The
Semmering Railroad - this is part 4 of the presentation.
Also available are from north to south part
1, part 2, part
3, part 5; plus anniversary
150 years and a gallery with
winter images.
For geographical orientation click on the area map symbol
left!
This
4th part deals with the section between Kalte Rinne viaduct
and the Semmering station, the place with the highest altitude
of the line.
A
lot of good photo locations for railway images, which one
may recognize on older photographs, are totally overgrown
today.
Generally
it seems that today's vegetation is much tighter than that of former
times. So there is need to investigate for new shooting locations.
A part of my stimulation to take pictures at the Semmering mountain
I got from the book “Die Semmeringbahn” of Harald Navé
and Alfred Luft.
This
book intensively deals with the final years of steam operation in
the 40s and 50s of last century, but also includes material of the
very early Ghega times. More or less all questions combined with
the Semmering line are answered in this book.
Besides
a lot of first class photographs the authors tell a lot of stories
about the conditions under which photographs were taken at that
time (low speed material, rare colour films, climbing trees for
shots, etc.). Unfortunately
the book is sold out since several years.
As
already mentioned today we meet a rich vegetation at the Semmering.
Many of good former photo spots overgrow. Maybe the forest owners
will create new photo spots when looking after "older wood substance"
(about 1993).
This
section between Kalte Rinne - and Adlitzgraben viaduct is a line
part, which is not photographed really oftentimes. The rock face
in the back belongs to the Spiesswand which is located a bit uphill
the Breitenstein station. Sometimes images directly beg for the
square format, this is one of those (6/2005).
Close
here the milestone indicating a distance of 100 kilometres from
Vienna is located. At Ghega's age this line section was still free
of trees, from an outlook terrace at the opposite slope which today
is fully overgrown people could watch railroad traffic easily (6/2005).
(top of page)
The
next Semmering building uphill is the viaduct crossing the lower
Adlitzgraben. IC 538 ADEG is on its way downhill. The red carriages
represent the style of one generation step in the past (5/2003).
In
case of passing the Adlitzgraben viaduct by train the left side window
outlook is highly authentic. In contradiction to the outer side, which
during several decades was equipped with a lot of stabilizing concrete,
the inner viaduct side mostly is still genuine Ghega style (5/2005).
The
lower Adlitzgraben viaduct from an opposite slope view. An Intercity
train drives uphill. This viaduct is located about 2 km uphill of
the Kalte Rinne viaduct, it has 8 arches and a length of 151 m. Track
elevation is 24 m above valley floor (10/2004). (top
of page)
The
Weberkogel tunnel is the next building following the lower Adlitzgraben
viaduct. The stopping train has passed the viadukt and will enter
the Weberkogel tunnel in a few moments. This image shows the train
using the "wrong" track (9/2002).
A
train with two locos class 1044 is leaving the uphill exit of the
407 meters long Weberkogel tunnel. Now a rather short open area of
about 450 m length follows and then the train will again disappear
in the next tunnel, named Wolfsbergkogel tunnel (9/2002).
This
freight train passes the short open distance between the Weberkogel
- and the Wolfsbergkogel tunnel. The picture is taken from the area
of a further former railroad attendant building. In periods of high
train frequency both uphill tracks are used in parallel. But a photograph
of such situation I could not catch ever till now (9/2002). (top
of page)
A grafitti
decorated train leaves the uphill Wolfsbergkogel tunnel exit. It's
IC 559 Stadt Bruck an der Mur which is in operation as a railcar
train this day. The elevation distance between here and the Semmering
station is just 11 meters of 457 vertical meters at all (5/2003).
After
having passed the Weberkogel - and Wolfsberg tunnel the track reaches
this nice location. In the closer background the Wolfsbergkogel station
is visible and in the far background the old Kurhaus hotel which is
out of service since long time. Under rainy weather conditions the
stopping train approaches the Kartnerkogel tunnel which is the last
north ramp tunnel (9/2002)
This
open view is possible because of stub up works which happened here
in 2004. In the background the Kartnerkogel tunnel and in the middle
the Kartnerkogel viaduct with 3 arches, crossing the upper Adlitzgraben
(5/2004).
(top of page)
After
exiting the Kartnerkogel tunnel the area of the Semmering station
is reached. A single class 1116 loco of the Gysev company hauls its
freight train the last vertical meters up to the final elevation of
894 m above sea level (8/2005).
The
opposite direction shot shows a train which short time ago had departed
the Semmering station. With a power of 5,5 MW class 1044 belonged
to the most powerful engines in Europe when delivery started in 1974
(7/2003).
At
the Semmering station frequently faster trains pass slower ones. The
freight train in the middle is passed by the inter city left. In the
background right a head of the stopping train to Mürzzuschlag
is still visible (8/2003). (top of page)
Semmering
station view. The portal of one of the both summit tunnels is visible
in the back. In the middle the station building and at the right the
former water reservoir tower (10/2001).
With
894 m above sea level the line reaches its highest elevation at the
Semmering station. Since Gloggnitz at 437 m the line rose by 457 meters
in altitude within 28 km distance. The flat area in the foreground
seems to consist of material which came from building the new tunnel.
At Ghegas time here was located a ditch (10/2004).
The
track pattern when coming close to the tunnels. Today the track system
looks a bit different. It was reconstructed some years ago (photo
1988). (top of page)
Directly
behind the Semmering station trains disappear in one of two main
tunnels. This stopping train uses the newer one which was opened
in 1952. At the right the portal of the 100 years older one, it
belongs to the original Ghega construction (5/2003).
