Electric rack-and-pinion locomotive

The Alpspitz-Bahn With their unique combination of mountain landscape and venturesome routing featuring numerous bridges and tunnels, rack-and-pinion railways engender particular fascination. The movement of the train is achieved through the engagement of a toothed wheel in a toothed rack positioned in the centre of the track, as the usual friction generated between wheels and rails is insufficient for the steep inclines. After the rack-and-pinion trains, which were originally produced for tourist and industrial traffic, plans were formed to utilise the toothed rack for continuous passenger and freight transport, and thus railways in the so-called mixed system were developed. These systems feature the alternating use of friction and toothed rack sections depending on the gradient ratios. The traction is exercised by one and the same engine. The first rack-and-pinion railways were exclusively operated using steam locomotives. At the end of the nineteenth century, electric traction increased greatly in significance. Today, many of the trains originally operated using steam have been electrified; on several of these, the steam locomotives have been replaced or supplemented with diesel traction units. Because steam engines were so popular with the tourists, several rack-and-pinion railway operators procured new, oil-fired steam locomotives in the 1990s. It is possible to find a particularly large number of private rack-and-pinion railways in the Alps, and these attract tourists from all over the world. Some of the most famous railways are the Zugspitzbahn in Germany, the Schafbergbahn in Austria and the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn in Switzerland, which is the country with the most rack-and-pinion railways.