Rack railway - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A rack-and-pinion railway (also rack railway, cog railway) is a railway with a toothed rack rail

Rack and pinion

A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. A circular gear called "the pinion" engages teeth on a linear "gear" bar called "the rack"; rotational motion applied to the pinion causes the rack to move, thereby...

, usually between the running rails. The train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s are fitted with one or more cog wheels

Gear

A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....

or pinion

Pinion

A pinion is a round gear used in several applications:*usually the smallest gear in a gear drive train, although in the case of John Blenkinsop's Salamanca, the pinion was rather large...

s that mesh with this rack rail

Rack and pinion

. This allows the trains to operate on steep gradients.

Most rack railways are mountain railway

Mountain railway

A mountain railway is a railway that ascends and descends a mountain slope that has a steep grade. Such railways can use a number of different technologies to overcome the steepness of the grade...

s, although a few are transit railways

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

or tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

ways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

environment.

The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway

Middleton Railway

The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd...

between Middleton and Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

in West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England, UK, where the first commercial steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

, Salamanca
The Salamanca
Salamanca was the first commercially successful steam locomotive, built in 1812 by Matthew Murray of Holbeck, for the edge railed Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds. It was the first to have two cylinders...

, ran in 1812. This used a rack and pinion

Rack and pinion

system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop

John Blenkinsop

John Blenkinsop was an English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive....

.

The first mountain cog railway was the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

state of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, which carried its first fare-paying passengers in 1868 and reached the summit of Mount Washington

Mount Washington (New Hampshire)

Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at , famous for dangerously erratic weather. For 76 years, a weather observatory on the summit held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, , on the afternoon of April 12, 1934...

in 1869. The first mountain rack railway in continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

was the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn on Mount Rigi

Rigi

- Mt. Rigi in Art:Mt. Rigi has been featured in many works of art, including both paintings and literary publications. Perhaps the most famous paintings of the Rigi were by JMW Turner, including "The Blue Rigi, Lake of Lucerne, Sunrise"...

in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, which opened in 1871. Both lines are still running.

Rack systems

A number of different rack systems have been developed. Today, the majority of rack railways use the Abt system.

Blenkinsop

Thinking that the friction of metal wheels on metal rails would be too low, John Blenkinsop

John Blenkinsop

John Blenkinsop was an English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive....

built his locomotives for the Middleton Railway

Middleton Railway

The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd...

in 1812 with a 20 teeth, 3 feet (914.4 mm) diameter cog wheel (pinion) on the left side that engaged in rack teeth (two teeth per foot) on the outer side of the rail, the metal "fishbelly" edge rail with its side rack being cast all in one piece, in three feet (one yard) lengths. While Blenkinsop's system remained in use for 25 years on the Middleton Railway

Middleton Railway

The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd...

, it remained a curiosity because simple friction was found to be sufficient for railroads operating on level ground.

With the exception of some early Morgan rack installations, all other rack systems place the rack rail halfway between the running rails.

Stephenson

George Stephenson

George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...

grouped the steep gradients on either side of Rainhill

Rainhill

Rainhill is a large village and civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England.Historically a part of Lancashire, Rainhill was formerly a township within the ecclesiastical parish of Prescot, and hundred of West Derby...

and from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

down to the wharfs, just in case cable haulage

Cable railway

A cable railway is a steeply graded railway that uses a cable or rope to haul trains.-Introduction:...

was necessary. In the event, only the wharf line needed cable haulage for a few decades.

Marsh

The first successful rack railway in the US was the Mount Washington Cog Railway, developed by Sylvester Marsh. Marsh was issued a U.S. patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

for the general idea of a rack railway in September 1861, and in January 1867 for a practical rack where the gear teeth take the form of rollers arranged like the rungs of a ladder between two L-shaped wrought-iron rails. The first public trial of the Marsh rack on Mount Washington was made on August 29, 1866, when only one quarter of a mile (half a kilometer) of track had been completed. The Mount Washington railway opened to the public on August 14, 1868. The pinion wheels on the locomotives had deep teeth that ensure that at least two teeth are engaged with the rack at all times - this measure helps reduce the possibility of the pinions riding up and out of the rack.

Riggenbach

The Riggenbach rack system was invented by Niklaus Riggenbach

Niklaus Riggenbach

Niklaus Riggenbach was the inventor of the Riggenbach rack system and the counter-pressure brake. He was also an engineer and locomotive builder....

working at about the same time as, but independently from Marsh. Riggenbach was granted a French patent in 1863 based on a working model which he used to interest potential Swiss backers. During this time, the Swiss Consul to the United States visited Marsh's Mount Washington Cog Railway and reported back with enthusiasm to the Swiss government. Eager to boost tourism in Switzerland, the government commissioned Riggenbach to build a rack railway up Rigi Mountain. Following the construction of a prototype locomotive and test track in a quarry near Bern, the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn opened on 22 May 1871.

The Riggenbach system is similar in design to the Marsh system. It uses a ladder

Ladder

A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps. There are two types: rigid ladders that can be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rope ladders that are hung from the top. The vertical members of a rigid ladder are called stringers or stiles . Rigid ladders are usually...

rack

Rack and pinion

, formed of steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

plates or channels connected by round

Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....

or square

Square (geometry)

In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...

rods at regular intervals. The Riggenbach system suffers from the problem that its fixed ladder rack is more complex and expensive to build than the other systems.

Following the success of the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn, Riggenbach established the Maschinenfabrik der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Bergbahnen (IGB) - a company that produced rack locomotives to his design.

Strub

The Strub rack system was invented by Emil Strub

Emil Strub

Emil Strub was a Swiss builder, railway builder and inventor who invented the Strub rack system.-See also:* Abt rack system* Rack systems...

in 1896. It uses a rolled flat-bottom rail with rack teeth machined into the head approximately 100 mm apart. Safety jaws fitted to the locomotive engage with the underside of the head to prevent derailments and serve as a brake. Strub's US Patent, granted in 1898, also includes details of how the rack rail is integrated with the mechanism of a turnout.

The best-known use of the Strub system is on the Jungfraubahn

Jungfraubahn

The Jungfraubahn is an gauge rack railway electrified at 3-phase 1,125 volts 50 Hertz, which runs 9 kilometres from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch...

in Switzerland. It is the simplest rack system to maintain and has become increasingly popular.

Morgan

In 1900, E. C. Morgan of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

received a patent on a rack railway system that was mechanically similar to the Riggenbach rack, but where the rack was also used as a third rail

Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...

to power the electric locomotive. Morgan went on to develop heavier locomotives and with J. H. Morgan, turnouts for this system. In 1904, he patented a simplified but compatible rack, where the teeth on the engine pinions engaged square holes punched in a bar-shaped center rail. J. H. Morgan patented several alternative approaches to building turnouts for use with this new rail. Curiously, Morgan recommended an off-center rack in order to allow clear passage for pedestrians and animals walking along the tracks. Some photos of early Morgan installations show this. A simplified rack mounting system could be used when the Morgan rack was not used for third-rail power and the Morgan rack offered interesting possibilities for street railways. The Morgan rack was good for grades of up to 16 percent

Percent sign

The percent sign is the symbol used to indicate a percentage .Related signs include the permille sign ‰ and the permyriad sign , which indicate that a number is divided by one thousand or ten thousand respectively...

.

The Goodman Equipment Company began marketing the Morgan system to mining companies, and it saw widespread use in many mines, particularly where steep grades were encountered underground. By 1907, Goodman had offices in Cardiff, Wales to serve the British market. Between 1903 and 1909, the McKell Coal and Coke company in Raleigh County, West Virginia, installed 35000 feet (10,668 m) of Morgan rack/third-rail track in its mines. The Morgan system saw limited use on one common carrier

Common carrier

A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport...

railroad in the United States, the Chicago Tunnel Company

Chicago Tunnel Company

The Chicago Tunnel Company built a narrow gauge railway freight tunnel network under the downtown of the city of Chicago. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban despite the fact that it operated entirely under central Chicago, did not carry passengers, and was...

a narrow gauge

Narrow gauge

A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...

freight carrier that had one steep grade in the line up to their surface disposal station on the Chicago

Chicago

lakefront.

Abt

The Abt system was devised by Roman Abt, a Swiss

Switzerland

locomotive engineer. Abt worked for Riggenbach at his works in Olten

Olten

Olten is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name.Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zurich, Bern, Basel, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.-History:...

and later at his IGB rack locomotive company. In 1885 he founded his own civil engineering company.

During the early 1880s, Abt worked to devise an improved rack system that overcame the limitations of the Riggenbach system. In particular, the Riggenbach rack was expensive to manufacture and maintain and the switches

Railroad switch

A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....

were complex. In 1882 Abt designed a new rack using solid bars with vertical teeth machined into them. Two or three of these bars are mounted centrally between the rails, with the teeth offset. The use of multiple bars with offset teeth ensures that the pinions on the locomotive driving wheels are constantly engaged with the rack. The Abt system is cheaper to build than the Riggenbach because it requires a lower weight of rack over a given length. However the Riggenbach system exhibits greater wear resistance than the Abt.

Abt also developed a system for smoothing the transition from friction to rack traction, using a spring-mounted rack section to bring the pinion teeth gradually into engagement.

The first use of the Abt system was on the Harzbahn

Harzbahn

Harzbahn includes:* Rübeland Railway * Harz Narrow Gauge Railways**Harz Railway **Brocken Railway **Selke Valley Railway * Wurmberg Gondola Lift* Burgberg Cable Car...

in Germany which opened in 1885.

The pinion wheels can be mounted on the same axle as the rail wheels (as in the picture at right), or driven separately. The steam locomotives on the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company

Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company

Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on the 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as Mount Lyell. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast from 1893 to 1994, and was based in Queenstown, Tasmania.Following consolidation of...

had separate cylinders driving the pinion wheel as do the 'X' Class locomotives on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a railway in Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908, and was initially operated by the Madras Railway Company. The railway still relies on its fleet of steam locomotives. NMR comes under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Salem Division...

Locher

The Locher rack system, invented by Eduard Locher

Eduard Locher

Eduard Locher was a Swiss engineer, inventor and independent contractor who received a doctorate honoris causa for his work....

, has gear

Gear

teeth cut in the sides rather than the top of the rail, engaged by two cog wheels on the locomotive. This system allows use on steeper grades than the other systems, whose teeth could jump out of the rack. It is used on the Pilatus Railway

Pilatus Railway

The Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn is a mountain railway in Switzerland and is the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne, to a terminus near the summit of Mount Pilatus at an altitude of...

.

Locher set out to design a rack system that could be used on gradients as steep as 1 in 2 (50%). The Abt system - the most common rack system in Switzerland

Switzerland

at the time - was limited to a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%). Locher showed that on steeper grade, the Abt system was prone to the driving pinion over-riding the rack causing potentially catastrophic derailments, as predicted by Dr. Abt.
To overcome this problem and allow a rack line up the steep sides of Mt. Pilatus

Pilatus (mountain)

Pilatus is a mountain near Lucerne, Switzerland. Jurisdiction over the mountain is divided between the cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, and Lucerne...

, Locher developed a rack system where the rack is a flat bar with symmetrical, horizontal teeth. Horizontal pinions engage the centrally-mounted bar, both driving the locomotive and keeping it centered on the track.

This system provides very stable attachment to the track, also protecting the car from toppling over even under the severest cross winds. Such gears are also capable to lead the car, so even flanges on running wheels are optional. The biggest shortcoming of the system seems that the ordinary railway switch is not possible and a transfer table

Transfer table

A transfer table, also called a traverser , is a piece of railroad equipment. It is similar in function to a turntable, though it cannot be used to turn equipment around. The table consists of a single length of track which can be moved from side to side, in a direction perpendicular to the track...

or other complex device must be used where it is needed to branch the track.

Following tests, the Locher system was deployed on the Pilatus Railway which opened in 1889. No other public railway uses the Locher system, although some European coal mines use a similar system on steeply graded underground lines.

Lamella

The Lamella system (also known as the Von Roll system) was developed by the Von Roll company after the rolled steel rails used in the Strub system became unavailable. It is formed from a single blade cut in a similar fashion to the Abt system but typically wider than a single Abt bar. The Lamella rack can be used by locomotives designed for use on the Riggenbach or the Strub systems and some railways use rack from multiple systems. The St. Gallen Gais Appenzell Railway in Switzerland has sections of Riggenbach, Strub and Lamella rack.

Most of the rack railways built from the late 20th century onwards have used the Lamella system.

Rack-and-adhesion systems / Pure rack systems

Rack-and-adhesion systems use the cog drive only on the steepest sections and elsewhere operate as a regular railway. Others, the steeper ones, are rack-only. On the latter type, the locomotives' wheels are generally free-wheeling and despite appearances do not contribute to driving the train. In this case the racks continue also in the horizontal parts, if any.

Fell

The Fell mountain railway system

Fell mountain railway system

The Fell system uses a raised centre rail between the two running rails on steeply-graded railway lines to provide extra traction and braking, or braking alone. Trains are propelled by wheels or braked by shoes pressed horizontally onto the centre rail, as well as by means of the normal running...

is not strictly speaking a rack railway since there are no cogs with teeth. Rather, this system uses a smooth raised centre rail between the two running rails on steep lines which is gripped on both sides to improve friction. Trains are propelled by wheels or braked by shoes pressed horizontally onto the centre rail, as well as by means of the normal running wheels.

Mont Cenis
Mont Cenis Pass Railway
The Mont Cenis Pass Railway operated from 1868 to 1871 during the construction of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel. The line used the Fell design of mountain railway with three rails. The railway, opened in June 1868, was long, with a gauge of and a maximum inclination of 9 per cent. It was used...

- (1 in 9) (1868)

Switches

Rack railway switches are as varied as rack railway technologies, for optional rack lines such as the Zentralbahn

Zentralbahn

The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that was created on January 1, 2005, with the merger of the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn and the Brünigbahn...

in Switzerland

Switzerland

and the West Coast Wilderness Railway

West Coast Wilderness Railway

The West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway between Queenstown and Regatta Point...

in Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

it is convenient to only use switches on sections flat enough for adhesion (for example, on a pass summit). Other systems which rely on the rack for driving (with the conventional rail wheels undriven) such as the Dolderbahn

Dolderbahn

The Dolderbahn is a long rack railway in the Swiss city of Zurich, and is owned by the Dolderbahn-Betriebs AG. The line was opened in 1895 as a funicular railway, and converted to rack operation in 1973...

in Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, Štrbské Pleso

Štrbské Pleso

Štrbské Pleso with its large glacial mountain lake is a favorite ski, tourist, and health resort in the High Tatras, Slovakia. With extensive parking facilities and a stop on the Tatra trolley and rack railway, it is a starting point for a host of popular hikes including to Kriváň and...

in Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

and the Schynige Platte

Schynige Platte

The Schynige Platte is a Swiss mountain region near Wilderswil where the Schynige Platte Railway ends .In good weather conditions the summit offers spectacular views to many surrounding mountains, including Jungfrau, Eiger, Silberhorn and others, as well as Thunersee and Brienzersee...

rack railway instead must switch the rack rail. The Dolderbahn switch works by bending all three rails, an operation that is performed every trip as the two trains pass in the middle.

The geometry of the rack system has a large impact on the construction of turnouts. If the rack is elevated above the running rails, there is no need to interrupt the running rails to allow passage of the driving pinions of the engines. Strub explicitly documented this in his U.S. patent. Strub used a complex set of bell-cranks and push-rods linking the throw-rod for the points to the two throw-rods for the moving rack sections. One break in the rack was required to select between the two routes, and a second break was required where the rack rails cross the running rails. These are visible in the photo of the Strub turnout on the Štrbské Pleso

Štrbské Pleso

railway. Turnouts for the Morgan Rack system were similar, with the rack elevated above the running rails. Most of the Morgan turnout patents included movable rack sections to avoid breaks in the rack, but because all Morgan locomotives had two linked drive pinions, there was no need for a continuous rack. So long as the breaks in the rack were shorter than the distance between the drive pinions on the locomotive, the rack rail could be interrupted wherever there was need to cross over a running rail.

Turnouts are far more complex when the rack is at or below the level of the running rails. Marsh's first rack patent shows such an arrangement, and the original Mount Washington Cog Railroad he built had no turnouts. It was not until 1941 that a turnout was constructed on this line. The new turnouts installed on the Mount Washington line in 200? are essentially transfer tables.

Cog locomotives

Originally almost all cog

Gear

railways were powered by steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

s. The steam locomotive needs to be extensively modified to work effectively in this environment. Unlike a diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

or electric locomotive

Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...

, the steam locomotive only works when its powerplant (the boiler, in this case) is fairly level. The locomotive boiler requires water to cover the boiler tubes and firebox sheets at all times, particularly the crown sheet, the metal top of the firebox. If this is not covered with water, the heat of the fire will soften it enough to give way under the boiler pressure, leading to a catastrophic failure.

On rack systems with extreme gradients, the boiler, cab and general superstructure of the locomotive are tilted forward relative to the wheels so that they are more or less horizontal when on the steeply graded track. These locomotives often cannot function on level track, and so the entire line, including maintenance shops, must be laid on a gradient. This is one of the reasons why rack

Rack and pinion

railways were among the first to be electrified and most of today's rack railways are electrically powered. In some cases, the vertical boiler

Vertical boiler

A vertical boiler is a type of fire-tube or water-tube boiler where the boiler barrel is oriented vertically instead of the more common horizontal orientation...

can be used that is less sensitive for the track gradient.

On a rack-only railroad locomotives always push their passenger cars for safety reasons since the locomotive is fitted with powerful brakes, often including hooks or clamps that grip the rack rail solidly. Some locomotives are fitted with automatic brakes that apply if the speed gets too high, preventing runaways. Often there is no coupler between locomotive and train since gravity will always push the passenger car down against the locomotive. Electrically powered vehicles often have electromagnetic track brakes as well.

The maximum speed of trains operating on a cog railway is very low, generally from 9 to 25 km/h depending on gradient and propulsion method. Because the Skitube has gentler gradients than typical, its speeds are higher than typical.

List of cog and rack railways

Argentina

Transandine Railway between Mendoza
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...

and Santa Rosa de Los Andes, Chile
Los Andes, Chile
Los Andes, founded in July 31, 1791 as Santa Rosa de Los Andes, is a Chilean city and commune located in the province of the same name, in Valparaíso Region...

, see Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

below.

Australia

West Coast Wilderness Railway
West Coast Wilderness Railway
The West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway between Queenstown and Regatta Point...

in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, originally opened in 1896 to service the Mount Lyell
Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company
Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on the 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as Mount Lyell. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast from 1893 to 1994, and was based in Queenstown, Tasmania.Following consolidation of...

copper mine and closed and completely removed in 1960s. Rebuilt and re-opened for tourists in 2003. Uses the Abt rack system.
Mt Morgan Rack Railway on Mount Morgan
Mount Morgan, Queensland
Mount Morgan is a town located in central Queensland, Australia. It is situated on the Dee River, 38 kilometres south of the city of Rockhampton, and is 680 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane. The Burnett Highway passes through the town...

- rack system existed until 1952 when the line was deviated.
Ellalong Colliery - underground Lamella system installed in 1984
Skitube Alpine Railway
Skitube Alpine Railway
The Skitube Alpine Railway is an , standard gauge track electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.- History :...

- in the Snowy Mountains
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....

, opened in 1987;
Blue Mountains sewerage project - temporary gauge construction railway, 1995

Austria

Achensee Railway (Achenseebahn), Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
Erzberg Railway (Erzbergbahn), Styria
Styria (state)
Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states, covering 16,401 km². It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. ...
Gaisberg Railway (Gaisbergbahn), Gaisberg
Gaisberg
Gaisberg is a mountain to the east of Salzburg, Austria. It belongs to the Osterhorngruppe between the Lammertal valley and the Wolfgangsee. A public bus route starting from the Mirabellplatz square links the popular destination for winter sport, hiking, mountain biking, and paragliding to the...

(1887–1928)
Kahlenberg Railway (Kahlenbergbahn), Kahlenberg
Kahlenberg
Kahlenberg is a mountain located in the 19th District within Vienna, Austria .-General:Kahlenberg lies in the Wienerwald and is one of the most popular destinations for day-trips from Vienna, offering a view over the entire city. Parts of Lower Austria can also be seen from Stefaniewarte at the...

, Döbling
Döbling
Döbling is the 19th District in the city of Vienna, Austria . It is located on the north end from the central districts, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing...

, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

(1872–1920)
Schafberg Railway (Schafbergbahn), Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
Schneeberg Railway (Schneebergbahn), Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

Brazil

Corcovado Rack Railway
Corcovado Rack Railway
The Corcovado Train is a mountain railway in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, from Cosme Velho to the summit of the Corcovado Mountain at an altitude of . The summit is known for its statue of Christ the Redeemer and its views over the city and beaches of Rio....
The Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí
Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí
Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí was a gauge railway line in São Paulo, Brazil.On 1946-09-13, the São Paulo Railway was nationalised by the federal government, and passed to be managed by the Brazilian Ministry of Transportation and Public Works...

which became part of Rede Ferroviária Federal Sociedade Anônima
RFFSA
The Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima was the state-owned national railway company of Brazil. It was created in 1957, and dissolved between 1999–2007.-Constituent Railways:...

(RFFSA) 1957-1997, now owned by MRS Logística
MRS Logística
MRS Logística S.A. is a freight rail company located in Brazil that operates of track. It is the concessionary company that operates the Southestearn Federal Railroad Network .-History:The operation started in 1996, combining the lines Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro-Belo Horizonte, São...

. 1600mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge between Paranapiacaba and Raiz de Serra.
Teresopolis and Petropolis railways, both out of service, near Rio de Janeiro. More on German page!

Chile

Ferrocarill Arica La Paz
Arica-La Paz railway
The Arica-La Paz railway or Ferrocarril de Arica-La Paz was built by the Chilean government under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia. It was inaugurated on 6 March 1912, and is the shortest line from the Pacific Coast to the interior. It is long, of which is in...

, Arica
Arica, Chile
Arica is a commune and a port city with a population of 185,269 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica and Parinacota Region, located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the capital of both the Arica Province and the Arica and Parinacota Region...

–La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
The Transandine Railway, Santa Rosa de Los Andes
Los Andes, Chile
Los Andes, founded in July 31, 1791 as Santa Rosa de Los Andes, is a Chilean city and commune located in the province of the same name, in Valparaíso Region...

- Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...

The rebuild will be adhesion only and use a base tunnel.

France

Lyon Metro Line C
Lyon Metro Line C
Lyon Metro Line C is the modern incarnation of an old cable-hauled railway operating on part of the current alignment. In 1891, the Funiculaire Croix-Rousse - Croix-Paquet was opened, running between its namesake stations...
Mont Blanc Tramway
Mont Blanc Tramway
The Mont Blanc Tramway or Tramway du Mont-Blanc is a mountain railway line in the Haute-Savoie department of France.The spectacular views of Mont Blanc provided by the tramway make it very popular with tourists...
Montenvers Railway
Montenvers Railway
The Montenvers Railway or Chemin de fer du Montenvers is a rack railway line in the Haute-Savoie region of France. The line runs from a connection with the SNCF, in Chamonix, to the Hotel de Montenvers station, at the Mer de Glace, at an altitude of ....
Petit train de la Rhune
Petit train de la Rhune
The Petit train de la Rhune is a metre gauge rack railway in France at the western end of the Pyrenees. It links the Col de Saint-Ignace, some to the east of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, to the summit of the La Rhune mountain...
Panoramique des Domes
Rack railway of Puy de Dôme
The rack railway of Puy de Dôme is a 5.2 km long rack railway being built to allow access to the top of the Puy de Dôme in France...

- due to open 2012.

Germany

Drachenfels Railway
Drachenfels Railway
The Drachenfels Railway or Drachenfelsbahn is a rack railway line in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. The line runs from Königswinter to the summit of the Drachenfels mountain at an altitude of ....

(Drachenfelsbahn)
Harz Railway (Harzbahn)
- Rübeland Railway
  Rübeland Railway
  The Rübeland Railway is a railway link from Blankenburg via Rübeland and Königshütte to Tanne in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was built by the Halberstadt-Blankenburg Railway between 1880 and 1886. The route length is 30.6 kilometres, the height difference over 300 metres...
  
  (Rübelandbahn)

Höllentalbahn (adhesion
Rail adhesion
The term adhesion railway or adhesion traction describes the most common type of railway, where power is applied by driving some or all of the wheels of the locomotive. Thus, it relies on the friction between a steel wheel and a steel rail. Note that steam locomotives of old were driven only by...

only since 1933)
Murg Valley Railway
Murg Valley Railway
The Murg Valley Railway is a 58 kilometre long railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany, that links Rastatt and Freudenstadt. It was opened in stages from 1868 to 1928 being built outwards from both Rastatt and Freudenstadt. The route through the narrow Murg Valley required...

(adhesion
Rail adhesion
The term adhesion railway or adhesion traction describes the most common type of railway, where power is applied by driving some or all of the wheels of the locomotive. Thus, it relies on the friction between a steel wheel and a steel rail. Note that steam locomotives of old were driven only by...

only since 1926)
Oberweißbach Mountain Railway (Oberweißbacher Bergbahn)
Schwarza Valley Railway (Schwarzatalbahn)
Stuttgart Rack Railway, Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
Wendelstein Railway (Wendelsteinbahn)
Bavarian Zugspitze Railway
Bavarian Zugspitze Railway
The Bavarian Zugspitze Railway is one of four rack railways still working in Germany, along with the Wendelstein Railway, the Drachenfels Railway and the Stuttgart Rack Railway...

(Bayerische Zugspitzbahn)

Hungary

Fogaskerekű Vasút
Budapest Cog-wheel Railway
The Budapest Cog-wheel Railway, officially called Tram line number 60, is a rack railway running in Budapest, Hungary.- History :Since 1868 a horse tramway ran on schedule from the Lánchíd to Zugliget set in operation by the Budai Közúti Vaspálya Társaság...

in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

is a kind of cog-wheel
Rack and pinion
A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. A circular gear called "the pinion" engages teeth on a linear "gear" bar called "the rack"; rotational motion applied to the pinion causes the rack to move, thereby...

tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

in the hilly Buda part of the city.

Indonesia

The Padang
Padang, Indonesia
Padang is the capital and largest city of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast of Sumatra at . It has an area of and a population of over 833,000 people at the 2010 Census.-History:...

-Sawahlunto line in West Sumatra
West Sumatra
West Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra. It borders the provinces of North Sumatra to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast...
A railway in Aceh
Aceh
Aceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...

- no longer in operation but will be reconstructed.
Ambarawa Railway Museum
Ambarawa Railway Museum
The Ambarawa Railway Museum, is a museum located in Ambarawa in Central Java, Indonesia. The museum focuses on the collection of steam locomotives, the remains of the closing of the 3 ft 6in railway line.-Museum building and location:...

- still in operation as a tourist line using steam locomotives.

India

Nilgiri Mountain Railway
Nilgiri Mountain Railway
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a railway in Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908, and was initially operated by the Madras Railway Company. The railway still relies on its fleet of steam locomotives. NMR comes under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Salem Division...

, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

is also a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

. Runs twice a day using steam powered 'X' Class locomotives built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works
Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works
Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works were a railway equipment manufacturer based in Winterthur in Switzerland...

.

Italy

Vesuvius Funicular (1880–1944; originally built as a funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

and then changed to a rack railway. It was the only railway climbing an active volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

. It was destroyed various times by Vesuvius eruptions. With its last destruction in 1944, it was never built again. It is famous worldwide as a result of the song Funiculì Funiculà written about it)
Opicina Tramway
Opicina Tramway
The Opicina Tramway is an unusual hybrid tramway and funicular railway in the city of Trieste, Italy. It links Piazza Oberdan, on the northern edge of the city centre, with the village of Villa Opicina in the hills above....

(1902–1928; rack replaced with a funicular section)
Rittnerbahn (rack section closed)
Superga Rack Railway
Superga Rack Railway
The Superga Rack Railway is a mountain railway line in the city of Turin in Italy. Managed by Gruppo Torinese Trasporti, it connects the Turin suburb of Sassi to the Basilica of Superga at an altitude of 672m...
Principe-Granarolo
S.Ellero - Saltino (1892–1922; it was the first rack railway built in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

)
Lagonegro-Castrovillari-Spezzano Albanese of Ferrovie Calabro Lucane (1915–1978; it consisted in a series of separated lines which had to been unified into a single one but the project was never completed)
Vibo Valentia-Mileto of Ferrovie Calabro Lucane (1917–1966; it was a local rack railway localized in south Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

)
Rocchette-Asiago (1910–1958; it was the highest Italian rack railway)
Catanzaro Città - Catanzaro Sala of Ferrovie della Calabria (Actually on service; it connects the city of Catanzaro to the borough of Sala)
Paola-Cosenza of Ferrovie dello Stato (1915–1987; it was replaced by a tunnel)
Volterra Saline Pomarance-Volterra of Ferrovie dello Stato (1863–1958; it was part of a railway which connect Cecina to Volterra. Downstream line is actually on service)
Dittaino-Leonforte of Ferrovie dello Stato (1918–1959; it was located on the island of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

)
Dittaino-Piazza Armerina of Ferrovie dello Stato (1912–1971; it was dismissed after a series of landslides which damaged some parts of the line)
Lercara Bassa-Filaga-Palazzo Adriano-Magazzolo of Ferrovie dello Stato (1924–1959; it was used for mining and workers transports in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

)
Agrigento-Naro-Licata (1911–1960; it was used to transport sulfur extracted from mines located on the island of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

)

Japan

Ikawa Line, Oigawa Railway
Usui Pass
Usui Pass
The is a mountain pass that lies between Nagano and Gunma Prefectures in Japan. It has served as one of the major transportation routes in central Japan since at least the eighth century.- Road :...

was the first rack and pinion
Rack and pinion
A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. A circular gear called "the pinion" engages teeth on a linear "gear" bar called "the rack"; rotational motion applied to the pinion causes the rack to move, thereby...

line in Japan, on the Shin-Etsu Line of the then Japanese National Railway. It was replaced in 1963 by a new parallel adhesion line, themselve replaced by the Nagano Shinkansen line for the Nagano olympic games.

Lebanon

A rack railway used to exist on the climb from Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, gauge .

Mexico

The 762mm (2 ft 6 in) gauge Mapimi Railroad in Durango State had a short Abt rack section from El Cambio to Ojuela. The maximum grade was 13.6% and it was worked by two Baldwin 0-6-2T steam locomotives built in 1896 and two Baldwin 2-6-2T steam locomotives built in 1898 and 1900. The railroad closed in the early 1930s. http://www.mexlist.com/penoles/index.htm

Panama

Large ships are guided through the Panama Canal Locks
Panama Canal Locks
The Panama Canal Locks, which lift ships up 25.9 m to the main elevation of the Panama Canal, were one of the greatest engineering works ever to be undertaken at the time, eclipsed only by other parts of the canal project. No other concrete construction of comparable size was undertaken...

by electric locomotives known as mulas (mules), running on rack rails on the lock walls rather than proceeding under their own power. The new locks, approved in 2006, will use tugs.

Portugal

There was previously a cog railway from Funchal
Funchal
Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...

to Monte
Monte (Funchal)
Monte is a civil parish in the municipality and a suburb of Funchal in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira. Locally, the parish is also known as Nossa Senhora do Monte . Its population in 2001 was just over 7,444 inhabitants living in an area of approximately 18.59 km²...

in Madeira Island, which operated between 1893 and 1943, and went further up to Terreiro da Luta at 867 m above sea level.

South Africa

There used to be a Riggenbach rack railway built by the NZASM between Waterval Boven
Waterval Boven
Waterval Boven is a small town situated on the edge of the Escarpment on the banks of the Elands River above the 75m Elands Falls on the railway line from Pretoria to Maputo in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Hence the name which means "above the waterfall" in Dutch...

and Waterval Onder
Waterval Onder
Waterval Onder is a small village situated at the base of the escarpment on the banks of the Elands River below a 228m waterfall in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Hence the name which means below the waterfall. The village did not develop into a town like its sister town of Waterval Boven which is above...

. It was in operation until 1908. http://www.krugergateway.co.za/historical/index.html

Switzerland

Appenzeller Bahnen , also owning (after merger) Rorschach-Heiden-Bahn
Rorschach-Heiden-Bahn
Rorschach-Heiden-Bahn is a railway line and former railway company in Switzerland. It is a standard gauge mountain rack railway, using the Riggenbach rack system and is part of Appenzeller Bahnen. The route links Rorschach with Heiden.- External links :*...

, Rorschach to Heiden
Heiden, Switzerland
Heiden is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. Its Biedermeier village around the church square is listed as a heritage site of national significance.-History:Heiden is first mentioned in 1461 as guot genant Haiden....

and Bergbahn Rheineck-Walzenhausen (RhW)
Berner Oberland Bahn, also owning Schynige Platte Railway
Brienz Rothorn Bahn
Brienz Rothorn Bahn
The Brienz Rothorn Bahn is an gauge tourist rack railway in Switzerland, which climbs from Brienz, at the eastern end of Lake Brienz, to the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain...
Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke (DFB)
Dolderbahn
Dolderbahn
The Dolderbahn is a long rack railway in the Swiss city of Zurich, and is owned by the Dolderbahn-Betriebs AG. The line was opened in 1895 as a funicular railway, and converted to rack operation in 1973...

(Db)
Gornergratbahn
Gornergratbahn
The Gornergratbahn is a nine-kilometre metre-gauge mountain rack railway, with Abt rack system. It leads from Zermatt, Switzerland , up to the Gornergrat...

(owned by BVZ Holding and managed by MGB)
Jungfraubahn holding company comprising Jungfraubahn
Jungfraubahn
The Jungfraubahn is an gauge rack railway electrified at 3-phase 1,125 volts 50 Hertz, which runs 9 kilometres from Kleine Scheidegg to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch...

and Wengernalpbahn
Wengernalpbahn
Wengernalpbahn is a 19.091 km long, gauge rack railway line in Switzerland, which runs from Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg, making it the world's longest continuous rack and pinion railway....

- the longest continuous rack railway in the world
Matterhorn-Gotthard Railway
Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn
The Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn is a narrow gauge railway in Switzerland. The track width is . It was created in 2003 through an amalgamation of Furka-Oberalp-Bahn and BVZ Zermatt-Bahn . The name comes from the Matterhorn and St...

(MGB) (former Furka-Oberalp-Bahn
Furka-Oberalp-Bahn
The Furka–Oberalp-Bahn is a narrow gauge mountain railway in Switzerland with a gauge of . It runs in the Graubünden, Uri and Canton of Valais. Since January 1, 2003 it is part of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn when it merged with the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn....

and Brig-Visp-Zermatt Railway
BVZ Zermatt-Bahn
The Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn – officially known between 1991 and 2002 as the BVZ Zermatt-Bahn – is a metre gauge railway in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. Its 44 kilometre long line links the communities of Brig and Visp in the Rhone Valley with Täsch and the car free holiday resort of Zermatt...

)
Monte Generoso Railway
Monte Generoso Railway
The Monte Generoso Railway or Ferrovia Monte Generoso is a mountain railway line in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino, in south-east Switzerland. The line runs from Capolago, on Lake Lugano, to a terminus near the summit of Monte Generoso. The summit offers extensive views over the Lombardy...
Pilatus Railway
Pilatus Railway
The Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn is a mountain railway in Switzerland and is the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne, to a terminus near the summit of Mount Pilatus at an altitude of...
Rigi-Bahnen
Rigi-Bahnen
Rigi Railways is a group of railways on Mount Rigi, located between two of the arms of Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland. They include two standard gauge rack railways, the Vitznau-Rigi Bahn and the Arth-Rigi Bahn , along with the Luftseilbahn Weggis-Rigi Kaltbad cable car.-Vitznau – Rigi Railway...

(Arth-Rigi and Vitznau-Rigi railways)
Transports de Martigny et Régions (TMR), comprising Chemin de Fer de Martigny au Châtelard
Chemin de Fer de Martigny au Châtelard
The Martigny–Châtelard Railway, abbreviated MC, French Chemins de fer Martigny–Châtelard, is a rack railway in the canton of Valais, Switzerland....

(MC)
Transports Montreux-Vevey-Riviera (MVR), owning Chemin de fer Montreux-Glion-Rochers-de-Naye
Chemin de fer Montreux-Glion-Rochers-de-Naye
The Chemin de fer Montreux - Glion - Rochers-de-Naye is an electrically operated rack and pinion railway in Switzerland, with a track gauge of , which links the places mentioned in its title.-History:...

and Blonay - Les Pléiades
Transports Publics du Chablais (TPC), owning (after merger) Chemin de fer Aigle-Leysin
Aigle - Leysin
The Aigle–Leysin Railway, abbreviated AL, French Chemins de fer Aigle–Leysin, was the earliest of the narrow gauge line in the Chablais area of south west Switzerland...

, Chemin de fer Aigle-Ollon-Monthey-Champéry and Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye
Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye
The Bex–Villars–Bretaye Railway, abbreviated BVB, French Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye, is a metre gauge railway line operating between the towns in its title, situated in the Chablais region of south west Switzerland...
Zentralbahn
Zentralbahn
The Zentralbahn is a Swiss railway company that was created on January 1, 2005, with the merger of the Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn and the Brünigbahn...

(Zb) (former Swiss Federal Railway's Brünigbahn
Brünigbahn
The Brünigbahn was, until 31 December 2004, the only narrow gauge railway of the Swiss Federal Railways . On 30 June 2004, the Swiss Federal Council empowered the SBB to sell the Brünigbahn to Luzern–Stans–Engelberg-Bahn , and this company was renamed to Zentralbahn.The Brünigbahn encompasses the...

and Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn
Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn
The Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn is a narrow gauge rack railway in Switzerland with a track gauge of . It connects Lucerne via Stans with the resort of Engelberg....

)

United States

The Chicago Tunnel Company
Chicago Tunnel Company
The Chicago Tunnel Company built a narrow gauge railway freight tunnel network under the downtown of the city of Chicago. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban despite the fact that it operated entirely under central Chicago, did not carry passengers, and was...

(abandoned) used the Morgan rack system on the steep grade up to Grant Park
Grant Park (Chicago)
Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...

.
Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway
Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway
The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway is an Abt rack system cog railway in Colorado, USA, climbing the well-known mountain Pikes Peak. The base station is in Manitou Springs, Colorado near Colorado Springs....

. Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak is a mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County in the United States of America....

, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. Uses Swiss made Diesel Electric railcars 1 to 2 car trains.
Mount Washington Cog Railway. Bretton Woods
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
Bretton Woods is an area within the town of Carroll, New Hampshire, USA, whose principal points of interest are three leisure and recreation facilities...

, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

. Bio Diesel & live steam cog train operations.
Quincy and Torch Lake Cog Railway
Quincy and Torch Lake Cog Railway
The Quincy and Torch Lake Cog Railway is a half-mile long cog railway in Hancock, Michigan. It opened in May of 1997 to transport tourists to the adit entrance of the Quincy Mine's Number 2 shaft. Its tram car has a capacity of 28 people and travels at a maximum grade of 35%...

, cog rail tram opened in 1997. Hancock, Michigan
Hancock, Michigan
Hancock is a city in Houghton County; the northernmost in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, or, depending on terminology, Copper Island. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 census...

.

Vietnam

The Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm, also called Panduranga, is a new city in Vietnam and the capital of Ninh Thuan province. The community has a population of 161,000 , of which 91,000 live in the main city....

line in Southern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

. Abandoned after the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, although a 7 km section remains in use as a tourist attraction.
Built in the 1920s, the 84 km line had a cogwheel part 34 km long, running through four tunnels with a total length of almost 1,000 meters, taking trains from the Krongpha Pass up the Ngoan Muc (Bellevue) Pass to Da Lat.

Rack railways in fiction

The Culdee Fell Railway

Culdee Fell Railway

The Culdee Fell Railway is a fictional narrow gauge rack and pinion railway appearing in the book Mountain Engines written by the Rev. W. Awdry. The stories are based on incidents in the history of the Snowdon Mountain Railway....

is a fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

al cog railway on the Island of Sodor

Sodor (fictional island)

Sodor is a fictional island in the Irish Sea used as the setting for The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry, and later used in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series.-Inspiration and creation:...

in The Railway Series

The Railway Series

The Railway Series is a set of story books about a railway system located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first being published in 1945. Twenty-six were written by the Rev. W. Awdry, up to 1972. A further 16 were written by his son, Christopher Awdry; 14...

by Rev. W. Awdry

W.V. Awdry

Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE , was an English clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author, better known as the Reverend W. Awdry and creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, who starred in Awdry's acclaimed Railway Series.-Life:Awdry was born at Ampfield vicarage near Romsey, Hampshire in 1911...

. Its operation, locomotives and history are at least in part based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway

Snowdon Mountain Railway

The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a tourist railway that travels for from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales....

. It is featured in the book List of Railway Series Books.

External links

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