Train lovers are gathering in Switzerland this weekend to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the historic Furka steam railway, with vintage locomotives carrying visitors through the breathtaking Swiss Alps.
The railway first completed a continuous journey across the Furka Pass on July 3, 1926, creating an important rail connection between the central Swiss regions of Uri and Valais. Sitting 2,431 metres (7,976 feet) above sea level, the Furka Pass is one of Switzerland's highest Alpine crossings and is also known for the winding road featured in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger.
The historic mountain route was closed in the early 1980s after a tunnel built beneath the Alps redirected rail traffic. However, hundreds of volunteers, often called the railway's "pioneers," worked for years to restore and preserve the line, allowing the steam trains to run much as they did a century ago.
The first section reopened as a heritage railway in 1992, while the full 18-kilometre (11-mile) route became operational again in 2010. Today, the steam railway operates only during the summer as a tourist attraction, taking passengers between Realp and Oberwald through scenic landscapes of rivers, Alpine meadows, green pastures and lingering patches of snow.
Visitors who travelled on the railway last month praised the experience. Passenger Stephan Willareth described the journey as "wonderful," while former Swiss railway employee Kurt Guldemann admired the history and engineering of the vintage locomotives.
Bernhard Lang, one of the volunteer drivers, said learning to operate a steam locomotive takes years because each engine has its own character.
"It's like a living machine," he said. "You have to understand how it behaves, moves, smells and sounds."
Jacob Kallert, a 21-year-old German transport engineering student and the railway's youngest train manager, said drivers must pay close attention to every sound the locomotive makes.
"You can hear whether everything is working properly," he said. "It also gives you a real sense of what travelling by steam train was like in the past."
Volunteer Sergio Rovelli said many people become deeply attached to the railway after joining the project.
"We say everyone who works here catches the 'Furka Virus,'" he joked. "Once you come here, you enjoy it and want to stay."
A one-way ticket for the nearly two-and-a-half-hour journey starts at 46 Swiss francs (about $57). The anniversary celebrations began on Friday and will continue throughout the weekend.