★ 4K 🇨🇭Rorschach - Heiden rack railway cab ride on 146 year old coaches , Switzerland [07.2021]

While I was editing the recent video from St. Margarethen to Basel, a couple of rack railways we passed at the start caught my attention, so I decided to go and film them. This is the second one we passed, which is very interesting indeed.
The line was opened in 1875, and operated with steam engines until its electrification in 1930. There were also a number of businesses that used the line to transport freight. You can see the remains of a connection line to the machine factory "Starrag" at the first stop "Seebleiche" at 4:20. In Wienacht-Tobel there was a quarry siding and in Heiden a siding for a cereal plant. The gradient allowed the transport of 1 wagon at a time, with heavy wagons requiring a locomotive at the front and back of the wagon.

Our top speed is 25 Km/h, allowing us to soak in the scenery. The best part of a trip was the view over lake Constance, which isn't really visible from the front. I included a short clip and a picture in the video with some of the stunning views.

The average incline of the first part of the line is 9.1%, followed by 7.9% for the second half. This is the only railway in Switzerland operating mixed as a rack railway (cog railway) and standard adhesion railway on normal gauge tracks (1435 mm). The only other standard gauge rack railways are the two heading up to the Rigi peak, which are however they are purely rack railways.

The Rorschach - Heiden Bergbahn (formerly operated under the name RHB) now belongs to AB (Appenzeller Bahnen). The train actually operates between Rorschach Hafen (1 station before the start of this video) and Heiden, which was historically arranged in order to provide tourists with a direct connection with the boats operating on lake Constance. Even though the connection has less significance today, the train serves the same stations.

You might be asking yourself what the handles are to the left and right of the picture. We find ourselves on an open coach dating back to the year 1875! These are used in the summer and have no windows, really making for a special trip. Due to this configuration, the train drives "backwards" up to Heiden with a staff member who is in radio contact with the driver on the motor coach.

0:00 Preivew
0:22 Map
1:02 Rorschach
4:16 Seebleiche
5:18 Sandbüchel
8:35 Wartensee
11:30 Wienacht-Tobel
14:52 Schwendi bei Heiden
19:50 Heiden

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Zahnradbahn RHB

Видео ★ 4K 🇨🇭Rorschach - Heiden rack railway cab ride on 146 year old coaches , Switzerland [07.2021] канала lorirocks777