Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

310 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. RIGHT. THE GLACIERS BELOW EISMEER STATION, FROM WHICH TOURISTS DESCEND BY THE GALLERY SEEN ON THE and conductors of the electric current supply, and break down the telephone wires. Access to the houses is gained through deep trenches which have to be cleared after every snow- storm. Even more trying to Terrific Gales. C£ colonists „ is the föhn, or icy south wind, the violence of which is such that no progress can be made against it. On one occasion, during the winter of 1905, a gale blew in the windows and one of the walls of the locomotive shed, tore away some of the electric wires, and removed the roof bodily. What became of the roof was never ascertained. A furlong above Eigergletscher station the railway enters the great tunnel, the loftiest in the world. Twenty minutes of steady climbing brings us opposite Eigerwand sta- tion, which is reached from the tunnel plat- form by a lateral gallery 26 feet long and 20 feet wide. The station is a cavern cut out of the solid rock, its roof supported by large Eigerwand Station. pillars left standing for the purpose. It has a floor area of 2,370 square feet. In the north wall are a number of large apertures, com- manding a wide view of surrounding peaks. Through one of these openings a searchlight of enormous candle-power, with a reflector 31 feet in diameter, at night projects its beams, which are said to be clearly visible at a distance of 60 miles, and to enable a newspaper to be read in the streets of Thun. Three-quarters of a mile beyond the Eiger- wand is the Eismeer station, the present