All language subtitles for The Worlds Most Scenic Railway Journeys S03E06 1080p WEB DL H264 BTN_track3_[eng]

Join us on an extraordinary journey

that begins
in the lush, green lowlands

and transports us to the heights
of the majestic Alps.

What I've learned about trains
since moving to Munich is

just now amazing
the rail networks are.

We'll meet world-beating
miniature classics...

He says he's crazy.

..and while we climb
towards the mountains

we'll enjoy
the best of the local beverages.

My most favourite. 7.2% alcohol.

We'll meet the people who work
and live along this special line,

before boarding
an engineering triumph.

All of these things that they needed
to build the tunnel

had to be brought up

and they were sleeping on cliffs
half the time.

This is no ordinary railway journey.

This is one of the most scenic
railway journeys in the world.

Bavaria.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

Bavaria, a land
of pristine rolling countryside

and high-altitude glacial lakes
in the towering Alps.

This is the largest
of Germany's states

and we start in the west,

in this historic, lowland town -
Nurdlingen...

..a pretty, walled town
with a unique circular shape

that comes straight from outer
space.

This picturesque place was built
inside a massive meteorite crater...

..that dates back 15 million years.

The main station is just outside
the walls

where we'll board
the Fugger-Express to Augsburg.

It's a regional train, an ET 440,

which now heads southeast across
the outer reaches of the crater.

There's a lot of land
between just little villages.

When you are lucky maybe you can see
some deer or rabbits on the field

when you just stare out the window.

Our extraordinary Bavarian journey
starts in the lowlands

and will travel 45 miles to
Augsburg.

We'll explore
rare European railway history

before jumping on a high-speed train
to Munich.

From Bavaria's capital,
we will head south

towards the high Alps and Murnau.

We'll drop by
a beer-brewing monastery

and climb higher
into the heart of the Alps

to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Finally we'll travel
on a rare historic cogwheel train

that will scale Zugspitze,
Germany's highest mountain.

Danke schon.

We have 150 miles to travel
through this state

that once was an independent
country.

But first, a rare historic gem.

This simple railway shed houses

an extraordinary collection.

It's home to there locos
that were there

at the start
of Bavaria's great railway
history...

...dating back to 1849 and the
famous Ludwig North-South Line.

One of the founders of the museum is
former steam-train driver Andreas.

Yeah, I do everything, yeah!

I'm one of the enthusiasts starting
my career in our society

in 1971.

It's a long time, nearby 50 years.

And these all are my children here.

It has over 200 diesel
and steam locomotives on display.

Among these rare jewels

is the Bavarian Class S 3/6
steam locomotive...

..known as The Pride of Bavaria.

That is 3673

and this loco was built 1918,
at the end of World War One.

The steam locomotive was running

120 kilometres per hour,
four-cylinder compound

and for this time,
the loco was very strong.

Every loco has its own history

and is a little bit part of me.

I was many years driver
of this loco here.

This is my own history, yeah? So...

Our Fugger-Express continues
to cross Bavaria

through the beautiful, undulating
Ries crater.

I find travelling by train
really very, very good.

Very comfortable,
very quiet, very...

Yeah, it's fantastic.

As we travel east
towards Bavaria's capital,

45 minutes into our journey
we reach Augsburg.

STATION ANNOUNCEMENT IN GERMAN

It's one of Bavaria's oldest cities

and home to an extraordinary,
little-known train park.

TRAIN WHISTLE TOOTS

In 2009,

the city's old train depot was
turned into a railway centre

dedicated to all things trains...

..the Augsburg Bahnpark.

But there is one area which houses
an enormous, world-beating display -

perfectly to scale, model trains.

The man in charge of all this fun is
Markus.

We have got about 1,500m of track
here.

That means about 33km of track
in real life.

We have got about 220 locomotives,

700 coaches,

different kinds
of steam locomotives,

historic locomotives
and also modern locomotives.

This is a passion project

which was invented
by my colleague Jurgen Drexler.

Jurgen! Jurgen!

Jurgen is a man on a mission.

It took him over 20 years

to collect and restore
all these model trains.

MARKUS SPEAKS GERMAN

JURGEN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY

He says he's crazy.

So far, he's spent 4,000 hours

building this incredible
miniature railway line,

creating an 18-minute round trip
for his trains.

It attracts visitors of all ages.

Not only for children.
Also for the whole family

and especially, of course, for men.

It's time to return
to Augsburg station...

..to catch our ICE high-speed train
to Munich.

On our next stretch,

the scenery is picture perfect.

You have beautiful blue mountains
all across Murnau.

You have a very colourful city.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

We've been travelling now
for 60 minutes

through the lowlands of Bavaria...

..heading
to the glorious Alpine region

and the highest train station
in Germany.

We're on the ICE,

the InterCity Express
high-speed train,

from Augsburg to Munich.

It can travel at over 150mph

even with 12 carriages in tow.

In 2019, around 99 million people
took advantage

of the ICE's fast and affordable
train journeys.

One of the regular passengers is

Munich-based Canadian travel writer
Christina.

What I've learned about trains
since moving to Munich is

just how amazing the rail networks
are in Germany.

If I wanted to get from one big city
to the next,

you know, from Vancouver to Toronto
it takes like four days

and so for me to be able
to get on a train

and be from Munich to Berlin in four
hours is absolutely insane to me.

Like, I would have never thought
that was possible.

With an infrastructure
of 21,000 miles of track,

Germany has Europe's
largest railway network.

You can shoot from medieval towns
to magical mountains

in just minutes.

In terms of landscapes,
you see a lot of fields and stuff

but when you leave the city

for maybe like an hour,
an hour and a half,

you start seeing the beautiful Alps,
you start seeing the mountains,

all the cute little towns along
the way. It's... It's gorgeous.

You never get tired of it.
I just don't get sick of it ever.

And I feel like I'm geeking out
a little bit over this

but I just really, really love
taking the train!

After only 29 minutes,

our ICE train pulls in
to Munich station.

Danke schon.

SHE LAUGHS
Bye!

There's no time
to explore Bavaria's capital
today...

..as we're leaving
the manicured lowlands behind

and venturing to the high,
pristine Alps of southern Germany.

From Munich, we're heading south,
deep into the Bavarian Alps.

We're en route
to Garmisch-Partenkirchen,

a skiers' paradise.

But first we'll make a short detour.

At Weilheim we'll swap trains

to visit the Benedictine monastery
at St Ottilien.

Then we'll continue on southwards

through this beautiful region
of Upper Bavaria

to arrive at Murnau
and its great lake.

St Ottilien - a pretty, rural
station

with an incredible history.

In fact, life-changing for many.

This train station is important
for us.

It exists already for 120 years.

It was built
together with the monastery.

Father Cyrill's monastery is just
a stone's throw away from the
station

and they are indelibly linked.

By the platform is a cemetery
where people were laid to rest

between 1945 and 1948.

Many arrived by train.

During the war the convent was used
as a military hospital.

But on 27th April 1945,

3,500 seriously ill prisoners were
travelling on a freight train

near St Ottilien.

The Nazis simply left this train
exposed on one of the rails

a bit outside of this train station

because they know
that French air attack would come

and so it was another sadistic way
of killing people,

just actually by the people
who were supposed to liberate them.

About 140 died.

But many were able to escape...

..and found refuge at the monastery.

Among the prisoners were
several doctors.

They pleaded with the medical staff
at the military hospital

to allow them to care
for the most seriously wounded.

This was
still Nazi-controlled territory

and after one or two weeks
when the Americans arrived,

about 800 people were housed here
at the hospital.

From then onwards,
the convent was a Jewish hospital...

..until it was returned to the monks
in May 1948.

The monastery of St Ottilien was
a place of hope and optimism

for many survivors.

Over 6,000 patients were treated

and 428 children were born here.

As we leave
this special place behind,

we cross the green pastures
of the Oberland.

Now we're heading south towards
the heart of the Bavarian Alps.

With only 70 miles left to go,

our EMU ET 2442 train is now
entering the Blue Land.

Famous for its inspiring myriads
of blue

and the stunning Staffelsee...

..artists have flocked here
for 120 years.

But this train line into Murnau
attracts more than just arty folks.

It's a Mecca for bright sparks, too.

And enlightening us is
local artist and hotelier Gina.

I am Gina Feder. I am here
to welcome you to Murnau.

I own a hotel

and I also used to be a gallerist
for a long time here in Murnau

but also in Munich.

Many train lovers know Murnau
very well

because of Johanna,
the first electric train,

exhibited outside
of the train station.

It was in 1905 history was made here

when they opened Germany's first,
15-mile-long, electric railway track

and its legendary locomotive was
Johanna.

A Siemens-built E6904,

she travelled through the Blue Land
for 43 years.

In the beginning
of the last century,

many painters also came

because of the railway station
in Murnau.

They found houses here

and started to paint.

Very famous ones were
Wassily Kandinsky

and Gabriele Munter

and the train was a motif
for the painters.

For artists it was popular because
of the colours of the scenery here.

When you have the sun,
when you have the sunset,

you have beautiful blue mountains

and because it's like an arena

going around all across Murnau

you have a very colourful city.

Gina's family have lived
in these mountains for
generations...

..and in the same home.

I love the landscape.
I love the lakes.

I love the whole situation here.

I used to live in Munich
for 23 years

but I would never go back.

Our Bavarian adventure continues
as we leave the famous Blue Land

favoured by artists

for a place steeped
in sports history,

as we climb further
to our Alpine destination.

But first, our next stop leads us
to a divine setting.

Almost half of all Germany's beer is
made in Bavaria,

so it would be rude not to try some.

Ah! I love this beer!

Mm!

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

We're on one of the world's
most breath-taking journeys...

..from a meteor crater
to Bavaria's Alps in the south.

We have only 50 miles left

before we're surrounded
by some of Europe's biggest
mountains

on the German-Austrian border.

After Murnau, we'll weave our way
deeper into the heart of the Alps.

We'll stop at Oberau to visit
Ettal's famous beer-brewing
monastery,

then travel to the capital
of the area, Garmisch-Partenkirchen,

at the feet of the great Zugspitze.

Danke schon.

Danke.

Our train now skirts
the 75-mile-long Loisach River...

..which is popular
with fishing enthusiasts

and the river will lead us
to our next stop.

Bitte.

Danke.

And our next stop is Oberau.

A short walk away is
another astonishing monastery,

where 40 Benedictine monks live
and work in the abbey.

Built nearly 700 years ago
by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian

this magnificent monastery has
more to offer than the eye can see.

Opening the divine doors is,
of course, a monk.

I'm Father Thaddaus,
a Benedictine monk

of the Benedictine monastery
Ettal Abbey.

After 24 years living here
at the monastery,

our special guide knows every inch
of this remarkable building.

Ettal Abbey is
a special gothic construction

with a Baroque dome

and we have the highest dome
of Bavaria,

66m inside and 70m outside.

The Italian architect wanted to have
three entrances

but here, in the story
of a construction of a church,

it's normal that we need money,

so they saw it's enough
to have one entrance.

BELLS CHIME

The main attraction for
the monastery's millions of visitors

is a rather small statue

hidden under the big dome.

Ettal was more and more
in the 16th century

a location of pilgrimage
to this Madonna.

If we have pilgrims
we have the necessity

of giving beer and food

and so we developed
the house of guests

and our brewery is founded 1609,

more than 400 years old.

In fact, it's one of
the oldest breweries in Germany.

This is now the modern way
of brewing beer today.

We join now the brewhouse
with the three tanks.

Mm! It smells wonderful!

We start with this.
This is water and malt.

Heat it up by 73 degrees.

The next step, we take out the mash.

The hops come in.

We have simply three ingredients -

water, malt and hops.

This brewing process is protected
by a 500-year-old law

which safeguards the purity
of this holiest of beverages.

Ettal monastery brews 6,000 litres
of beer per day...

..ranging from lager, wheat,
dark beer

and, Father Thaddaus's favourite,
strong beer.

Mm!

Lucky for him, one of his most
important jobs is quality control.

My most favourite.

That's the Heller Bock.
It means the blonde strong.

It has 7.2% of alcohol.

I have the joy to taste it.

It's something
he's very dedicated to.

Ah! I love this beer.

Mm!

It's strong.

Drink one and then you say goodbye
to your companions in the evening.

It might be goodnight Vienna
for Father Thaddaus...

..but for us, the real fun is
only just beginning.

After travelling
for three and a half hours

from our starting point, Nurdlingen,

our electric Talent 2 train is
gently gliding through the Loisach
valley,

the gateway
to the mighty Bavarian Alps.

It was around the 1880s

that the railway changed
the fate of this region.

The construction of a direct line
from Munich made

this stunning area
much more accessible,

turning it into a fashionable place
to come

and enjoy nature at its best.

After 140 miles, we will be leaving
the main railway

as we arrive at Bavaria's Alpine
capital, Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

This double-barrelled city gets
its name

from one of the most iconic sporting
events to take place in the world.

In 1936, it hosted
the third ever Winter Olympics...

..and it was for that occasion

that the town of Garmisch was
ordered

to join the nearby town
of Partenkirchen.

This extraordinary ten-day event
attracted 646 athletes,

28 nations,

17 competitions

and 500,000 spectators.

Today, the site of the legendary
Winter Olympics can still be admired

and showing us around is
local tour guide Monika.

My name is Monika.

I'm the guide
here in this stadium area

and I live here
in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The competition that left
everyone holding their breath

was the audacious ski-jumping.

But the real thrill is not
from looking up -

it's from looking down.

Are you afraid about heights?

This is the point of no return
for the spectators.

As they say - onwards and upwards.

We are about to climb a tower

floating at over 200 feet
from the ground.

When they reach the take-off ramp,

they reach a speed of 97kmh.

To find the right moment
to stand up and jump,

it's very difficult
for the ski-jumpers.

They're in this position.

They stand up and then they have
0.2 seconds till the take-off.

Now, we walk up.

The gradient is 35 degrees.

Very, very steep.

Now, we walk up slow, yes?

To climb the 430 feet from
the stadium ground is bad enough...

..but the ski-jumpers can reach
speeds of 60mph on their way down.

This sport is
not for the faint-hearted.

This is the point where
the ski-jumper are sitting here

and start.

And now you have the same view
to the stadium area

when the ski-jumper are starting
here.

I never jump myself.

You have to start with ski-jumping
five to six years old

and nowadays I'm too old, I think!

I come up here one time a day

and I like it.

At this elevation, you can fully
appreciate the beautiful panorama

and the charming city.

It gets even better if you take
a different way down,

one that doesn't involve
defying gravity.

If you want to breeze into
the stadium like Eddie the Eagle

you can take a zip wire.

It'll whisk you down at 40mph.

Fortunately,
a soft landing is guaranteed.

Our journey does not stop here.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is famous
for its mountains...

and majestically dwarfing all others
is

Germany's highest peak, Zugspitze.

To build a train line up it

took ingenuity and endurance.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

It's the final stretch
of our four-hour train journey
through Bavaria.

To fully appreciate
the majestic location

and the glorious Alpine scenery,

we'll be travelling
on a special train

that climbs to the very top
of Germany.

The journey commences
just outside Garmisch-Partenkirchen

on a single-gauge electric train.

It'll then scale Zugspitze
to 8,700 feet.

Local historians Wolfgang and
Michael are deeply passionate

about this unique train line.

My name is Wolfgang Ollendorf.

I'm living in Wallgau.

I'm Michael Woywood
and I live in Grainau.

When I was a boy
growing up in Munich

as an American, we used to come down
to Gramisch.

Then we'd get on the Zugspitzbahn

and we would head up to Eibsee

and we would ski.

And so for me, I've been interested
in the train since I was 12.

A long time.

It is a mountain train
that is very special.

The railway is going really steep
on the mountain

and as a child I would look always
to the train.

CHILDREN SPEAK EXCITEDLY

From Garmisch-Partenkirchen

the line tracks through the valley
for 12 miles

to pass Grainau.

We'll climb to 3,000 feet
to reach Eibsee,

where we will stop
to admire the lake.

Then the gradient steeply increases

as it climbs to the highest
train station in Germany...

..at nearly 9,000 feet.

The railway was built
from, I think, July 1928.

It was finished in July '30,

so only two years they need
for the whole railway

to the Zugspitzplatt.

For the first 20 minutes,
it's a peaceful ride...

..skimming the foothills.

But at our next stop,
it's all change.

The next station is Grainau

where the locomotive changes
to the cogwheel train.

From here,
the gradient dramatically increases.

The only way to stop
the train slipping as it climbs

is to use a toothed rack system.

When it starts in Grainau,
it starts going uphill right away

and from Grainau up to the Eibsee,
which is the first stop.

Eibsee lies at over 3,000 feet

and the mountain views here
get even more impressive.

But it's the electric-blue lake
that catches the eye.

Formed by a giant landslide

and fed by glacial waters

it attracts many visitors
to its shores...

..like cyclist Robert.

My name is Robert Roop.
I'm originally from Virginia

but we moved here from Chicago
four years ago

and we live in Munich.

From Munich it's an hour,
hour and a half by train

and on the train you can take
your bike, your skis, whatever,

from the hauptbahnhof directly
to the Garmisch hauptbahnhof

and from there catch the train
to the top of the Zugspitze

if you want to ski on the glacier.

They've some of the best snow
in the area.

If you want to bike,
the area's great for biking.

There are trails
all around the Zugspitze,

all around Eibsee.

Hiking, as well.

I've been to the top
of the Zugspitze a few times.

I've hiked to the top,
I've taken the train

and, you know, once you're up there
you're really in a different world.

It's just rock and snow and down
here you're surrounded by green.

Back on our cogwheel train,
we're about to experience a railway

that was Germany's most difficult
to build.

Within half a mile from Eibsee

the line starts to scale 5,500 feet.

To achieve this, it travels through
a two and a half mile long tunnel

followed by another,
the Rosi Tunnel, at three miles
long.

And only then will it finally reach
our last stop

at Zugspitzplatt.

This steep mountain line was built
by many skilled engineers

and drew in Europe's finest miners

from as far away as Italy.

You had several issues.

You had issues related
to avalanches.

So they had to make sure
that when the snow would come

that they would be safe
from the avalanches.

They built the tunnel
in four stations,

going through the mountain,
through the rock

and they connected it, yeah?

And the deviation was about 5cm

and they had no laser,
only trigonometry -

very difficult at that time.

Incredibly,
in these extreme conditions,

they only had two years
to build the railway.

They have 2,500 people
working there.

You don't have any supplies.

So all of these things
that they needed to build the tunnel

had to be brought up,
either with a separate cable car

that they built just for that,
as well as the people -

the people would actually sit on
the logs that they were bringing up

to help build the tunnel.

And then the people had to sleep
places.

They built buildings onto the side
of the mountain

just so that the people that
were there could end up sleeping

and they were sleeping on cliffs
half the time.

Despite the huge physical
challenges, they succeeded

and this extraordinary mountain
railway was even completed on time.

To get the best panoramic views

you need to disembark the train...

..and take a cable car

that will whisk you
to Zugspitze's great summit.

What can be funny is sometimes
you'll be down in Grainau

and it's sunny.

You think, "Oh, I think
I'll go up to the Zugspitze,"

and by the time you get up there,
it's all cloudy

and you can't even see
down into Grainau.

But one thing is for sure.

There's always a nice cold beer
waiting for you
when you get up there.

Once at the top,
the views are simply breath-taking.

From the north side, there are
uninterrupted vistas across Germany.

And from the south,

the grand Austrian Tyrol
stretches out before us.

On our epic 150-mile train journey
from Nurdlingen to Zugspitze...

..we've crossed some of Bavaria's
most inspiring landscapes...

..enjoyed
its rich steam-engine history...

..and climbed
to the very top of Germany,

a truly spectacular railway journey.