Here’s something for the bucket list; The Thüringer Bergbahn.
2 railway lines needed to connect with each other up a hill and wanted to avoid switchbacks, so decided to build a funicular to carry fully loaded freight wagons up a hillside.
The two lines have been adapted for German tourists and adventurers. Best of all, you can get there by train!
The Thüringer Bergbahn is made up of two sections:
- The funicular railway between Obstfelderschmiede and Lichtenhain
- The upland route between Lichtenhain and Cursdorf
When the contract to build a rail line was announced, the connection had to run between Obstfelderschmiede and Cursdorf, i.e. the funicular was an integral part of the route from the very beginning.
The funicular section uses two different vehicles: a passenger carriage with a stepped interior, and a freight platform. The latter can carry railway wagons with a standard gauge and total mass of 27 tonnes.
Its original purpose was to carry freight between the upland around Oberweissbach and Germany’s nationwide rail network.
The “convertible” was fashioned from a service car that was once part of a construction works. Wagon 3 is designed to be mounted on the freight platform the same as the closed-top carriage.
The Thüringer Bergbahn was designed to transport normal railway wagons – the only one in the world to do so – is what makes it possible to use these two carriages for transporting people. The open-top wagon is considerably longer than its closed-top counterpart, so it projects much further over the edge of the transporter platform. This means that passengers are even higher above the level of the tracks below, giving better views
If you’re using Safari you can click on the left side of the web address and it will translate the full page. With this feature, you can watch a full video of the funicular negotiating the curves and pass through the mind boggling switches and then channel your inner Kormsen to navigate through the official German site with ease.
For those who don’t have time for the video here’s how the switches work.
Abt switches have no moving parts. The passenger carriage has double-flanged wheels on the left-hand side, and it is guided by the left-hand rail. Its roller wheels on the right can simply pass over the cable gap in switch. On the freight platform, the wheel positions are reversed. It is guided by the right-hand rail, while its roller wheels are located on the left.
