The Schynige Platte Railway or Schynige Platte Bahn (SPB) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland, which connects the town of Wilderswil with the famous wildflower gardens of the Schynige Platte . The line offers views of Wilderswil, Interlaken, Lake Brienz, and Thunersee, as well as the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains.
The Schynige Platte Railway connects with the Berner Oberland Bahn at Wilderswil. The line is 7.25km (4.5mi) long and has a rail gauge of 800mm (2ft7in). It is a rack railway, using the Riggenbach design to climb 1420m (4659ft) with a maximum gradient of 25%.
The line is electrified using a 1500 volt dc overhead supply. Much of the rolling stock is quite historic, and formerly ran on the Wengernalpbahn.
The concession for the line was given in 1890, the line opened in 1893, and was electrified in 1914. Passage of the line is often impossible in winter, and so it only operates in summer months.
External links
Sources
- Book Tramways and Light Railways of Switzerland and Austria, ISBN 0900433965, by R.J.Buckley, published by the Light Rail Transit Association , 1984.
- Wikipedia article , last updated on the 4th September 2004 at 15:03.
