3-021-623 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The new overland route to India: Mont Cenis Railway - ascent from Lanslebourg, 1869. 'The ascent from Lanslebourg to the top of the pass is a zigzag up the side of the mountain, and is perhaps one of the best illustrations which could be given of the qualifications of this system. The railway is for the most part placed on the ordinary old road of the pass, on its outer edge. It is only at turns of the road that a few yards of extra ground are trespassed upon to make the curve large enough. One in twelve is common on this part of the line, and the central rail is here indispensable. The steepness of the mountain side maybe understood by the statement that for three or four months in the winter the sun never shines upon Lanslebourg, which lies frozen up in snow under the shadow of Mont Cenis. Our correspondent says: "I was walking up this incline, when I heard the whistle of the train coming from Susa. It was still high over head, and it sounded like the shrill note of some wild bird in the air, high among the pines and rocks. A few moments more and I saw the flash of the white steam through the dark trees, suggesting itself at once as the wings of this haunter of Alpine peaks".' From "Illustrated London News", 1869.