Saturday, March 11, 2017

Zillertalbahn 0-6-2 narrow gauge steam, Austria


A pic from the 1960s.  This is a 2'6" gauge (760 mm) 20-mile (32-km) line from Jenbach on the Salzburg-Innsbruck trunk line in Austria into the mountains to a place called Mayrhofen, built in 1902. As the name Zillertal implies, it follows the course of the river Ziller. About 5 km is double track, the rest is single track.

Although it's primary raison d'etre is tourist traffic, it also carries logs, over 300,000 tonnes of them a year.  In the past, magnesium ore was also a major source of traffic; this ceased in 1976.

It uses diesels but has 5 locos in its "nostalgie" steam fleet, details on the official website here

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