Carl Ritter von Ghega (January 10, 1802 - March 14, 1860), was the designer of the Semmering Railway from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag.

Born in Venice as Carlo Ghega in an Albanian family, he studied in Padua, where he took the examination for doctor of mathematics at the age of 18. He began his engineering career with road and hydraulic engineering in Venice. Among other things he contributed to the building of the road over Cortina d'Ampezzo to Toblach-Dobbiaco. From 1836 to 1840 he was a construction supervisor for the railway track from Brno to Breclav, the so called Emperor Ferdinand North Railway. During this time, in 1836 and 37 he studied also the railways in England and other European countries. In 1842, entrusted with the entire planning of the future state railway, he made a study trip to North America.

After his return to the state railway he began with the planning of the railway line to the south, from Mürzzuschlag to Graz and Trieste. The crossing of the Semmering was not believed possible, but as early as 1844 he submitted a plan for the crossing of the Semmering, with locomotives without an extra rail for gear wheels. Before the building was fully decided, he began to enforce the construction of locomotives which could overcome such upward gradients. Construction of the Semmeringbahn was begun in 1848, and in 1851, before its completion in 1854, he became a knight (Ritter).

Carl von Ghega was next assigned to the building of a railway in Transylvania, but he could not see this project to its end because of his death in Vienna from tuberculosis.



Semmering railway

The Semmering railway, Austria, which starts at Gloggnitz and leads over the Semmering to Mürzzuschlag was the first mountain railway in Europe built with a standard gauge track. It is commonly referred to as the world's first true mountain railway, given the very difficult terrain and the considerable altitude difference that was mastered during its construction. It is still fully functional as a part of the Austrian Southern Railway.

The Semmering railway was constructed between 1848 and 1854 by some 20,000 workers under the project's designer and director Carl von Ghega. The construction features 14 tunnels (among them the 1,431 m vertex tunnel), 16 viaducts (several two-story) and over 100 curved stone bridges as well as 11 small iron bridges. The stations and the buildings for the supervisors were often built directly from the waste material produced in the course of tunnel construction.

Across an overall track length of 41 km the Semmering railway masters an altitude difference of 460 m; on 60% of its length the steepness is 20-25‰ (equivalent to a 1-meter difference in altitude on a 40 m route distance), and 16% exhibit a curvature radius of only 190 m. This was an entirely new technical dimension of railway construction, and new instruments and methods of surveying had to be developed to handle the resulting challenges. Also, new technologies were employed for the Engerth locomotives because the types in general use at this time could not handle the extreme gradients and turning radii.

Even while being built the Semmering railway was perceived as an effort of "landscape gardening", i.e. it attempted a harmonious combination of technology and nature. The unique travel experience which the Semmering railway offered contributed significantly to the original opening of the Semmering region for tourism. Numerous hotels and mansions are witnesses of this epoch. This enormous upswing to the turn of the century and the revaluation of the region as a winter sports area in the first third of the 20th Century were interrupted first by World War I and then by the changed recreational needs of the population. Therefore this unique culture landscape could be preserved with little change. A trip on the Semmering railway, which is in full use 150 years after its building, still impresses the traveller as a special experience by its varied landscape, the typical style of its mansions and the characteristic sequence of viaducts and tunnel constructions.

In 1998 the Semmering railway was added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.


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Grazie "crosshead", ma la mia era una domanda retorica...
Comunque mi fa piacere di non essere il solo a ricordarmi di lui al di qua delle Alpi!!!

Spero che ghe faga piaxer anca a Carleto che se ricordemo de łu, e de tuto queło che'l ga fato!

Anche a quei tempi andava di moda il titolo di cavaliere -ritter-knight!

Molto interessante, però la sezione del Forum non è quella giusta...

Riporto dalla biografia di Carl Ritter von Ghega su Wikipedia Italia:
Nella Villa di famiglia, Villa Allegri von Ghega sulla Riviera del Brenta ad Oriago, è conservato parte dell'archivio storico.

Ora la villa è un B&B...

Hai ragione,ci vorrebbe una sezione espressamente dedicata ai benemeriti dell'arte ferroviaria,divenuti ormai (per la stragrande maggioranza dei fermodellisti) obsoleti.
Chi, ad esempio, ricorda Isambard Kingdom Brunel? Sarebbe molto utile che ciascuno di noi ivi commemorasse,soprattutto per i più giovani,i grandi ingegni ferroviari del passato,l'evoluzione tecnologica delle locomotive,ecc....

Brunel da noi non è famoso presso il grande pubblico, ma tra gli appassionati penso che sia piuttosto conosciuto. In Inghilterra invece è famoso anche grazie a opere di divulgazione e fiction. E' anche importante per noi italiani: corrispondente di Cottrau, contribuì alla diffusione delle costruzioni in acciaio anche nel nostro paese; fu consultato anche per la progettazione della linea dei Giovi.

Ciao
Andy

Aggiungo che a Trieste c'é via Carlo Ghega, ma dubito che in molti sappiano chi sia

@andicoc:
Non per fare campanilismo ma Brunel almeno non era italiano... Carlo Ghega xe to compaesan...
All'estero è finito sulle banconote, è qui da noi... solo "Il Piccolo" si è accorto del 150° anniversario della sua morte con un trafiletto nella pagina "cultura & spettacoli" (sic: spettacoli!)

@giobic:
per restare a Trieste: oggi ho parlato con una mia collega giuliana per chiederle se a casa sua potevano mettermi da parte l'articolo: "ah! ecco chi che xe el tipo della via della gelateria!". Bah... comunque adesso almeno lei lo sa!

central cemetery, Vienna tomb of Carl ritter von Ghega







Monument for Carl Ritter von Ghega, who planned the Semmering railway, in the station Semmering

Ma facciamo pure del campanilismo, facciamolo!

Beh, dai, anche "cultura", non sottilizziamo... Intanto almeno ne hanno parlato.
Carlo Ghega l'ho conosciuto proprio per via delle banconote, quando nel 1987 andai in gita scolastica a Vienna... in treno, proprio percorrendo la linea del Semmering!

Ciao
Andy

Io lo conobbi leggendo il libro "storia delle ferrovie" della De Agostini, regalatomi per natale quando avevo 15 anni. Poi nell'89 lo vidi sulle banconote a Vienna, anch'io in gita scolastica.

e Sir I. Brunel ce lo fece conoscere il Bonazzelli(Zeta-Zeta) con i suoi bellissimi articoli(La Battaglia per lo Scartamento) su HO Rivarossi!!!(correva l'anno 1960)
pietro

E poi dicono che le gite (=viaggi d'istruzione) nei periodi scolastici non siano utili.
Saluti circolari.