Abstract
IT is now sixty-six years ago since the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi railway, between Vitznau on the Lake of Lucerne and the top of the Rigi, was opened. It will be electrified in the autumn of the present year and will be brought into line with the latest modern requirements. The new motor-coaches will be light and comfortable, and the increase in speed will shorten the trip considerably. Fewer employees will be required as the preliminary work done in starting up the steam locomotives will be done away with and because it is easier to supervise electric vehicles. One-man control also suffices in the motor-coaches. When peak track conditions occur some of the existing steam locomotives can be used, and these are kept as a useful stand-by. The electric equipment of the motor-coaches will be built by Brown, Boveri and Co., Ltd., Baden, while the mechanical part and coachwork will be constructed by the Swiss Locomotive Works at Winterthur. Direct current will be used at a pressure of 1,500 volts and the average running speed will be about nine miles per hour. On the up-grade, the highest running speed is about eleven miles an hour and on the downgrade about seven miles an hour. The difference in altitude between the Vitznau and Rigi Kulm stations is about 4,300 feet, and the steepest gradient is 25 per cent. In the Brown Boveri Review of March, diagrams of the new coaches are shown. The braking devices comprise electric resistance braking as service brake on the down-grade and two hand brakes independent of one another and actuated by spindle from either driver cab. When the brake is applied on the upgrade it prevents the coach running backwards should the current fail. There is also an overspeed brake which operates on a brake drum on the motor and only acts on down-grade running. In emergencies it is put into action by a safety device.
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The Electrification of the Rigi Railway. Nature 140, 355 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/140355b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/140355b0