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The narrow gauge (760 mm) Höllental Railway situated in Lower Austria starts from the (ÖBB) Semmering Railway station of “Payerbach Reichenau” running for approximately 5 kilometres to “Hirschwang” via the attractive market town of “Reichenau an der Rax”. Trains operate from a 550 volt overhead power supply. Opened in 1918 to serve a paper mill, passenger and general goods traffic commenced in 1926. Local commuter traffic was augmented by tourists visiting the Rax Cable Car, also opened in 1926. In the early 60’s the line required substantial investment, leading to post office buses replacing trains in 1963 with goods traffic to the Hirschwang paper mill ceasing in 1982. In 1979 the Austrian Society for Local Railways (ÖGLB) began operating passenger trains for tourists on summer weekends. As the only operator after 1982, ÖGLB assumed responsibly for maintaining the railway, although Payerbach Hirschwang GmbH, is still the legal owner of the line. The tour was organised by the Railway Touring Company - Track gauge 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in) – Filmed 26th September 2019
Enjoy the view normally reserved for the driver as we travel over the first mountain railway in Europe to employ standard gauge track. The railway was constructed between 1848 and 1854 by some 20,000 workers featuring 14 tunnels (among them the 1,431 m summit tunnel), 16 viaducts (several two-storey), along with numerous attractive stone bridges. Our train has to tackle 2.5% gradients and negotiate curves as tight as 190m radius, a real challenge for any train. The railway is so remarkable that it has been added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. Please sit back and join me for a ride over this highly scenic Alpine railway. The tour was organised by the Railway Touring Company - Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) - Filmed September 2019 Music - Track - Composer - Source ES_Will - Alice Spence - epidemicsound.com
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