The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-11-02
ASCENT OF JUNGFRAU.
An Enterprise by Which the Dan
gers Of Alpine Climbing May
be Avoided.

be Avoided.
The Jungfrau is one of the most ia
nous mountains in Europe. Rising in
the middle OF the Bernese Oberland to Il
height Of 1860 feet, the mountain for
years resisted all attempts of Alpine
climbers to reach it's summit, and Droba-
Dly ON THIS account, as we'll as because of
the exceeding beauty of it's outlines and
the Whlteness and extent OF the vast
snow fields that cover it's summit, it re-
the Maiden
1911, and in the next forty years only
I'VE attempts at an ascent were maize
1T was considered very perilous ascent,
even more SO than that OF the Matter
norm, but the view from the summit is
one OF the very finest in Europe. and for
t tnhs REASON several plans We're suggested
whereby it could be made in some way
available to tourists and others interested
IN mountain scenery. Nothing of prac-
I1cal nature was done until. in 1890
Herr Guyer Teller Of Lausanne. Svitzer.
land' proposed the plan which is now in
course OF execution and which promises
TO result in the most astonishing piece Of
railway construction and electrical cnei-
neerlns IN Europe The first work that
was done on the project was a careful
survey OF the mountain Dy goOl0eist
and study Of the possible dangers thar
might result from the rarefaction of The
the line pA0peu Ao1
- Concession Granted.
AFTER period of discussion which was
at times acrimonious. the Swiss federal
Assembly finally granted in 1894 con-
ceSs:on TOR the work of Herr Teller and
ms associates. Unfortunately. this hardy
pioneer died III the spring OF 1890. and
ms death was a severe blow to the enter
Prise win which he was 20 prominently
connected.
The scheme of the road is exceedingly
slmp;e. 1t proceeds from Il point called
the Little Scheidegg, which is a railway
statlon on regular line of steam rail
road, by steady grade, part of the way in
the open air and the RESI- OF the way in Il
tunnel with an average grade OF Is per
cent. TO Il point about $50 feet below
the summit Of the mountain. An eleya-
tor from this terminal Station lands the
passengers on the summit. The electri-
cal equipment OF the railway consists of
rack locomotives operated directly by
tnree-phaSe currents at 500 volts between
the pnases. The power is generated at
the village nf La;lierbr,lnnen where are
situated some OF the most beautiful cat
alac>s in SWi land.
water rover Utilized.
At point above the village of Lauter-
brunnen small stream is damned and
gives u steady water power estimated al
niue over zOOo horsepower: At pres
emf this is sufficient. bur in the future it
is probable thar Il second generating sta
ton VIII be erected, using the waters OF
another mountain stream and capable OF
generating 5000 horsepower.
The rooms Tor the substations in the
tunnel are blasted out OF the solid rock
At the stations such as Sche!degg, the
Eiger glacier and others where there are
livin~ quarters for employees. restaurants,
etc. the installation is much more com.
plete In addition to the transformers
there is rotary converter and a battery
Of accumulators, the latter furnishing
current Tor the lighting and heating of
the buildings when the current is cut off
at night. as we'll as for the supply of the
tunnel lighting in case of accident to the
generating station.
The locomotives weigh about twelve
and one-half tons each and each carries
two three-phase motors geared by dou
reduction gear to the pinion wheel.
which engages in the rack. The poles
are provided with cast-iron caps, the con-
struction otherwise being practically
Identical with that of the ordinary troll
ley road. The locomotives develop
about 300 horsepower as maximum
and each hauls train weighing twen~
ty-nine tons and seating eighty passen-
gers. The trains go up the mountain
Backward that is, the locomotive is al
ways at the down-hill end of the train.
pushing it up the grade and rolling back
in front of it.
Tunne1ing Very Difficult.
The work of construction commenced
IN 1897, and at present has attained a
point 1853 feet from the Little Scheid-
egg station. On account of the constant
grade, IN case OF any accident the trains
could return under their brakes to the
station with safety. The first mile and
half of the line, which is in the open.
presented no particular difficulty. but this
has not been the case with the tunnel Sec
ton. The first half of the tunnel will
penetrate hard, calcareous rock and
the upper half of it will be built in hard
schist and gneissic rock. The hardness
and solidity of this rock renders any ma
sorry work for lining the tunnel entirely
unnecessary. Electric percussion drills
have been used in the work and expert
ments have been undertaken with LIQUID
air as blasting agent. but no great sue
cess has been achieved with it. The pres
ent explosive compound is nitro gelatine,
and this, in contrast with other nitro ex-
plosives, is more dangerous and liable to
In consequence, the supply of the explo-
heaters so as to keep it warm. 1t is ex-
pected that the entire project of the Jung
frau railway will be completed in from
eight to ten years.
Halloween 0DastiOnc