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The invention and spread of railways revolutionized the entire system of transport everywhere. And in 1867, when the Brenner railway was opened, it was of course exploited for transporting ore.
In 1871, during early extraction of blende at Schneeberg, bold technicians even built a surface rail transport system which, starting from the station at Sterzing, crossed the Ridnaun and Lazzach valleys and went through the Kaindl gallery, as far as the deepest galleries at Seemoos. This track ran for a distance of more than 27 km. In order to overcome obstacles in the terrain, made up as it was of mountainous slopes and valleys (a total difference in altitude of 1,900 m), eight sloping, railed tracks with bucket elevators were built, on which the ore trucks could be dragged upwards or braked downwards, thanks to the counterweight of another truck. These tracks, which were sometimes laid on extremely steep slopes, were interrupted at intervals, where the ground was relatively flat, and then re-connected with one another by pulley platforms, so as to follow the contour lines of the terrain.
Along these railed tracks, a horse could pull 6-7 trucks, each holding 1 cubic metre of ore. Large intermediate ore depots were built at suitable points along the route, so that, according to season, sometimes only some stretches of the entire transport system were used.
At Sterzing, the ore was transferred to the railway and, at relatively little cost, sent to the works at Cilli (today Celje, in ex-Jugoslavia). Here, at the same time as the building of the open-air transport system at Schneeberg, the imperial mining authorities built a forge to work zinc ore from Schneeberg, Klausen and Raibl.
The entire system was built in dry masonry and remained in operation from 1874 to 1925, except for the bucket elevator of Seemoos, which was used to take ore to the St. Martin cableway until 1967.
The plant, now out of service, is a unique monument to industrial archeology, and is clearly visible from Schneeberg to Mareit. A special path, with tourist information and indications, runs along it. The Maiern track and Seemoos bucket elevator will be restored to their original state in the next few years.
Altitude Length Altitude Route
2187 405 2367 Seemoos bucket elevator
2367 676 2364 Seemoos elevator-14 Nothelfer link
2364 834 2525 14 Nothelfer elevator
2525 1349 2469 14 Nothelfer elevator-Lazzach track link, incl. 680 m of Kaindl gallery
2469 711 2167 Lazzach track
2167 972 2160 Upper pulley platform
2160 525 1987 Kasten track
1987 2486 1967 Intermediate pulley platform
1967 365 1779 Kohlwald track
1779 1548 1768 Lower pulley platform
1768 438 1579 Kohlboden track
1579 250 1564 Access to Maiern track
1564 258 1410 Maiern track
1410 8950 1309 High mine road, Maiern-Mareit
1309 436 1062 Mareit track
1062 6755 962 Low mine road, Mareit-Sterzing
Counterweights
The tracks and bucket elevators worked by a counterweight system.
On the Passeier side, the ore had to be raised from Seemoos to the Kaindl gallery at 2,530 m. In the sheet-iron trapezoidal wheeled trolleys to which the trucks loaded with ore were attached (see drawing), the only possible counterweight was water. So this was conveyed along an expensive conduit from the Black Lake of Schneeberg to an altitude of 2,600 m, to the higher station of the 14 Nothelfer elevator, and was then distributed out.
On the Ridnaun side, where the ore trucks had to be braked in their descent, water was used as a counterweight only in exceptional cases. Generally, essential food supplies for the mining folk were used as counterweights.
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history of mining on Schneeberg
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