Rack railway

nounStandard termRailroad

A steep-grade railway that uses a toothed rail engaged by a gear on the locomotive.

A specialized rail system built for extreme mountain grades where standard steel-on-steel friction cannot provide enough traction. It features a continuous toothed rack laid between the running rails. Locomotives are equipped with powered pinion gears that mesh with this rack to physically pull the train up the incline and safely control its descent.

Heard on the job

The tourist line up the mountain is a rack railway, so the speeds stay under ten miles an hour.