Giessbachbahn funicular
Opened on July 21, 1879 Giessbach is considered the oldest exclusively to leisure tourism serving funicular in Europe. It is located on Lake Brienz in the Swiss canton of Bern and connects the ship station " Giessbach lake " with the historic Grand Hotel Giessbach, which is located about 100 meters above the lake. The car climbs on its 345 meter long route an altitude difference of 93 meters, the slope is 240-320 per thousand. In the immediate vicinity are the impressive waterfalls of the Giessbach.
The upper track section consists mainly of five consecutive filigree truss arch bridges with a combined length of 174 meters, which, like the web itself, comes from the workshop of Niklaus Riggenbach Aarau. The original preserved today triaxial red wagons with wooden benches and colored curtains that provide the passengers with rain protection.
The technical equipment necessary for the safety of the plant were last put in an elaborate overhaul to the latest state of the art 1989.
Drive system
The Giessbach was originally planned as a water ballast train and realized. The two cars were connected by a hawser, which was conducted in the mountain station via a deflection. A built-in water tank under the car bodies were each filled to the top station with up to 5 cubic meters of water. The downhill rolling car could use this to draw the uphill propelled by its higher weight upwards. After locking the brakes the water was drained back into the base station. The journey time was 6 minutes. For braking, the 11 meter long car, the plant was equipped with ladder racks and gears of the type Riggenbach. The original sub- frames of the cars had a two-axle bogie towards valley and mountain side a single axis. In order to better follow the radii at the turnout, 1891 new triaxial bases were installed.
Because the train had to take a break after every ride because the car tanks each had to be emptied or filled times, the principle of water ballast railway was abandoned after several minor modifications. In addition, the train could not be operated in the winter because of the risk of icing. The company Theodor Bell ( Kriens ), which oversaw the track since the bankruptcy of the International Society for Mountain railways in 1880, the facility built in 1912 for use with a water turbine in the top station to. The drive is since dreirillige through a drive pulley with four Seilumlenkrädern. At the same time, the 1903 remote middle axes have been refitted. The driving speed could be increased to 1.2 meters per second.
To increase the reliability, the turbine was replaced by two electric motors, each 12.5 PS 1948. The driving speed rose to 1.9 meters per second.
From 1958 until the recent renovation in the winter of 1998 /99, the train was operated with a single electric motor of the company MFO.
With the modern drive of the company Von Roll the driving time is 4 minutes today.
Track
The meter gauge Giessbach was built as one of the first single-track funicular railways with a passing loop in the middle distance. It uses two Abt'sche points that do not movable switch blades. The cars are out on only one side in contrast to conventional railways. You have one on each side wheels with two flanges, wrap around the leading rail left and right. However, the roll-like wheels of unguided side of the car do not have a flange, but a wider tread. So that the interruptions of the inner rails can be crossed without problems in the area of the switch, as well as the necessary passages for the traction rope crossing.
1988/1989, the entire superstructure was renewed.
Specifications
- Valley station: Lake Brienz ( 566 m asl)
- Mountain station: Grand Hotel Giessbach (656 m asl)
- Length: 345 meters
- Difference in altitude: 90 meters
- Maximum gradient: 32%
- Driving time: 4 minutes
- Gauge: 1 meter
- Seats per car: 40
- Length of car: 11 meters
- Manufacturer: Doppelmayr, Von Roll