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Rack steam railcar Bhm No 9 Pilatus Railway PB 1889The Pilatus railway is the steepest rack railway in the world. In addition to a special rack system, it required other technical innovations. It was for example the first railway in Switzerland to only use steam railcars and saturated steam. This made it possible to save a lot of coal and thus weight. The boiler, which was fitted sideways to the running direction avoided dangerous, gradient dependent variations of the water level. Number 9 was in regular operation until 1937.
  • Rail Transport

  • Rack steam railcar Bhm No 9 Pilatus Railway PB 1889
    The Pilatus railway is the steepest ...

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  • Rack steam railcar Bhm No 9 Pilatus Railway PB 1889
    The Pilatus railway is the steepest rack railway in the world. In addition to a special rack system, it required other technical innovations. It was for example the first railway in Switzerland to only use steam railcars and saturated steam. This made it possible to save a lot of coal and thus weight. The boiler, which was fitted sideways to the running direction avoided dangerous, gradient dependent variations of the water level. Number 9 was in regular operation until 1937.

    The steepest: the Pilatus Railway
    New ideas to overcome a gradient of 480 ‰
    We had to wait until 1889 for the herringbone rack-rail designed by Eduard Locher to make possible what had been planned without success since 1871: a railway to the top of the Pilatus mountain. Whereas in the classical systems of Riggenbach, Abt and Strub, the cogwheels stand vertically, the Locher system uses two horizontal cogwheels on the locomotive that grab at the same time from both sides into the laterally milled rack-rail. This increases the transmitted force and prevents derailment. The effort required to make this railway safe was though extremely high, it is therefore not surprising that it stayed unique in the entire world.
  • Inventory No.VHS-4992
  • Original/modelOriginal-Fahrzeug
  • Object typeObject (three-dimensional)
  • Manufacturer/operatorPB Pilatus-Bahn Alpnachstad (Pilatusbahn Alpnachstad) (*1886), Betreiber/in, archivalisch belegt
    SLM Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (1871 - 1998), Manufacturer, archivalisch belegt
    SIG Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (Schweiz. Industriegesellschaft, SIS Société industrielle Suisse) (*1853), Manufacturer, archivalisch belegt
    Locher-Freuler Eduard (1840 - 1910), Patent / system, archivalisch belegt
  • GeographyTerritory: Alpnachstad - Pilatus-Kulm, Kanton Obwalden
  • DatingBaujahr 1889; in Betrieb 1889-1937, beschränkt bis
  • Object weightL x B x H Länge über Puffer 1030 cm
    Dienstgewicht 9300 kg
  • Number of crew2
  • Number of passengers32
  • Type of propulsionPiston steam engine
  • Engine designSuperheated steam
  • Number of cylinders2
  • Steam (bar)11.8
  • Power (kW)77
  • Top speed (km/h)4.5