Kto nie
podró¿owa³ kolej±, ten nie zna magii tego ¶rodka lokomocji,
charakterystycznego odg³osu zestawów ko³owych, potocznie
nazywanych ko³ami, czy odg³osu wydawanego przez lokomotywê.
Zdjêcia
lokomotyw okre¶lanych jako krokodyle oraz piêkne, alpejskie widoki
mo¿na podziwiaæ
TUTAJ. Historiê kolei
warszawsko-wiedeñskiej, w tym pierwszych, pionierskich kolei
elektrycznych w Austrii w ciekawy sposób opisano TUTAJ.
From Steam
Engines to Electric Power
The Advent of the Electric Train
The fifth coin in the
series “Austrian Railways” to be issued on
17th June, 2009, is dedicated to the electric train. What began as a
fair ground attraction in 1880 in the Vienna Prater rapidly became the
most revolutionary step in transportation since the harnessing of steam
almost a century before.
The first electric train
in Austria was a small locomotive circling
in the great exhibition pavilion in the Prater on the occasion of the
Emperor Franz Joseph’s 50th birthday. The same monarch issued
a licence
two years later in 1882 for the first public electric railway. It used
direct current and was a five kilometer long stretch carrying
day-trippers from the country town of Mödling into the popular
Brühl
valley. Other short branch lines soon followed.
The introduction of
alternating current proved the most reliable for longer railway lines,
and in 1911 electric engines using alternating current were put into
service on the 90 kilometer stretch to the pilgrimage centre of
Mariazell. These engines were to set the trend for future development
and in 1913 an agreement between Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden
and Norway stipulated the use of alternating current of 15,000 volts.
Unfortunately, other railways authorities did not follow suit and today
Europe still has no unified electric rail transport.
The First World War
interrupted further progress and brought to an
end the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918. The new Austrian Republic
found the problem of coal supplies for steam engines almost
insurmountable and turned to an old imperial study on electrification
of the railways. In the 1920’s the alpine lines of the
Arlberg railway
and the Salzkammergut railway were converted. Electric power improved
not only the performance on steep inclines but also freed staff and
passengers from unpleasant smoke concentrations in tunnels.
New engines
were developed. One such was the model 1100 which, because of its
appearance and green colour, was dubbed the
“Crocodile”.
Electrification went on until 1940 when the Second World War again
brought it to a standstill. Bombing inflicted extensive damage to
Austria’s railway lines, but the survival of hydro power
stations
enabled a rapid resumption of electric powered trains. The conversion
of the major lines was completed in the 1950’s. By 1988 only
54% of
Austrian lines were electric, but those lines carried 92% of the
passenger and freight transport. The era of steam-driven locomotives
was at an end.
The obverse of the new 20
Euro proof silver coin shows an electric
engine model 1189 (also a “Crocodile”) emerging
from the western exit
of the Arlberg tunnel. The reverse has one of the loveliest alpine
railway scenes for its design: the spectacular Trisanna Bridge on the
Arlberg line with Wiesburg Castle and the mountains towering behind. A
passenger train pulled by the electric engine model 1100 is crossing
the 231 meter long bridge, which at its opening in 1884 ranked as the
then longest arched steel railway bridge in the world.
The new coin is struck in
900 fine silver in proof quality only.
Each coin in an attractive box is accompanied by a numbered certificate
of authenticity. A separate collection case for the six coin series is
available for purchase.
The coin goes on sale on
Wednesday, 17th June, 2009, and will be
followed in September by a coin for “The Railway of the
Future”, which
will complete the series on “Austrian Railways”.
