All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s04e05 Monster Mountain Trains.eng

Throughout the world, railroads have to
cope with one geographical challenge

that stands above the rest.

Mountain. The terrain is difficult.

It's quite steep.

Overcoming the planet's peak pushes
railroad engineers to their limits. It's

really difficult to build anything here.

Requiring ingenious solutions.

This plow can clear massive amounts of
snow in minutes.

Three, two, one, go!

They make the impossible possible.

Somebody stood here saying we're going
to build a railway here.

That's impressive.

From the world's wildest waters to its
mightiest mountains, railroads have set

out to conquer them all.

What a feat of engineering.

Absolutely amazing.

Driven by daring engineers for whom no
obstacle is too great.

I truly love this structure.

It's magnificent.

California's Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Facing up to 65 feet of snow each year.

It would seem like the last place on
Earth to build a railroad.

However, in the late 19th century, The
pioneers of California's Central Pacific

Railroad thought otherwise.

The railroad was built to connect San
Francisco to Utah via the Sierra

By 1869, the section to Reno was almost
complete.

But there was still one major hurdle to
overcome, as engineer Chris Potts is

finding out. This is Donner Pass, and
this summit stood as the last major

obstacle for the Central Pacific
Railroad.

for joining California with the East.

Named after George Donner, the leader of
a settler group, this 6 ,500 -foot

-high path has an ominous history.

During the winter of 1846, the traveling
party became trapped by deep snow.

After supplies ran out to survive, they
resorted to cannibalism.

24 years later, despite the evidence of
impassable snowfall, the pioneering

railroad engineers pressed on.

Theodore D. Judah, the chief engineer
for Central Pacific, thought that the

weather up here would be no match for
his railroad.

Unfortunately, he severely
underestimated the power of nature.

Shortly after the completion of their
railroad in 1870, many miles were lost

under the snow, and it was deemed
impassable.

Traditional snow plows relied on the
momentum of the train and a wedge

nose, which works well until the snow
deepens and turns to ice.

With no machinery to tackle deep drift,
Judah built 40 miles of snowsheds to

protect the track.

But these smoke -filled tunnels were a
temporary fix.

Finally, in 1883, Canadian inventor
Orange Jull provided a solution with a

groundbreaking machine.

The Rotary Snow Plow.

A truly monumental snow battling
solution.

It's an absolute monster of engineering.

It's the last word in snow clearance.

If there's a serious snow drift, this is
what the railroad rolls out.

Amazing.

Today, the conditions may be fine, but
riding this iconic machine is a once -in

-a -lifetime opportunity.

This machine runs off of 1 ,500
horsepower, operated by that B unit

us. This plow can clear massive amounts
of snow in minutes.

What a feat of engineering.

Absolutely amazing.

Unlike those traditional wedge -node
snowplows, Joel's machine relied on an

entirely different mechanism.

This fan works like a giant corkscrew.

It cuts away at the ice bit by bit, and
what it does is it turns the snow into a

fine powder and then through the
centrifugal force, shoots it out through

top in either direction.

With Joel's 12 -foot fan able to tackle
even the worst buildup, it would

revolutionize snow clearance.

So not only could this snowplow move
more snow than traditional methods, it

also much safer.

Not needing the momentum that more
traditional methods needed, this was

operate for longer distances and at
lower speeds, meaning there was less of

chance that this would derail.

Shortly after its introduction, the
rotary snowplow proved itself.

time and time again, in the most severe
weather conditions.

In the winter of 1952, Smart Ridge near
Donner Pass experienced a huge blizzard.

The city of San Francisco streamliner
was buried in around 16 feet of snow,

trapping over 200 passengers.

Although it took three days, no less
than four rotary clouds finally reached

train. saving all but two of those on
board.

Since its introduction in 1870, the
rotary snow plow has fought the worst

weather and won.

It truly is the ultimate snow clearing
machine.

But in the mountains, for trains,
weather is far from the only

On the wild west coast of Britain lies
the spectacular Snowdonia National Park.

For centuries, a mecca for climbers.

At the center of it all, the summit
everyone wants to ascend.

Mount Snowdon.

But at almost 3 ,300 feet tall, these
stunning views were once reserved only

the brave.

At the end of the 19th century, however,
one man decided he wasn't content with

merely hiking to the top.

He wanted to conquer the tallest
mountain in Wales by train.

Snowden Mountain Railway has been
clawing its way through the clouds for

than 120 years.

This morning, they're preparing the
historic rolling stock for another

remarkable attempt on the summit.

It's been an all -night process.

It's always a busy time prepping for the
day.

So steam locomotives, they've been in
steam overnight with a fireman on watch.

Some of the locomotives are over 120
years old, and they're facing a

impossible near five -mile climb.

The terrain is difficult.

The steepest gradient on the mountain is
1 in 5 .5.

For every five and a half meters, the
track rises a meter.

So it's quite steep.

It's far from certain they'll make it
all the way.

We are on wind warnings today.

If wind speed increases on the mountain,
we may be forced to stop at Rocky

Valley, okay?

In Snowdonia National Park on the west
coast of Britain lies the tallest

mountain in Wales, Mount Snowdon.

Today, fireman Elizabeth Partridge,
driver Robert Henry Jones, and general

manager Alan Kendall are aboard the
Snowdon Mountain Railway, getting set to

lead a train full of adventurous
tourists on a journey to the top.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, car tickets,
please.

But they may not make it all the way.

We are on wind warnings today.

If wind speed increases on the mountain,
we may be forced to stop at Rocky

Valley, okay?

There's always been an interest in
getting to the top of the mountain for

years, really.

And prior to the railway, people walked
and hiked and climbed and also went up

by donkey and horse.

Daring adventure is the brainchild of
one man.

Railroad tycoon Richard Moon had a
vision of bringing the mountain to the

masses.

Moon's proposed rail started from the
base of the mountain, passing a

rocky outcrop to traverse a half -mile
-long exposed ridge before ascending the

last 650 feet to the summit.

But no traditional railway could ever
provide enough traction to scale the

incline. A fact clear to current senior
engineering manager Mike Robertshaw down

below in the yard.

Well, in a normal railway, all the
traction and braking forces are carried

by the steel wheel on the steel rail.

In our case, because the gradients are
so steep, you get no adhesion between

steel wheel and the steel rail, and the
locomotive would just sit and spin or

slide backwards.

Mobile 5, Snowden 1, stop the
temperance.

The consequences of slipping back down
such a gradient are unthinkable.

But there was a possible solution, one
that had been perfected by a Swiss

engineer just a few years earlier.

The absolute only option to go to the
summit was a Rack and Pinion railway.

Unlike a traditional train where the
power is transferred down an axle to the

wheel, Moon's Snowden locomotives have a
cog on the axle, which connects with

the toothed rack running between the
rails. So getting enough grip is no

a problem.

Well, this is a rack and pinion railway.

This part is the rack, and these... The
pinions. And on the main track, there's

a pair of racks. And on the locomotive,
there's two driven axles, each with a

pair of pinions.

So the pinion, there's always two teeth
fully engaged in the rack.

It was a surprisingly simple solution to
a once impossible problem.

But while the system can cope with the
gradient, the unforgiving mountain

climate is another matter.

The weather on Snowdon is always a
challenge all the year round, and

particularly in the winter.

We're in July.

You can see the cloud coming in.

You can feel the temperature drop.

Mobile 5, Snowdon 1, do we have an idea
on the current wind readings?

Snowdon 1, Mobile 5, yeah, the last wind
reading at 45 was 45 .1.

If the weather deteriorates today, the
train will be forced to terminate some

distance below the legendary summit.

Cloud and mist have shrouded the peak,
just as they did on the railroad's

opening on April 6, 1896.

After successfully reaching the summit,
locomotive number one started its

descent, but having lost control, it
jumped off the rack.

The crew left clear, but the runaway
engine derailed and fell over the side

the mountain.

After an inquiry, additional gripper
rails fixed around the track's rack

lock the trains firmly in place.

Today, it's an anxious wait for
passengers, while the crew decides if

weather is too severe to continue to the
peak.

It's good news.

But first, the train must navigate the
steepest part of the track.

The upper mountain is a serious
gradient, one in five.

We're currently traveling on an original
locomotive from 1896.

You can look out of the window and you
can see the gradient behind you. You can

appreciate just how hard that boiler has
to work and the pressures that it has

to create.

The steep gradient means an ordinary
boiler would be unable to cope.

A traditional steam engine boiler
consists of a cylinder filled with

surrounding a series of pipes.

All very good for traveling on a flat
line, but if you're trying to climb a

mountain as the train tilts, the
changing water level exposes the pipe,

potentially disastrous consequences.

So, how can the danger be averted?

So this is one of our locomotives that
we're doing some work on.

And this part here is the boiler.

And as you can see, it's inclined
forward at an angle.

And that's so that when the locomotive
goes on the mountain and the chassis

upwards at the front, the boiler becomes
level.

It's yet another innovative solution
that means Richard Moon's mountain dream

can be accomplished.

Mobile 5 -2, Snowden 1, and the summit
past the 1 in 5.

As once again, this remarkable train
achieves its mission.

OK, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the
summit.

Be very careful, there are high wings
today.

Mind the gap as you come off and enjoy
your stay. Thank you very much.

So here we are at the end of July,
unbelievably.

We're at the summit of Snowden.

You get a real sense of why the original
engineering team wanted to build a

mountain railway to the top of the
tallest mountain.

It was not only a challenge, it was
something they'd go down in history for.

So hats off to the Victorian.

On a clear day from this station at the
rooftop of Wales, it's possible to see

England, Scotland and Ireland.

Richard Moon's 19th century vision
created the journey of a lifetime.

But scaling the planet's mountains poses
many different problems.

The sharp vertical drops in vertical
elevation, they're all things that

really don't like. For the engineers of
Impossible Railroad.

Mountain tracks.

Railroads traversing the peaks and
troughs of the world's great ranges.

Solving extreme problems in
extraordinary environments.

But sometimes, for trains, the answer
can appear out of reach.

Australia's Blue Mountains.

a 2 ,200 -mile -long range on the
country's east coast.

In the 19th century, this natural wonder
was a huge stumbling block for an

essential rail line between the coastal
city of Sydney and the resource -rich

Lithgow Valley to its west.

The terrain in these mountains really
poses a massive challenge to railway

engineers. Trains are beasts which like
to stay on flat -level ground.

This terrain really turns that paradigm
on its head.

The sharp vertical drops in vertical
elevation, they're all things that

really don't like.

Tunneling was financially unviable.
There was no choice but to build a

railroad like no other.

The Great Zig Zag.

Completed in 1869, this remarkable V
-shaped track clinging to the

is in an engineering league of its own
for rail enthusiast and driver Lee

Wiggins. The Zig Zag Railway deserves to
be celebrated and known for its

structural integrity and history and the
fact that it is still in existence and

still going strong and still as strong
as the day that it was built.

It was engineer John Witten who believed
the railroad could take on the Blue

Mountain.

His smart Z -shaped design meant he was
able to reduce the gradient to a

manageable 1 in 42, meaning the trains
had enough friction to ascend and

safely.

Trains have a lot of problem working on
grades that are too steep.

You might not be able to start the train
on a grade. You might not be able to

stop the train on a grade if it's too
steep.

You're not able to carry as much
freight. You're not able to carry as

The shapes solved one issue, but Witten
also had a problem with getting trains

to negotiate the track's acute corners.

He achieved this by creating two
reversing points.

Here we are at Top Point's reversing
station.

Normally steam locomotives would have
come powering up the hill here, a

locomotive at both the front and the
rear of the train.

As soon as the train would park up
around the corner, the locomotive at the

of the train would then take control,
the points would be switched, and the

train would come steaming up towards
Sydney up in the other direction.

While the railroad may have been simple
in theory, Executing it in the Blue

Mountains proved to be anything but.

When they were first surveying the route
for the zigzag, the surveyors

themselves were actually lowered off the
cliff edge in wicker baskets down the

side of the cliff face.

After it was surveyed and the line was
then designed, it was nothing but manual

labor.

Such an enormous project required a huge
workforce across the vast area.

Luckily, the site offered a natural
observation point.

So this seat here was cut into the rock
by the engineers at the time that was

constructing the railway, and it allowed
them a great vantage point over

construction. They could see right
across the valley and see all different

facets to be able to allow construction
to take place.

In all, 94 ,000 tons of rock would have
to be removed from the mountainside.

to cut the ledges for the track. Where
we're standing right now is a ledge.

ledge is where the rails run and this
was carved by hand. This was done by

hammering drills into the rock and then
blowing the cliff apart with gunpowder.

Here we are about 20 metres down from
the top rock ledge and we can see

here of the drill hole going all the way
down to the base where the charge would

have been loaded here at the bottom.

The work was so grueling that it took
around 700 men three years to complete

railroad.

Today, this group of volunteers is
getting a taste of just how tough it was

create the drill holes for the
explosives.

As you can see, what backbreaking work
this must have been.

Doing this for just 15 minutes really
goes to show just how hard.

It was back in those days.

No hydraulics, just good old -fashioned
hard work.

Finally opened in 1869, the new Crotch
Mountain route between Sydney and the

Lithgow Valley proved an overwhelming
success.

The zigzag opening in the 1860s
certainly benefited Sydney greatly.

It really opened the mining industry and
the agricultural industry of the

plainlands this side of the Blue
Mountains.

One of the first steel blast furnaces in
New South Wales, if not Australia, was

in Lithgow.

So it really opened up the industrial,
let's call it, revolution for Lithgow

the Central West area, and the zigzag
was critical in achieving that.

Today, a network of tunnels cut through
the mountains, and the zigzag is

operated as a tourist attraction.

But it remains an outstanding milestone
for mountain rail lines.

To come up with something that drops as
far as this does, to be built by hand by

people hanging from baskets 700 feet
above the ground, I think that needs to

recognized as a major engineering
masterpiece of the 19th century.

Safely negotiating acute gradient is an
incredible achievement.

But for some engineers, keeping the
lines open and the people safe is a

dangerous ordeal.

There are lots of fractures. The
mountains are very tall, so the railroad

be hit by rocks.

Slom, a remote Norwegian mountain
community.

Situated at the southern tip of the
country's longest fjord, during the

1900s, this isolated town was all but
cut off from civilization.

Connecting to the Bergen Railroad over
12 miles away would change their

fortunes. But with the mainline perch
nearly 3 ,000 feet above, achieving this

would be far from easy.

as geologist Trina Hellesimanez knows.

Here you can see clearly why it was so
difficult to build a railway. You have

really steep and very tall mountainside
with lots of fractures.

And in the bottom of this deep valley,
you also have the river.

So to build a railway, it actually had
to hug the mountainside and wind its way

upwards the valley.

Only an extraordinary feat of
engineering would overcome nature this

The Flam Railroad.

One of Europe's steepest standard gauge
train lines.

Clawing its way up to the main line.

Crucially connecting Flam to the outside
world.

A journey that never fails to impress
CEO Sievert -Bach.

I would like to welcome you on board the
Flam Railway.

The Flam Railway starts at two meters
above the level.

and it goes to a typical Norwegian
valley from the Ice Age to the middle

at 867 meters above the sea level.

It's considered one of the steepest
railways in the world.

In 1923, it was senior engineer
Ferdinand Björk who was tasked with

Flam Railroad a reality.

The 12 -and -a -half -mile line from the
Songfjord to Myrdal Station in the

mountains would pose enormous
challenges.

You have these deep mountain sides.

You have rock falls, avalanches when
building.

The climate in the upper parts is really
arctic.

It's a really big challenge to do this
thing.

Add to that waterfalls and treacherous
ledges to bypass as many obstacles as

possible. Björk commissioned no fewer
than 20 tunnels.

Around 200 tunnelers were brought in to
cut through the mountainside in grueling

conditions.

My great -grandfather, he was building
railway tunnels in the mountains.

He always liked to tell stories about
how they lived.

The heaviest thing was to drill up in
the roof of the tunnels.

They had to do everything like up.

Like this, with very heavy work.

I think it took like one month to drill
just one meter of tunnel.

Today, with the train line complete,
geologist Trina continues the family's

railroad tradition above ground,
tackling a potential problem that could

the mountain rail line to a grinding
halt.

When you have such deep clips... It's
obvious that you will have rock falls.

There are lots of fractures.

The mountains are very tall, so rocks
always fall down.

It's very easy that the railroad could
be hit by rocks.

So you can see, actually, how loose
these rocks are.

So these small things fall down. It can
happen also to big ones.

And today, the team have spotted
something that could mean danger.

What I've seen here is that there's a
block with fractures on all sides. It's

quite huge and heavy.

You can see the train is just passing us
down there.

If one block like this falls down, it's
dangerous for the railway and for the

people, and we want them to be totally
safe.

Rock fractures like this are often
caused by a phenomenon known as frost

wedging. This is where cycles of
freezing and thawing water trapped

rock. can cause it to break away.

So this is the block I think you should
put three bolts in.

Combating this requires an ingenious
solution.

This could be looser, but this is
bigger.

Don't you agree?

A traditional method dating from the
1800s known as rock bolting.

Emil is now down checking how many bolts
we shall have and that we agree and how

the blocks look from down there.

He's going to drill a three -meter and
four -meter long bolt into the rock to

fasten them to the solid rock.

And then when you have the hole, you put
in this glue.

First it has to be mixed in there with
the drill and then you wait for a while

and then everything is glued.

This is basically the technique that's
always been done, that you fasten the

rocks to the mountain.

With nearly two miles of open track
lying below, this preventative work is

vital.

How's it going, guys?

Everything okay?

Good. Good.

This work is really important because,
you know, if any rails or anything is

damaged, or even this overhead line, you
cannot take the trailer.

So it's really important for the whole
area.

The extreme scenery this railroad once
set out to conquer is now part and

to its success.

Slom Railway has in the last 30 years
transformed from a railway who took

from Slom and made us go to Oslo or
Bergen with the railway.

And now it's more a tourist railway and
it's increased to about a million

passengers this year.

All transported to the track's
mountainous summit of Myrdal in a

once thought impossible.

Well, this morning it took us 50 minutes
to get to Myrdal, and in the old days

it will have taken a day or two to get
from Islam off to the mountain.

All down to generations of pioneering
railroad engineers.

Can you imagine more than 100 years ago
that somebody stood here looking over

the valley saying, like, we're going to
build a railway here?

That's impressive.

This is one of the most remarkable
railways anywhere in the world.

And I'm able to take part of that.

That's fantastic.

I'm so proud of it.

But one fleet of trains faces more
problems than most when it meets nature

its most extreme, pushing engineers to
their limits.

Graubünden in southeast Switzerland.

A region world -renowned for one thing.

With such a mountainous terrain, you'd
think cutting a railroad through this

dramatic landscape would be virtually
impossible.

But for well over a century, this center
of tourism and business... has been

connected by something truly mind
-blowing.

The Ration Railway.

An almost 250 -mile -long network built
to overcome nature at its most

extreme.

30 % of our railway net is 1 ,500 meters
over sea level.

So the climb, the weather, mountains,
these are the big challenges.

It was Dutchman Willem Jan Holsboer who
pioneered the railroad's first line in

1888.

The 31 -mile stretch from Landcourt to
the Spa town of Davos would spell the

start of a railroad phenomenon that now
boasts 10 lines.

threaded through the region.

And one of its most dramatic and
demanding is the Albula line.

It's definitely not the easiest place to
have a railway.

I wouldn't say we are the toughest, but
we are one of the toughest railway

engineers here.

It's up to engineer Gilbert Zimmerman to
keep the railroads running.

The biggest challenge is the Hyatt, 30 %
of our railway net.

It's above 1 ,500 meters over sea level.

Mainline trains are only capable of
dealing with up to 7 % gradient.

So keeping the track level as level as
possible here means going through the

mountains.

With the original Albula tunnel over a
century old, the team must build a new

one through almost 20 ,000 feet of
complex rock.

We are going now into the tunnel, the
Alvola Tunnel 2, the new one.

We started building this tunnel two
years ago, and now we are in

the geological fault zone, the most
difficult part of the whole project.

The fault zone is full of water
channels, creating problems for the

With all this water and soft rock,
there's a big chance.

Let it break down everything.

So please don't go any further than
here, because it's dangerous.

In these unstable conditions, blasting
is out of the question.

The team can only dig.

And before this can start, the rock had
to be strengthened.

We put cement into the rock with high
pressure to stabilize the whole thing to

make it more harder.

Once firmed up, only a bit more than
three feet a day can be dug, despite

mammoth machinery.

The rocks is coming.

Now we're going to see how it opens the
rocks.

Today, this painstaking process has
managed to create as much as a third of

mile of tunnel.

Not all of the excavation, however, is
quite so labor -intensive.

The team tackles this colossal project
from three points. To the north and

center, soft rock requires digging.

But to the south, harder rock allows a
more dynamic approach.

This is the granite. It's a real hard
rock.

A dream of every miner.

Because it's stable, you can blast it
easily.

And with today's blast, the miners have
to clear another 13 feet of tunnel.

We are drilling about 120 holes to
blast.

These holes we fill up with explosives
about 500 kilos.

Every explosion, every blasting is
exciting.

A blast this big requires a series of
carefully orchestrated explosions, which

can last up to 12 seconds.

This piece of course connects the
blasting master with the explosive

material, the tunnel plate.

With this, we start the explosion
process.

With the tunnel clear, we have right now
the commission to blast and we are

ready.

It's time for action.

Three, two, one, go!

I do it not every day, so my heart was

beating a little bit faster.

As the dust settles, Zimmerman and his
team examine today's progress.

I'm really pleased right now.

A clear place.

The rocks are not too big.

It's a regular hill off of these rocks.

Once the blasting is completed, the new
Albula tunnel will ensure high -speed

trains can continue to travel on the
flat.

A satisfying moment right now.

Just perfect.

But the challenges facing the railroad
engineers aren't just below ground.

This absolute monster of engineering
runs off of 1 ,500 horsepower.

Absolutely amazing.

Producing more ingenious solution.

Cutting through the heart of the Swiss
Alps, the Ration Railway is one of

Europe's greatest mountain networks.

But it's faced more problems than most.

And perhaps none more so than in the
town of Brucio, an alpine stop on the

Bernina mainline.

Today, geotechnical engineer Curtin
Cantieni is making an inspection.

Here we're in the Pascavo Valley, a very
steep valley.

that was shaped by glaciers during the
last ice age, and those cliffs are still

steeper than they actually should be
geotechnically.

That's what still causes rockfall.

With these unstable conditions, rockfall
directly onto the rail track is a

constant threat.

On the 14th of December 2008, about 40
,000 cubic meters of

loose rock material came off.

You can actually see the spot up there
where it broke off and covered the whole

railroad track.

This catastrophic fall closed the rail
line for several months.

A solution was needed.

On the mountainside of the track...

A 26 -foot trench has been dug to catch
any rock fall.

If the dam wasn't there, especially the
big boulders, would be able to come down

all the way into the valley bottom,
eventually hit a house.

This engineered defense proved its worth
in 2013, withstanding another

significant landslide.

Today, things are looking good.

So here we can see the railway.

On the right -hand side we have the
slope with the old rockfall deposits.

There are a couple of fresh stones,
nothing big, so I'd consider it a normal

situation.

The rock defense system is a brilliant
solution to keep the rail line safe. But

it's not the only railroad structure
that it protects.

Brucio sits high above the valley floor
on a steep slope.

Too steep for any train to negotiate.

To overcome that steep gradient, they
could have built tunnels, but they

thought about tourism 100 years ago and
they wanted people to have the sights of

the valley. So they really had to think
about ways to make the railway go wide

so it doesn't have to go that steep over
the cliffs here in the valley.

With space severely limited.

Getting any trains up or down from an
elevated station seemed out of the

question.

Until engineers came up with an inspired
innovation.

The Brucio Circular Viaduct.

The Brucio Viaduct consists of nine
pillars.

The train starts there and it goes all
along the loop.

Follows the viaduct and then it is 20
meters higher in the very same spot,

is unusual for a railway.

And then more or less flat into the
Bruzio train station.

With its 230 -foot radius, this
brilliantly engineered geometric shape

gentle gradient ensures trains have an
easy ride.

The problem might have been challenging,
but the solution that they found was

very easy. Only a railroad track going
in a loop, and to me it looks very

beautiful. It is a very beautiful
bridge, and it will probably outlast

of us.

Since the invention of the train,
mountains have given railroads some of

toughest challenges.

Taking engineering to new heights.

The people who decided to build it were
taking a huge leap forward and a huge

leap of faith.

Mountain railways all around the world
really deserve to be celebrated.

To create impossible railroads.

Throughout history, mountain railways
have been an important tool for pushing

through the boundaries for human
exploration.

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