Adhesion Railway in Linz: Vintage Litho Postcard

Linz, Upper Austria: The Poestlingberg with it's Electric Adhesion Railway.

Decorative, lithographed postcard from ca. 1910. Issued by Brunthaler, Linz.

Unused, fine condition.

This railway is the oldest and most important of it's kind in Europe (Guiness Book of Records ). Built in 1891, unchanged since.

The term adhesion railway or adhesion traction describes the most common type of railway, where power is applied by driving some or all of the wheels of the locomotive and thus it relies on the friction between a steel wheel and a steel rail.

The term is particularly used when discussing mountain railways to distinguish from other forms of traction such as funicular or cog railway (rack and pinion).