Scenic route
Wendelsteinbahn
Brannenburg → Wendelstein · Germany
- Distance
- 8 km
- Fastest time
- 55 min
- Top speed
- 25 km/h
- Operator
- Wendelsteinbahn
- Train
- Rack railcar
- Countries
- Germany
- In service since
- 1912
- Runs
- hourly in season
- Highest point
- 1,723 m
Bavaria’s oldest high-mountain railway of 1912 racks up from Brannenburg through tunnels and 25% grades toward the Wendelstein’s summit cave, observatory and panorama over the Inn valley.
Bavaria’s oldest high-mountain railway opened in 1912, engineered by Otto von Steinbeis on the Abt rack system. From Brannenburg in the Inn valley the little railcars claw up gradients of 25 percent through spiralling tunnels to the upper terminus near the Wendelstein’s peak, where a summit cave, a tiny 1890 church and a solar observatory await. A cable car climbs the other side from Bayrischzell.
Along the way
- Brannenburg valley station
- Spiral tunnels on the Abt rack
- Wendelstein summit church
- Solar observatory & cave
- Panorama over the Inn valley and Alps
More scenic routes
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More train routes in Germany.