Monday, May 9, 2011

the Geislinger Steige

Those who travel by train between Stuttgart and Ulm will notice this steep twisty section, known as the Geislinger Steige (Geislingen climb) which once referred to an old trade route over the low mountain range of the Swabian Jura in southern Germany, but nowadays means the railway ramp  linking Geislingen an der Steige with Amstetten, one of the most famous ascents in the Jura. The ramp is 5.6 km long and climbs a height of 112 m. It has an incline of 2.25 %. The curve radius in places is less than 300 metres, with a minimum of 278 metres. Since 1975 it has been signaled for bidirectional running. The first pic is a postcard from 1908 and the second is of a steam excursion train in the same spot about 100 years later.

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