A rack railway is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades above 10%, which is the maximum for friction-based rail. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment.
Rack or racks may refer to:
A cog is a tooth of a gear or cogwheel or the gear itself.
Pilatus, also often referred to as Mount Pilatus, is a mountain massif overlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several peaks, of which the highest (2,128.5 m [6,983 ft]) is named Tomlishorn.
The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway. The railway climbs Mount Washington in New Hampshire, United States. It uses a Marsh rack system and both steam and biodiesel-powered locomotives to carry tourists to the top of the mountain. Its track is built to a 4 ft 8 in gauge, which is technically a narrow gauge, as it is 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) less than a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge.
The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway is a cog railway that climbs one of the most iconic mountains in the United States, Pikes Peak in Colorado. The base station is in Manitou Springs, near Colorado Springs.
The Pilatus Railway is a mountain railway in Switzerland and the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48% and an average gradient of 35%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Alpnach, to a terminus near the Esel summit of Pilatus at an elevation of 2,073 m (6,801 ft), which makes it the highest railway in the canton of Obwalden and the second highest in Central Switzerland after the Furka line. At Alpnachstad, the Pilatus Railway connects with steamers on Lake Lucerne and with trains on the Brünigbahn line of Zentralbahn.
The Budapest Cog-wheel Railway is a rack railway in the Buda part of the Hungarian capital city of Budapest. It connects a lower terminus at Városmajor, two tram stops away from the Széll Kálmán tér transport interchange, with an upper terminus at Széchenyihegy. The line is integrated into the city's public transport system as tram line number 60, is 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) in length, and was opened in 1874.
The Diakopto–Kalavryta railway is a historic 750 mm gauge rack railway in Greece. Located on the northern Peloponnese, it runs 22 kilometres (14 mi) from Diakopto through the Vouraikos Gorge and the old Mega Spilaion Monastery and up to Kalavryta, stopping en route at Zachlorou. Today, the infrastructure and rolling stock are owned and maintained by the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) and passenger trains are operated by Hellenic Train. At the Diakopto terminus, the line connects with the new standard-gauge Athens Airport–Patras railway; as of 2019 the new track is in place in a cutting through the station yard.
The Bavarian Class PtzL 3/4 engines with the Royal Bavarian State Railways were rack railway locomotives whose cogwheel drive was designed for working on tracks with a Strub rack. In 1923 they were incorporated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn as DRG Class 97.1 in their numbering plan. The locomotives remained on their regular route between Erlau and Wegscheid until the closure of this rack railway in 1963. The last journey was on 5 January 1963. They were scrapped in April 1964 at Simbach am Inn.
The Württemberg Hz were 0-10-0 rack and adhesion steam locomotives, that were initially developed by the Royal Württemberg State Railways, but were delivered to the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) in the mid-1920s.
The Da Lat–Thap Cham railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang railway was an 84 km (52 mi) rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North–South railway at Tháp Chàm in Ninh Thuận Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases, beginning in 1903. The first section, running 41 km (25 mi) from Tháp Chàm to Sông Pha, opened in 1919, and the second section, running 43 km (27 mi) from Song Pha to Da Lat, opened in 1932. Due to the mountainous terrain, the Sông Pha–Da Lat section used rack rails in three sections, and included five tunnels. The Da Lat–Tháp Chàm railway is occasionally referred to as a Crémaillère railway, referring to the French word for the rack used on its rails.
Schneebergbahn may refer to:
The former ČSD Class EMU 29.0, now known as the ZSSK Class 405.95, is a three member class of metre gauge, rack rail, electric multiple unit trains in service on the Štrbské Pleso – Štrba rack railway, in the Prešov Region of northeastern Slovakia.
The Quincy and Torch Lake Cog Railway is a 1⁄2-mile-long (0.80 km), 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge cog railway in Hancock, Michigan. It opened in May 1997 to transport tourists to the adit entrance of the Quincy Mine's Number 5 shaft. Its tram car has a capacity of 28 people and travels at a maximum grade of 35%. It is one of only three rack railways in the United States.
800 mm gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways built to a track gauge of 800 mm.
Kalavryta railway station is a station in Kalavryta, Achaea, Greece. It is located just North of the village. It was opened on 10 March 1896. The station is served by the Diakopto–Kalavryta railway a rack railway.
Mega Spileo railway station is a station in Kato Zachlorou, Achaea, Greece. It was opened on 10 March 1896. The station is served by the Diakopto–Kalavryta railway a rack railway. The station serves visitors of the monastery of the Great Cave.
