Back home again!

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Switzerland was the visit to the Rigi Railway system in the mountains adjoining the Lake of Lucerne. This is the Railway system that was the basis for the building of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) and it is the invention of the cog wheel system by the Swiss Engineer Niklaus Riggenbach that allowed railways to be built on the sloping terrain of mountain sides.

If you thought the NMR traverses a steep terrain you are mistaken - the little stretch of railway between the town of Vitznau on the banks of the Lake of Lucerne to the final stop on the line to the peak of Mount Rigi (Rigi-Kulm) at 1,752 m (5,748 ft) is only some 8 km but the gradient is an amazing 1 in 5!! That would mean that for every 5 feet you move forward you climb 1 foot! Whereas the gradient on the NMR at its steepest is not more than 1 in 12.5!! You have to see it to believe it because the Rigi train is almost at an angle of 35 degrees to the horizontal at some places - kind of makes you feel its going to roll back into Lake Lucerne!! And guess what, the line is even electrified, nowadays the old steam loco travels the track only on occassion while the electric locomotive is the one that plies on most days - so I had to be content with electric traction but I did get to see the old steam loco being exercised!