The Wendelstein Rack Railway, sometimes just referred to as the Wendelstein Railway, is an electrically-driven metre gauge rack railway that runs up the Wendelstein in the Upper Bavarian Limestone Alps. Together with the Wendelstein Cable Car (Wendelstein-Seilbahn) it is operated by the Wendelsteinbahn GmbH. The mountain railway climbs through a total height of 1,217.27 metres. The Wendelstein Railway is one of only four working rack railways in Germany, the others being the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, the Drachenfels Railway and the Stuttgart Rack Railway. It is also the second-highest railway in Germany, after the Zugspitze Railway, but the highest when considering only open-air railways.
The Wendelstein Railway passing the "Hohe Mauer" ("High Wall")
Loco No. 1 with trailer car 3 in Lokwelt Freilassing
Lok 2 und 3 in mountain station
Two trains crossing in Aipl station
Wendelstein is a 1,838-metre-high (6,030Â ft) mountain in the Bavarian Alps in South Germany. It is part of the Mangfall Mountains, the eastern part of the Bavarian Pre-Alps, and is the highest peak in the Wendelstein massif. It lies between the valleys of the Leitzach and Inn and is accessible via the Wendelstein Cable Car and the Wendelstein Rack Railway. On its northern foothills rises the Jenbach, which becomes the Kalten on its way to the River Mangfall. Local valley settlements include Bayrischzell, Brannenburg and Osterhofen.
The Wendelstein (l) from the north. To its right is the Breitenstein.
The Wendelstein from the southeast. Foreground: the Kesselwand and summit cross. Between the Kesselwand and the Wendelstein is the Reindler-Kessel at about 1600 m, through which the railway runs. The Kesselwand and Wendelstein are not a single massif
The Wendelstein seen from the west
The Wendelstein from the south
