Gornergrat Railway

The Gornergrat Railway features bright red carriages that climb a steep, jagged mountainside on a rack-and-pinion track. When it opened in eighteen ninety-eight, it became the first fully electrified cog railway in Switzerland. Engineers dealt with extreme altitude and unpredictable snow, pushing the track up to over ten thousand feet. One year, a heavy snowstorm nearly collapsed the construction sheds, yet the crews finished the line in just two years. It remains a vertical feat that opened high alpine peaks to everyone.