European Narrow Gauge Circle Tour - 1995
Part 2 - Austria
This
photo essay covers an escorted tour I took in 1995 through Germany,
Austria, and Switzerland. My photos were lost in a house fire
but about 50% of the negatives survived. My brother Ian scanned
and cropped the useable film and here they are. The mix is about
equal parts real trains, large scale model trains, and scenic
images. I hope you enjoy the trip.
The
Austrian segment of the trip took us to Saltzburg, St Wolfgang,
Berchtesgaden, Jenbach, Achensee, Innsbruck, and Feldkirk where
we entered Switzerland through Liechtenstein, one of the smallest
countries in the world.
The mainline through
trains in Austria are standard gauge run by OBB. There are large
meter gauge installations like the Zillertahlbann and many small
restored tourist lines.
Click
here to see a map of Austria's rail network.
In Salzburg, we toured the fortress and the ancient town streets.
Salzburg is the home of Mozart and the inspiration for "The
Sound of Music", in which the Von Trapp family's trials and
tribulations are sung. Much is made of both these tourist attractions,
but there are many other sights.
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Salzburg
Scenes |
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My
photos of Salzburg were lost in the fire. These come from
the Salzburg official website. |
St
Wolfgang and Schafbergbahn
Next
day, we headed a short distance to St Wolfgang, on Wolfgangsee,
via ferry, to visit the Schafbergbahn, a really steep narrow gauge
rack railway still using steam engines. This is a beautiful spot
with tiny streets and tiny hotels - the largest has 12 rooms.
The Weisse Rossl (White Horse) is best known and most visible.
Tourism is the only industry here.
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Schafbergspitz
and St Wolfgang Scenes
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"Prunel"
and "Anemone" Rack Locos on Display
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Berchtesgaden
and Konigsee
From
Salzburg, our bus took us to Berchtesgaden and Konigsee, the vacation
retreat of Adolph Hitler more than 60 years ago. It is now a National
Park and a major tourist destination for its scenic beauty and
unspoiled natural setting (there are no trains, darn it). We were
serenaded at lakeside by an Austrian band playing Hawaiian music!
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Views
from the Eagles Nest |
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 Jenbach
and ZillertalbahN
Our
bus got us to Innsbruck in time for a late supper and bed. In
the morning we backtracked to Jenbach to watch the Zillertalbahn
operations and ride the train part way up the valley. The entire
Ziller valley is a great train watching venue, The famous Bier
Keg tavern car of the Zillertalbahn was in the shed at Jenbach,
but we didn't get to ride in it
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Zillertalbahn
Trains at Jenbach |
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More
Variety at Jenbach |
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Achenseebahn
and Achensee
 Next
day, we returned to Jenbach to board the Achenseebahn, another
narrow gauge rack railway with steam locomotives. The Achenseebahn
terminates at the lake, where a steam paddle-wheel ferry can be
taken to the other shore. This is a big lake with imposing mountain
peaks and glaciers. The town is small, very neat, and offers a
decent lunch.On
return to Innsbruck, we spent another night and toured the town
a bit. The Winter Olympics were held here in 1964 and they are
still very proud of the fact, The OBB mainline and the yards at
Innsbruck are also great train watching sites. As well, there
seems to be more operating cable cars per square mile here than
anywhere else in the world.
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This
picture is from the web - there's no time to set up for
this photo or you miss the boat! All transportation connections
are timed to the minute with Germanic precision.
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En
Route to Achensee
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Innsbruck
Scenes |
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 It was either too dark or too rainy to take pictures in
Innsbruck, so I grabbed these to give you an idea of what
we missed.
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