The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-05
THE JUNGFRAU RAILWAY.
To the summit of n Mountain 1890
Feet High.
From the New York World. "


From the New York World. #ss
Some day it will be possible to 60 anys
where in the Alps without climbing. Swift,
zerland was once a country which gave
much trouble 20 railroad engineers, but its
mountains are now getting covered on
honeycombed with lines as thoroughly as
any smoother land. The latest develops
ment in rapid transit in Switzerland il
proposal TO build an electric railroad
up the Jungfrau, one of the highest Of
the Swiss Alps.
Fifty years ago. when France England
and America were already well supplied
with railroads, George Stephenson went
to Switzerland 10 study the difficult prob~
lem of building them in that country.
II was only possible then to CONSTRUCT
railroads over a small portion Of the re.
public
Since then the advance of mechanical
science has made the mountains more and
more accessible. Funicular railways and
others, which ascend by means Of cog
wheels gripping a center rail, have been
pun, Put up to the present, steam on
hydraulic power has always been used
The railway of the Right has been re4
garded as the most efficient and sue.
cessful Of these The motive power Is
steam and the cars ascend on system
Of interlocking wheels. which is q yaln-
able guarantee against accidents Among
the dFdWDdchS or the system the
amount oil smoke and dirt produced by
the engines and the considerable weight
OF coal and water which must be carried
by them.
Under the new electrical system dlra
and smoke are banished and the weighs
Of the engines greatly reduced. The
electricity may be generated by steam
or hydraulic power, and the superiority
settled.
The pioneer electrical mountain railway
was constructed on Mount Saleve IN
Geneva. This has served largely as a
model for the very ambitious project of
an electrical railway leading through a
range of mountains to the summit OF
Jungfrau.
The railway will start at scheidegg and
after short course above ground it
Will pass through the interior of the
Eiger Monich and Jungfrau The passen-
gers change cars in the last peak and reach
the summit by means of an elevator
The road is more than eight miles long
and rises to a hight Of $3.50 feet The
gradient varies from l to rs per cent. The
elevator In the cone Is PIG feet in hight.
The height of the Jungfrau Is l372O
feet The new railroad, of course, starts
at high level. The name of the mofin-
tain, the German word for Maiden was
originally given either on account 81 the
dazzling Wilderness ana purity OF the snow
or Of the belief that no traveller had ever
assembled TO its highest point. Its sum-
nit was first reached in 1911, and since
the great development of Alpine climbing
many have been there
The departure station is in the omen
air, but the remaining six are cut in the
solid rock. The various peaks preced-
ing the Jungfrau can be Raced by paths.
The stations will contain restaurants
and small bedrooms for the benefif 81
those who wish to ascend the mountains
by sunrise or explore them for an indefi-
mite time.
The stations and the tunnel win all he
lighted by electricity. and frequent COM
munication with the world below win
be possible by telegraph and telephone.
The elevator in the cone will rise through
a straight tube, and is to be worked bv a
hydraulic motor deriving its power from
the waters of Lake Luchinen