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Unusual Spiral-Tunnel Found In Germany

The “Piggy’s Tail Railway Line” in the south of Badian, Germany extends 25.8 kilometers from Weizen up to Zollhaus-Blumberg. It was built in the 1880s for military (strategic) reasons and taken out of service in 1955 by the Deutsche Bundesbahn but not withdrawn. Ssince 1977 it has become well known as a museum-railway line with steam-locomotives in service.

The very unusual trackage of this line represents the only spiral-tunnel in Germany. The length is 1700 meters and radius is 350 meters. Only a portion of the 360-degree spiral is inside a tunnel. The altitude gained by this full circle is 15.5 meters.

The 60 meter tunnel known as ‘Grosser Stockhalde-Kehrtunnel’ contains straight track.
The idea of this trackage came from Mr. Robert Gerwig, famous constructor of the Schwarzwaldbahn (black-forest-line in Germany) and supporter of the Gotthard-line as well.

The Wutach Valley line (another name for the Piggy’s Tail Railway Line also has a 180-degree tunnel (called “Weiler Kehrtunnel”).

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