KnowraRack railwayRack railwayA railway that uses a toothed rack rail engaged by a locomotive’s gear wheel to provide traction on steep gradients.BriefConnectRack-and-pinion: A mechanism in which a toothed gear meshes with a straight toothed bar to convert rotation into linear motion. The locomotive gear and toothed track form this mechanism, producing positive traction on steep slopes.Railway track: The rails, sleepers, fastenings, and supporting structure that guide railway vehicles. A rack railway adds toothed traction equipment to conventional running track.John Blenkinsop: An English mining engineer who developed an early practical steam locomotive and a toothed-rail propulsion system. His 1812 locomotive used a toothed rail, an early predecessor of rack railway practice.Mount Washington Cog Railway: A New Hampshire mountain railway, opened in 1869, that uses a cog drive to climb Mount Washington. It is an early American rack railway built for a steep mountain ascent.Riggenbach rack system: A rack railway system using a ladder-like rack with transverse teeth held between side bars. It is the system associated with early Swiss mountain railways and the Rigi line.Adhesion railway: A railway in which traction depends on friction between smooth wheels and smooth rails. Its wheel-rail friction limits gradients that rack engagement can overcome.Railway locomotive: A powered railway vehicle that supplies the force to move a train. Rack locomotives carry the drive gear or other equipment that engages the rack.Salamanca locomotive: A steam locomotive built for the Middleton Railway in 1812, using a pinion to engage a toothed rail. It demonstrated rack-like propulsion decades before mountain rack railways became established.Pilatus Railway: A Swiss mountain railway using the Locher rack system to reach Mount Pilatus. Its unusually steep route required a rack design that resists the pinion climbing out of engagement.Abt rack system: A rack railway system using two or more offset rows of rack teeth to maintain continuous engagement. Its staggered teeth reduce abrupt changes in pinion engagement compared with simpler racks.Show all 26Linked from 6 pagesLocomotiveRelated: Rack locomotives gain additional grip where ordinary wheel-rail adhesion is insufficient.Cable transportCompared with: It replaces cable haulage with a mechanical connection between locomotive and track.Lyon MetroRelated: Line C uses rack traction on its steep climb toward Croix-Rousse.Show all 6