Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-24
Building Road Up the Jung.
frau Wonderful Task.
Mr.. GUYER-ZELLER'S IDEA
In Eleven Minutes Train Reaches
Height of 1880 Feet.
MAGNIFICENT VIEWS OBTAINED
With Piercing of Tunnel at High
Altitude Great Engineering Feat
Nears Completion.

The rapid development of the railways
in the latter part of the last century and
the skill in engineering which kept steady
pace with 1t are the cause Of railways be-
ing no longer confined to the plains
This kind of problem has been particu-
larly well solved SO far as the Alps are
concerned, and no sooner was the first
mountain railway on Mount Washington,
in the United States, completed, in 1871,
than the Riggenbach's che Rigi railway
in Switzerland, as well as others, quickly
followed; but the idea Of constructing a
railway high up in the Alps, the region
Of eternal ice and snow, seemed to be
too huge ever to be realized, and yet the
skill Of modern engineering has overcome
these seemingly insurmountable difficult
ties and is about to complete a work that
may we'll be called technical task of
the very first rank, the Jungfrau railway.
It was in 1890 that the idea was origi-
mated of railway to the summit of the
Jungfrau. the most beautiful of Swiss
mountains, and at that time almost mac
cessGble.
Projects were contemplated and con-
cesAions were sought for no less than
three Jungfrau railways. None of these
projects. however. was carried out. A
fourth project soon made its appearance,
OF its author, seemed to assure its future
realization. In 1893 Adolph Guyer-Zeller,
Zurich manufacturer. was paying a
short visit to Murren.
Recalls Three Projects.
In descending the Schildhorn he saw the
wonderful mountain range of the Bernese
Oberland unroll before his eyes, glittering
in the sunshine, separated from Murren
only by the narrow but deep valley Of the
White-Lutschine; the Jungfrau, with the
dark Monch. also majestic mountain,
rising by the side of 1t. He called to
mind the three projects that were now al
most forgotten, and he followed in his
thoughts the course traced out for them.
Then his eyes wandered more to the
left, to the Jungfraujoch, the Monch, the
Eigerjoch and the steep precipices Of the
Eiger, as far as the Kleine Scheidegg and
the Wengernalp. Suddenly he perceived,
putting up the mountain side, one Of the
trains Of the new Wengernalp railway,
which had then been but recently opened
June, 1888. a railway over a ridge con-
Meeting Lauterbrunnen with GrindelWald.
And all at once this thought struck him
like flash of lightning:
Seeing that at the Scheidegg the
Wengernalp railway already attains an
elevation of OTTO feet, the future jung
frau railway ought to start, not from the
valley of Lauterbrunnen (2644 feet, but
from the point at which the Wengarnalph
railway attains its greatest elevation, at
the Kleine Scheidegg.''
In this manner the difference of alti-
tude to be overcome in order to reach the
summit Of the Jungfrau 1851 feet will
be reduced by more than 1000 feet, and
then he would trace out in his imagina-
ton the route of the railway, starting
from the Scheidegg and following the
pass OF that name as far as the Dger;
here describing a curve, it crossed this
mountain and then the Monch, whence
passing beneath the Jungfraujoch it
reached the summit of the Jungfrau.
This course was necessarily longer than
those which had been previously planned,
but~it was so ingeniously devised that,
by the establishment of several interme-
date stations on the north and south sides
Of the Jungfrau chain, it afforded num-
Der OF new views and constituted, as 1t
we're, several mountain railways in con-
nection with one another the whole
forming the Jungfrau railway.
Gets Legislative Sanction.
The originator Of this ingenious plan
asked and obtained from the Swiss legis-
lature the right Of constructing and
working this railway, section by section,
1t being possible to open each finished