Advent Train Mariazell Railway

The Mariazellerbahn is the longest narrow gauge railway of Austria (gauge: 760 mm) and connects the captial of Lower Austria St. Pölten with the styrian pilgrimage site Mariazell. To connect the highly frequented pilgramage site Mariazell with the railroad network, the railway was built during the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (passenger transport since 1907).A ride with the modern railcars – the so called „Himmelstreppe“ (lit. Stairway to Heaven) – from St. Pölten to Mariazell takes you 2 hours and 15 minutes. During that time you will travel 84 km through varying landscapes and climb more than 600 meters in altitude. Today, the Mariazellerbahn carries more than 500.000 passengers.

A truely special experince are the nostalgic trips at the train route of the Mariazellerbahn. The nostalgic „Ötscherbär“ train, pulled by the more than 100 years old 1099 series electric locomotive, carries you to Mariazell regularly as in the olden days from May to October … and of course back again.

On some days during the year you can ride and watch the historic steam locomotive Mh.6 with its wagons from the „Ötscherbär“ set driving to Mariazell and back. The traditional highlights of the year at the Mariazellerbahn, are the Advent steam trains to the Advent Market in front of the basilica in Mariazell. This year there were that much reservations on the planned steam train, that another additional train was organized. Within this 360° panorama you see exactly that steam train with the Mh.6 and its eight carriages, supported by the 1099 electric locomotive, right before its arrival to Mariazell.

Shooting date: December 10, 2017