Landscape – Great Idea! X-LArch III - Department für Raum ...

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Fig. 2: signalman house and rail track
The sparks caused by the coal fire of the steam engine
were regarded as dangerous because it was possible
that they were the starting point of a forest fire. Because
of security reasons, the rail track appears as a corridor
trough the landscape. On a strip, about 110 m in width all
along the track, neither trees nor shrubs were growing.
A cross-section through the landscape was built which
marks an extra territory following its own rules separated
from the surrounding forest. The whole rail track corridor
was bordered by telegraph poles, which go along with the
train and accompany the passengers with the telegraph
line. In this way, the rail track became separated from
the landscape and was in a strong dialogue with it at the
same time.
Observing from the signalmen houses - the internal view
In order to run the railway, more than 50 signalmen’s
houses were built during the last year of the construction
period. Every 750 m in average stands one house, very
near to the rail track. Small, simple houses without ornamentation
are lined up and stand in the different landscapes
through which the railway crosses. In the houses,
the signalmen lived isolated with their families, miles
away from anywhere. The houses were sometimes in the
middle of the forest, often nearby a viaduct, a tunnel or a
level crossing. Days passed, without any visitors except
the signalman from the neighbouring house, sometimes
passing by. The house, the rail track and the landscape
dominated the situation [Fig. 2].
The intensive observation of the rail track could be understood
as a result of the political situation at that time (cf.
Dinhobl 2006: 123). The modern democracy in the USA
stands in opposition to the hierarchy of the Danube Monarchy.
But apart from the political situation and the technical
needs, the landscape subject to the railway plays a major
role for the positioning of the houses. From the houses,
the whole track except the tunnels can be observed. The
houses can be understood as an infrastructure to observe
the track. Through the mountainous landscape, it was difficult
to observe the entire track; further houses often had to
be built because hills or small mountains were in the view
line. As the houses where situated in a way so that they
could observe the whole track together, signalmen were
able to communicate from house to house along the corridor
through the landscape, becoming a part of it. Like the
rail track itself, also the signalmen houses can be understood
as a part of the newly discovered landscape. It is the
same landscape through which the train passes through
in periodic times. These two separated views (Strohmeier
2004: 178) become characteristic for the further landscape
perception influenced by the railway and can be completed
with the third point of view: the view through the
compartment window.
Observing the landscape through the compartment
window - the view in motion
Going by train, by looking through the compartment
window, the landscape is turned into a motion picture. A
completely new perception of landscape was found. For
the Viennese people, the Semmering landscape became
a region for recreation in reachable distance. Both the
railway and the fascinating landscape attracted people
also to come for a day-trip. In booklets, special advice
about the best place in the train and about the most worthwhile
views were given (Kos 1992: 40). The railway line
was the choreography for a new landscape adventure.
The compartment and the landscape outside the window
had been two independent systems [Fig. 3].
For passengers, travelling became easier and without
Fig. 3: view looking out of the train
Life was conditioned by the work as well as by the weather
and the landscape. The houses themselves were understood
as a part of a big machine. The rail track determinated
the precise position of the houses while the landscape
itself played a minor role. There were six windows facing
the rail track and only one window from the staircase
offered a view over the valley.
As Ghega reported from his field trip to the USA, there
where no signalmen houses along the American railways.