First Cog Railways, Middleton Railway, West Yorkshire UK, 1812. Used to haul coal trains.
Sylvester Marsh built first Cog Railway in America on Mount Washington, NH in 1869
Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn Railways on Mount Rigi, Switzerland started 1871.
Mt Pilatus, Pilatus Cog Railways. 7000ft and a 48% grade
Eduard Locher, designed a whole new rack rail system due to the steepness. In the Locher system, there are none of the usual switches or points on the line, but rotary switches instead.
Another view of the Pilatus Cog.
Roman Abt, engineer developed the Abt Cog System in Germany in 1885.
Locomotive from the cog railway in Puchberg/Schneeberg in Austria.
The Schynige Platte Railway or Schynige Platte Bahn is another cog railway in Switzerland near Interlaken
The Schafbergbahn cog railway in Upper Austria
Invented by Emil Strub, 1896. Riggenbach Cog System.
Snowdon locomotive making its way up the mountain.
12 thoughts on “Old Train Thursday, Cog Trains”
Cog Trains; something I never heard of nor thought about before today yet it makes perfect sense in an almost intuitive way. With competency being forced out of schools and bred out of Western Civ, how much will be lost? How much more will never be discovered or invented? It really is enough to make one weep. Scarecrow
I’ve ridden on the cog train out of Interlaken that you’ve pictured here. Some of the most beautiful country in the world.
I did when I was a kid with my folks touring the Germany/Swiss/French areas (and Interlachen), it as an absolute hoot. ‘Course, I was a young ‘un and didn’t appreciate it as much as I would now at 70, but so what?
I’d do it again in a heartbeat IF I could get over there!
I rode a fenicula on Capri. I presume it was a cog drive as it was damn steep! Way cool too!
Supposedly a cog railway served Pasadena, CA back in the early days.
Was stationed in West Germany in the mid-70’s. A few buddies and I went on R&R one winter and rode the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway–
Part way down the tunnel there is a portal carved in the wall to the outside. The train stops here for those who wish to get off and ski down the mountain. We did this. We were all intermediate to advance level skiers, and it took us a bit over an hour to ski all the way down. Good times.
Where is the french mont. Blanc one I saw the other day watching the tour day france
What is the difference between a funicular railway and the cog system, are they just different terms?
IIRC a funicular system pulls the cars with a cable system, yes?
YEP! My memory is good still. No, no cogs.
My wife and I rode the Manitou & Pikes Peak cog railway around 25 years ago. It was a nice experience. Only one problem. As soon as we got to the top, my wife got altitude sickness. We had to take the train right back down without looking around or doing anything.
Yeah, that’s a problem with us Old Farts, The Bends is no joke.
Our vascular system gets more and more inflexible with age and you can stroke/bleed out easier and/or get bubbles easier. See CederQ for the nitty-gritty on that. Altitude sickness is no fun even when you’re young!
Believe it or don’t, taking Viagra (Sudenifil) just before doing that helps. Not sure of the chemical pathways but ain’t biochemistry weird!!
Viagra is a vasodilator. It relaxes and expands arteries and to some extent veins to open up and allow more blood flow. Why you can create an erection with an increase of volume and pressure to the old limp noodle as well to the whole body and your heart doesn’t have to pump harder. What also hurts as we get older is calcification in our arteries/veins which has a tendency if they are pronounced to block blood flow. calcification is not your friend, as it affects blood vessels, joints, and organs and the CNS and brain. Calcification in Phil is his major problem with the clots in his legs.
Cog Trains; something I never heard of nor thought about before today yet it makes perfect sense in an almost intuitive way. With competency being forced out of schools and bred out of Western Civ, how much will be lost? How much more will never be discovered or invented? It really is enough to make one weep. Scarecrow
I’ve ridden on the cog train out of Interlaken that you’ve pictured here. Some of the most beautiful country in the world.
I did when I was a kid with my folks touring the Germany/Swiss/French areas (and Interlachen), it as an absolute hoot. ‘Course, I was a young ‘un and didn’t appreciate it as much as I would now at 70, but so what?
I’d do it again in a heartbeat IF I could get over there!
I rode a fenicula on Capri. I presume it was a cog drive as it was damn steep! Way cool too!
Supposedly a cog railway served Pasadena, CA back in the early days.
Was stationed in West Germany in the mid-70’s. A few buddies and I went on R&R one winter and rode the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway–
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavarian_Zugspitze_Railway
Part way down the tunnel there is a portal carved in the wall to the outside. The train stops here for those who wish to get off and ski down the mountain. We did this. We were all intermediate to advance level skiers, and it took us a bit over an hour to ski all the way down. Good times.
Where is the french mont. Blanc one I saw the other day watching the tour day france
What is the difference between a funicular railway and the cog system, are they just different terms?
IIRC a funicular system pulls the cars with a cable system, yes?
YEP! My memory is good still. No, no cogs.
My wife and I rode the Manitou & Pikes Peak cog railway around 25 years ago. It was a nice experience. Only one problem. As soon as we got to the top, my wife got altitude sickness. We had to take the train right back down without looking around or doing anything.
Yeah, that’s a problem with us Old Farts, The Bends is no joke.
Our vascular system gets more and more inflexible with age and you can stroke/bleed out easier and/or get bubbles easier. See CederQ for the nitty-gritty on that. Altitude sickness is no fun even when you’re young!
Believe it or don’t, taking Viagra (Sudenifil) just before doing that helps. Not sure of the chemical pathways but ain’t biochemistry weird!!
Viagra is a vasodilator. It relaxes and expands arteries and to some extent veins to open up and allow more blood flow. Why you can create an erection with an increase of volume and pressure to the old limp noodle as well to the whole body and your heart doesn’t have to pump harder. What also hurts as we get older is calcification in our arteries/veins which has a tendency if they are pronounced to block blood flow. calcification is not your friend, as it affects blood vessels, joints, and organs and the CNS and brain. Calcification in Phil is his major problem with the clots in his legs.