Rhätische Bahn Crossing the Landwasser Viadukt

Rhätische Bahn Crossing the Landwasser Viadukt

This autumn, I got to fulfill a long-standing wish…and, for me, a photographer’s dream:
To shoot the magnificent Landwasser Viadukt in Switzerland’s Canton Graubünden
being crossed by the vivid red trains of my favorite railroad, the Rhätische Bahn,
in perfect weather conditions. Not once, but on multiple afternoons.

One look at this impressive curved stone bridge carrying the Rhätische Bahn’s Albula Line
over the Landwasser River and into a tunnel high up in a sheer rock face and one can begin
to understand why UNESCO added the Albula – and the Bernina – Lines of the Rhaetian Railway
to its list of World Heritage Sites in 2008.

The language in the U.N. citation went into how effectively the Rhätische Bahn had integrated
its infrastructure into its natural surroundings. As anyone familiar with the RhB’s Albula and Bernina
routes will know, the Landwasser Viadukt is not the only manifestation of the railroad’s integration
into the challenging mountain topography along these routes, but I have to admit to its being my favorite.

As written elsewhere, I first discovered the delights of the Rhätische Bahn in 1989. That visit was also
my first contact with Switzerland’s southeastern canton of Graubünden. A highlight of that trip was riding
the famous “Glacier Express” from Zermatt (in Canton Valais/Wallis) to Sankt Moritz (in Graubünden).

The “Glacier” is billed as “The World’s Slowest Express Train.” Its mission is not about speed, but about
allowing its passengers to savor the spectacular Alpine scenery through which it travels. I – and multiple
cameras – did indeed savor the experience. But, somehow, I missed the chance for a really good shoot
as we crossed the Landwasser. A few days later, I had the chance to shoot the Landwasser from a high
viewpoint, including being crossed by a few RhB trains, but the overcast conditions resulted in less than
stunning photos. But those experiences certainly whetted my appetite for a return.

And this time, 21 years later, the rewards were bountiful, including the chance to capture this magnificent
structure as part of my “Last Hurrah with the Kodachrome” (described elsewhere on this site). This particular
image was captured digitally on one of those photo perfect afternoons, from an RhB Regio Express heading
in the direction of St. Moritz. I was riding, on this occasion, to Filisur, the station just beyond the viaduct,
from which point I would hike along a steeply climbing trail to a viewpoint high above the Landwasser
to shoot some of that Kodachrome in the late afternoon sun.

This image is available in archival gallery prints as well as in my range of Custom Printed Photo Note Cards.

Photo and Narrative ©2010 Steve Ember

The Landwasser from another perspective