Steam on the Achensee, Steyrtal and Zillertal bahnen.

Austria once had many narrow gauge lines, as well as numerous rack railways. Their numbers are much depleted today, but some still survive. The former Steyrtalbahn, in central Austria, was the first 760mm gauge line in the country. Part of it still survives, run by ÖGEG, the Austrian railway preservation society. Further west, in the Tyrol, the famous 760mm gauge Zillertalbahn is operated by the local community and provides year-round freight and passenger service as well as running tourist trains. The nearby metre-gauge Achenseebahn is a rare and early example of the Riggenbach rack, still in regular commercial service every summer. All these lines were filmed in 1997.

Achensee Antics
An extremely good film showing a day’s operations on this unique Riggenbach Achenseebahn rack railway which runs from Jenbach in the Austrian Tirol. What makes the Achenseebahn unique is that the locomotives push the train up-hill on the rack for two thirds of the line’s length, then run round the train and pull it, by adhesion only, to the Achensee. The whole operation, and the scenery is well covered here. Minimal commentary and all location sound. 

Two Valleys in Austria
This film shows operations on two of Austria’s 760 mm gauge lines, the famed and thriving commercial Zillertalbahn and the shorter, preserved, Steyrtalbahn. The Zillertalbahn has certainly changed since I was there in the mid 1970s, now sporting dmu sets and ‘push-pull’ diesel trains, but it is the regular steam hauled trains that star here; even they have changed, now consisting of up to twelve coaches, but what hasn’t changed is the magnificent scenery. The operations shown on the Steyrtalbahn are all steam, and are shot over the 17kms of preserved line. If you like the unusual, you will like this great programme on Austria narrow gauge.

This DVD includes the full content of Achensee Antics and Two Valleys in Austria, previously released by Railstuff on VHS. 

Produced by - Railstuff
Running time - 110 Minutes
DVD only