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This photo essay covers an escorted tour I took in 1995 through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. My photos were lost in a house fire but about 50% of the negatives survived. My brother Ian scanned and cropped the useable film and here they are. The mix is about equal parts real trains, large scale model trains, and scenic images. I hope you enjoy the trip.

The Austrian segment of the trip took us to Saltzburg, St Wolfgang, Berchtesgaden, Jenbach, Achensee, Innsbruck, and Feldkirk where we entered Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The mainline through trains in Austria are standard gauge run by OBB. There are large meter gauge installations like the Zillertahlbann and many small restored tourist lines. Click here to see a map of Austria's rail network.

We stayed in Salzburg to tour the fortress and the ancient town streets. Salzburg is the home of Mozart and the inspiration for "The Sound of Music", in which the Von Trapp family's trials and tribulations are sung. Much is made of both these tourist attractions, but there are many other sights.

Next day, we headed a short distance to St Wolfgang, on Wolfgangsee, via ferry, to visit the Schafbergbahn, a really steep narrow gauge rack railway still using steam engines. This is a beautiful spot with tiny streets and tiny hotels - the largest has 12 rooms. The Weisse Rossl (White Horse) is best known and most visible. Tourism is the only industry here.

From here, our bus took us to Berchtesgaden and Konigsee, the vacation retreat of Adolph Hitler more than 60 years ago. It is now a National Park and a major tourist destination for its scenic beauty and unspoiled natural setting (there are no trains, darn it). We were serenaded at lakeside by an Austrian band playing Hawaiian music!

Our bus got us to Innsbruck in time for a late supper and bed. In the morning we backtracked to Jenbach to watch the Zillertalbahn operations and ride the train part way up the valley. The entire Ziller valley is a great train watching venue, The famous Bier Keg tavern car of the Zillertalbahn was in the shed at Jenbach, but we didn't get to ride in it

Next day, we returned to Jenbach to board the Achenseebanh, another narrow gauge rack railway with steam locomotives. The Achenseebahn terminates at the lake, where a steam paddle-wheel ferry can be taken to the other shore. This is a big lake with imposing mountain peaks and glaciers. The town is small, very neat, and offers a decent lunch.

On return to Innsbruck, we spent another night and toured the town a bit. The Winter Olympics were held here in 1964 and they are still very proud of the fact, The OBB mainline and the yards at Innsbruck are also great train watching sites. As well, there seems to be more operating cable cars per square mile here than anywhere else in the world.

Then it was on to Switzerland through Lichtenstein, one of the smallest countries in the world.

Salzburg Scenes
My photos of Salzburg were lost in the fire. These come from the Salzburg official website.
St Wolfgang and Schafbergbahn
Schafbergspitz and St Wolfgang Scenes
"Prunel" and "Anemone" Rack Locos on Display
Berchtesgaden and Konigsee
Views from the Eagles Nest
Jenbach and Zillertalbah
Zillertalbahn Trains at Jenbach
More Variety at Jenbach
Achenseebahn and Achensee
This picture is from the web - there's no time to set up for this photo or you miss the boat! All transportation connections are timed to the minute with Germanic precision.
En Route to Achensee

Innsbruck Scenes
It was either too dark or too rainy to take pictures in Innsbruck, so I grabbed these to give you an idea of what we missed.

Continue to Part Three: Switzerland

A Few Pertinent Links
Zillertalbahn Pictures
Schafbergbahn History
Salzburg Area
Jenbach Area
Innsbruck Area
Zillertalbahn Official Site
Berchtesgaden Nation Park
Achenseebahn
OBB
 

E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.

"I am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27, HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940, the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece. I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books, covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk, ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience, my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."