In awe of a bridge by Darkroom Daze Jill admires the Landwasser Viaduct, probably one of the most iconic (and most photographed) railway bridges in the world. #landwasser-viadukt #switzerland
The Landwasser Viaduct is on the Albula Line of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) near Filisur, Albula Valley, Graubünden, Switzerland. For many people, this viaduct, built in 1901-02, is one of the quintessential experiences of the Rhaetian Railway, famous for its height (64m), its curve, its grace and its engineering audacity in taking the track straight into a tunnel entrance in a vertical cliff (upper R). But it is actually just one of many spectacular bridges and other engineering works of RhB, which is one reason why the Albula Line and Bernina Line have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As well as normal service trains of the network (as here), the trains of the popular Glacier Express and Bernina Express pass over it. But the best way to see this viaduct is also to stop in the area to explore the immediate vicinity, where it can be photographed from many levels, above and below. Unfortunately, on the day of this photo, the weather was overcast.
RAILWAY NOTES: THE RHAETIAN RAILWAY
The Rhaetian Railway (Rhätische Bahn, RhB) is a 384 Km narrow gauge (metre gauge) system, and is the regional rail network of the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It connects to the Swiss national standard gauge network at Chur and Landquart, with the Italian national standard gauge network at Tirano, and with the metre gauge Matterhorn-Gotthard railway at Disentis. Although some of the Rhaetian network was steam-hauled when first built, it is now all electrified. Amongst its many claims to fame is that it runs in almost all weathers, including the Alpine winter, and over several mountain passes.
There is a huge amount of documentation of the Rhaetian Railway in numerous languages, including the official RhB website, Wikipedia and http://ift.tt/1krlrIB.
RAILWAY NOTES: THE TRAIN
The locomotive is a Ge4/4 III (Bo-Bo), or ‘Mark III’ for short, hauling a rake of standard passenger coaches in the St.Moritz direction. Its next stop will be Filisur, close to the other end of the tunnel in the rock, seen upper R.
GEOLOGICAL NOTES
The cliff is formed of the Hauptdolomit (Principal Dolomite), of Late Triassic age (Norian). In this part of the Alps, the Hauptdolomit is part of the Silvretta Nappe, itself part of a larger allochthonous (displaced, detached) complex of Austroalpine rocks, thrust from an approximately southern direction from the Adriatic (aka Apulian aka African) foreland side of the Alpine trough. The Triassic limestones of this complex are stratigraphically related to both the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Southern Calcareous Alps. These were all once continuous with each other depositionally, but are now tectonically separated from each other by large distances. The viaduct crosses the Landwasser river, which has cut a deep, steep, often gorge-like ravine through the Triassic rocks of the area almost all the way back to Davos Monstein.
GGRJ2008(–)
PH2008(–)
Photo
Darkroom Daze © Creative Commons.
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ID: CIMG0800 – Version 2 http://flic.kr/p/9AL2rA
Sig Nordal 