade), between the Eismeer ness reigned supremely, only interrupted by the capped mountains of the Lauterbrunnen valley and Jungfraujoch stations, it attains a speed of inurmering noise of a slender waterfall leaping and still farther to the Männliche, Faulhorn, 18 km. In accordance with the combination of from a neighbouring hill. Overpowered by Great Scheidegg and Wetterhorn summits above these two systems on the so-called upper stretch, the beauty of this spectacle, I exclaimed Grindelwald. The Eigergletscher station is situ- of the twelve locomotives, five of the newest are in the fullness of my heart : " Oh Heimat ated in extremely wild and romantic surround- equipped for both systems, whereas the older ones wie bist Du so schön !" ings at the foot of the Eiger and Mönch on the are only adapted to the cog-wheel system and can, Shortly after breakfast a happy family party, border of the imposing . Here are, therefore, only be employed on the stretch of which some of the members, like the writer, in addition to a hotel and restaurant, the techni- Scheidegg-Eismeer. This difference in locomotive came from different parts of the globe, wended cal operating basis of the Jungfrau railway, the equipment is due to the successive phases which their way down through a winding pathway administration premises, lodgings of officiais and the construction of the line underwent in the buried in lovely pine woods, to the historical spot staff, workshops, sheds, store houses, post office, course of a number of years. whose name has been kept sacred since our child- etc... In the course of time the station developed The Jungfrau railway was electrified from hood days. into a small village. the start. Its locomotives rank among the first mountain locomotives of the world. The nearer we came to our destination, the Two hundred metres above the Eigergletscher They are equipped with contrivance more we lost ourselves in meditation, and when station, the train enters a tunnel, 7.1 km. in every safety imagin- stood the actual where those length, passing through the colossal ramparts of able. The slightest speed variation, while descen- we on spot sturdy automatic sons of the cantons Schwyz and Unterwal- Eiger and Mönch and does not regain the open ding, operates an brake, bringing the Uri, to a of den, vowed to stand steadfast together in distress before reaching the terminus station, ./«n(//raM- train instantaneously stop. In case the off is and in and a came /oo7i. current being suddenly cut it possible to re- danger, joy sorrow, feeling the of the main diree- over us that we too, should to do something After an ascent lasting 17 minutes, on a 25% gain valley independently try the current to the brakes for according to our various grade, the Eigerwand station is reached (4400 m. tion, necessary operate our country capa- furnished the movement. Each locomo- bilities. We shall best honour these men and the from Scheid 2867 m. above sea level, opened being by egg, tive of 150 days of old by signing own declaration of in- June 18th, 1903), consisting in a vast hall drilled possesses two rotary current engines our each, of 800 min. The from all those elements of selfishness in the solid rock and by rock HP., approx. rev. current dependence supported powerful is collected from the and sordidness that lead to indifference to our columns. In order to build this station, the two-phase aerial line by per- means of The welfare. Let us not that rocky walls of the had to be two trolleys. rail current (third country's forget Liberty pendicular Eiger phase) is the under is not the of but of let object blown Three large glass windows offer an captured in carriage. The right one, all, our up. twelve train of which the latest be our whole and nothing extended view of Scheidegg, the Grindelwald val- compositions, was our country, country in 1929, consist locomotive and but and, by the blessing of God, ley, the Männliche and Faulhorn summits, the bought in a two our country may 40 seats each. The that become a vast and splendid blue Lake of Thun, over the whole of Central passenger carriages, with country itself, new cars have an and monument, not of oppression and but of Switzerland to the Black Forest and Vosges. elegant semi-pullman ap- terror, Jura, with windows. The of ,and of which the To the East, one perceives the mountains of pearance spacious rolling wisdom, peace liberty, upon stock be said to be of the best world with admiration forever.— Obwalden and the Canton of Lucerne, The rail- may quality and of may gaze modern and pleasing outer Par the lake the peaceful sound way line continues for 10 minutes, at a 25% grade appearance. away across The supply of electric current forms a of bells could be heard, the sun had by now spread before reaching, after, a sharp curve southwards, part 3161 of the operation of an electric railway. The Jung- its rays over the country around ; in the distance, the L'Zsmaer station (5700 ni. from Scheidegg, line above 25th, 1905). The frau produces its own current in its two half hidden by trees the Tell's Chapel, visible only m. sea level, opened July stations in Lauterbrunnen station is here a vast rock hall, a power (White in the dimness of an early morning mist, reminded again portion Lfttschine) and Berglauenen hero. The of which has been planked and transformed into (Black Liitscliine). us of the heroic deeds of our national They also furnish the current for the Bernese a restaurant. Six glass landscape in its majestic beauty, the woody val- pleasant large windows, Oberland the the Lauter- and pierced in the Eastern flanks of the Eiger, let in line, Schynige Platte, leys, warm and low, the windy summits, wild brunnen-Mürren and Wengernalp mountain rail- the seats and the naked rocks floods of light, which owing to the strong glacier high, stony gave ways. The electric energy necessary to operate each a double charm and created indescrib- radiation is almost intolerable to the eye. Far be- to an the Jungfrau railway is conducted to the con- able impression. neath one looks down on the Grindelwaldfiescher network of unfathomable crevices and sumption centers on high-masted copper conduc- And when the night had fallen, and the stars glacier, a wires and after transformation from strewn with gigantic blocks of ice which roll down ting 7,000 stood as thick as dewdrops in the field of heaven, volts to 650 is turned on to the railway wires. the beacon lights became visible, first one then from the perpendicular sides of the Fieschergrat. the Owing to the excellency of his equipment, the two, then another and yet another until one lost Innumerable are the glaciers covering rocky is surface of the Jungfrau railway not only one of the most re- count of them all. Thé whole country side Grindelwaldfiescherhorn, Stralilegg, markable of the also and which border kind, but one of the most turned out to honour this national day of deliver- Lauteraar peaks efficient mountain lines. The observant traveller this chaos of ice and snow on the North and East, ance and liberty. The balconies of- the pensions is presented with unrivalled natural beauty as the Eismeer the tunnel rises at and Hotels were lit by fairy lights, giving the From station, well as with technical achievement of the highest villages a streaked appearance of white and red, a 6.6% grade only in a straight line to the South- interest. West, 3.1 km. under the sum- and in that unruffled calm of nature, broken only for passing directly /S'wi-s'Ä /«fZastri/ mm(7 Trade. by the soughing of the tree-tops and the lapping mit of the Mönch, before ascending at a 25% grade of the waves, I felt the love of independence and the last 500 metres leading to the entrance of the liberty pulsuating in my veins.—-A wonderful Jungfraujoch station (9300 m. from Scheidegg, TO OUR READERS. spirit of independence—when one remembers that 3457 m. above sea level, opened August 1st, 1912). our little country was surrounded by beligerent The Jungfraujoch is the highest.railway station The holiday season coming shortly to an end, nations during the Great War, and yet managed in Europe. It is situated on the. ice covered saddle we intend publishing a few articles giving the to maintain a strict neutrality—an Island of between the Mönch and the Jungfrau. Two trans- experiences of some of our readers who spent their Peace. versai galleries open on tö the quay, one leading holiday either here or abroad. We therefore There are moments of life that one never for- to the waiting-room and the Berghaus Hotel, the invite any of our subscribers, especially those who gets, which brighten, as time passes away ; they hotel of Europe situated at the highest altitude, were lucky enough to visit the " old country," to give a new charm to the happiest lot, and they the other to the réstaurant. A tunnel, 250 m. send us an account of their experiences. The shine on the gloom of the loniest day.— long, pierces lengthwise the Sphinx ridge and articles can be written in English, French, Italian - ST. leads to a vast snow field, sloping from the upper or German.