After arriving at the airport in Schwechat, 18 kilometres southwest of Vienna (Wein in German), a rental car awaited for exploring several railways of Austria. For Canadians, driving in Europe is the same as here, traffic keeps to the right unlike Britain. All you really need to learn are the different highway signs.

Just like Switzerland, Austria is landlocked in the center of Europe. And just like Switzerland it's an alpine country with gorgeous scenery. Think of the "Sound of Music" with Julie Andrews and you'll get the idea, but don't mention that movie while visiting, the Austrians hated it. The country has a long complicated history being involved in several major wars including the First and Second World Wars, but we're here to explore today's railways and not history, well perhaps a little railway history. During two weeks five narrow gauge railways and a portion of one standard gauge railway were visited. (See this website's Archive to view them all.) In this story we'll very briefly describe the Murtalbahn for you.

Murtalbahn
Tamsweg Bahnhof
Salzburg
Austria
N47.129763 E13.808258  (Tamsweg depot)

Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states including Styria and Salzburg. As an aside, Arnold Schwarzenegger began bodybuilding in Graz, which is the capital of Styria. The Murtalbahn right-of-way lies in both these states and is operated by the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen, (Styrian State Railways) or the STB.
 

The Murtalbahn is a narrow gauge railway known as Bosnian gauge. Bosnian gauge originated in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire becoming their standard narrow gauge. The name is also used for lines located in Austria. The width is 760 millimetres or 2 feet 5 and 15/16 inches.

Constructed in 1894 between Mauterndorf and Unzmarkt the railway generally follows the Mur River from Tamsweg eastwards through Murau to Unzmarkt, a distance of 76 kilometres or 47.3 miles. Tracks still runs west out of Tamsweg to Mauterndorf but the Murtalbahn ceased carrying passengers on this section in 1973.

A portion of this section is now operated by the Taurachbahn heritage railway. The Murtalbahn's main workshops are located at Murau. Triebwagen, diesel-electric rail cars, and trailers began daily 2-hour service over the route in 1981. Freight traffic consists mainly of timber and petroleum pulled by diesel-electric locomotives. During summer months a steam locomotive hauled service is run between Tamsweg and Murau, unfortunately not during the day of this visit.




A steam train ride on the Murtalbahn offers passengers nostalgic railway romance. Historic steam locomotives and lovingly restored historic wagons provide a special flair on each trip. Passengers ride alongside the Mur River through a true picture book landscape. Musical entertainment and Bar carts ensure a good mood during the excursion.


The Murtalbahn triebwagen (diesel-electric rail car) daily service timetables between Tamsweg and Unzmarkt effective 13 Dec 2020 may be viewed here.