Bernhard Marchi is engineer, manager and CEO of the Achenseebahn Railway in Bahnhof, Austria. [email protected] www.achenseebahn.at
I was thinking for a long time which technique to use to catch up on the 100-year-old drawings (blueprints originals) and how to archive them. These old drawings also provide measurements and details which are needed for repairs. To get these from the old drawings is quite an amount of work. You have to imagine that 100 years ago drawings were designed in a different way than nowadays. An informational structure was often missing. On one drawing you can find a lot of information but just the detail you need at the moment, are on another sheet.
First I was thinking about storing all information on microfilm, but that would mean that further processing is not possible. A friend of mine told me about the compact and very usable PowerCADD. All drawings were newly drawn and dimensioned in PowerCADD.
Our steam-cogwheel-engines are the oldest ones in Europe which only use steam-power. There are three engines, built in Floridsdorf close to Vienna, which have been operating since 1889 without any problems.
The railway track is 6,8 km long and is going from the 3-gage station of Jenbach to the southern shore of the Achenlake, 971 metres above sea level. 3,5 km of these 6,8 km track work with the Riggenbach-system.
At this system a gear wheel is driven by steam over a cross head. It runs in a rack and pinion so that it’s possible to drive at a maximum gradient of 160%.
Then the steam-cogwheel-engine drives on from the highest point in Eben to the southern shore of the lake using normal adhesion drive. From there a boat connection to is possible. In the other direction there are connections from Jenbach to the Austrian Railways and the famous “Zillertalbahn,” a narrow gage railway to the Ziller valley.
Bernhard Marchi
