But, as may be supposed, at times the hard texture of the rock played sad havoc with the cutting edge of the drill. Occasionally three or four drills were put out of service with every yard of advance, and even then progress was painfully slow. When, however, soft rock was encountered the tool cleaved its way through very rapidly, the cutter biting half-an-inch or more into the material with every revolution. Then it was found possible to speed up the rotations to as many as seven or eight per minute, with proportionate increase of life for the cutting edge.
Precisely what this Brandt drill signified to the engineers in connection with this tunnel may be gathered from the fact that from the time drilling commenced, in 1880, only four years elapsed before communication was established between Bluden on the one and Innsbruck on the other side of the range. In this short period a passage 26 feet high by 23 feet wide was cut through solid rock for a distance of 6⅜ miles at a total cost of £1,500,000, or $7,500,000. In comparison with the two previous enterprises of the same character this was a magnificent achievement. The Cenis tunnel, 7½ miles in length, occupied some 13 years to complete, while some 8 years were required to drive 9¼ miles through the St. Gotthard. This was an achievement of which those engaged in the task were justly proud. Indeed, the Austrians hold a unique position in the rapidity with which they can drive these gigantic undertakings through the most formidable mountain chains.
The section of railway upon which this tunnel is situated sorely tried the ingenuity of the engineers up to the Paznaun valley. The line clings to the mountain-side, which is broken up by precipitous crags, and these either had to be pierced or blasted right away to provide a path for the railway. Gushing torrents pour madly down these slopes, and had to be spanned by noble and lofty viaducts or bridges. At some places the boiling waters are deflected from their bed into an artificial channel built of concrete; at others there are massive retaining walls to prevent the waterways from breaking bounds and sweeping the embankment away. One wide gorge is bridged by a single iron span 393 feet 8 inches in length. This is the Trisanna viaduct, below which the glacial brook tumbles over the boulders at a depth of some 262 feet. Elaborate precautions also had to be adopted to protect the line from the ravages of avalanches and landslides.
Years before the Arlberg line was contemplated, however, some distinctly noteworthy achievements in engineering had been placed on record by the establishment of railway communication between Vienna and Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. Certainly the line did not follow the shortest route between these two points, but it must be borne in mind that it was undertaken in the early ’forties, when Great Britain, “the home of the railway,” only possessed some 840 miles of line, and railway engineering was quite in its infancy. It is little wonder, therefore, that the engineers of the project in this wild corner of Europe followed a circuitous path, to avoid fearsome obstacles as far as practicable. They resorted to sharp curves and heavy banks, and the line doubled and redoubled in the most amazing manner. Bridges and tunnels were introduced very freely, some of the viaducts spanning deep clefts on the mountain flanks being very lofty.
By the most direct route of this system the journey from the Austrian capital to Trieste occupies nine hours. In that journey, comparatively no longer than that entailed in speeding over the greater distance separating London from Edinburgh, one passes through four distinct expanses of scenery. Vienna nestles in a broad valley flanked on all sides by the towering snow-topped Alps. The line, upon leaving the capital, first traverses the undulating foot-hills, then wends its way through the mountains to gain the richly wooded, verdant and beautiful country of Styria, and finally passes over a vast stretch of wilderness to descend abruptly to the coast.
In forging this link in the railway chain the engineers had to overcome the Semmering range, which is amongst the most tumbled in the whole of the Austrian Alps. How did they do it? By following the natural facilities open to them: a ledge here, a gallery there; passing from this slope to that by a viaduct or bridge; zigzagging up the mountain slopes; tunnelling through rocky eminences; following winding paths for miles merely to gain points only a mile or two apart in a straight line. No doubt if that line were built to-day it would have its length cut in half, for railway engineering has advanced by leaps and bounds since 1848, when this pioneer project was taken in hand.
In carrying their scheme to fulfilment these early engineers unconsciously achieved one notable distinction: they built the first mountain railway. What matter if banks did assume a rise of 132 feet or so per mile, and the line did wander in apparent aimlessness among the peaks? Speed then was not the vital consideration it is to-day, while traffic was comparatively light, so that the haulage facilities were not taxed severely.
This mountain climb on the main line occurs between Gloggnitz and Murzzuschlag, the famous winter sporting centre in the Tyrol. The mountain crest is 4,577 feet above the sea-level, but the railway does not rise to that height; its summit is at 2,940 feet in the middle of a tunnel three-quarters of a mile in length beneath the Semmering Pass. But to gain that altitude from either side of the mountain entailed prodigious work. Pick, shovel, and gunpowder made heavy cuttings through projecting spurs, raised lofty embankments, filled gaping fissures, and cleaved galleries out of the solid rock. The two points on either side of the mountain are only fourteen miles apart in a straight line; by the railway it is more than twice the distance, the outstanding features which were necessary to render the undertaking un fait accompli being fifteen tunnels, and a score of viaducts and bridges. To construct the thirty miles over the Semmering cost a round £2,000,000, or $10,000,000, in money, and occupied between three and four years to complete.
THE WORKMEN CUTTING AND BLASTING A NARROW PATH ON THE STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPES FOR THE KARAWANKEN RAILWAY