Qinglongqiao switchback (China)

[AdamWW]

The original railway line that takes tourists from Beijing to the Great Wall at Badaling has a rather impressive switchback to gain height just south of Badaling, as shown here on Openrailway map (copyright Openstreetmap)

There are separate switchbacks for going north and south (ish), each with a station (though not used as passenger stops any more).

Does anyone know of any similar configurations anywhere else (present or past)?

I think every one I've seen has been on single track - and also on a tourist line rather than one carrying a "proper" passenger service (albeit somewhat reduced now the high speed line, shown on the right hand of the map, is operating).

 

[rf_ioliver]

Don't know of any others, but that was an impressive ride up to Badaling. I have a couple of photos of those stations - would really like to have explored them.

 

[boiledbeans2]

There is a list on wiki, though I don't know which one is the most impressive/complicated:

Zig zag (railway) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[nwales58]

There are probably a few more than that list on light railways. Is there a spectacular one somewhere on a Romanian forestry line (memory may be crap as usual). Nearer home, the Luxemburg preserved mine railway has a couple of reversals before it finds the long tunnel through to France.

 

[AdamWW]

There is a list on wiki, though I don't know which one is the most impressive/complicated:

Well of course there is.

But it's a long and somewhat arbitrary set of examples of places that passenger trains change direction so while I had a look at some of the most promising ones, I didn't go through the entire list.

I would have found a separate list of switchbacks purely for height gain more useful.

 

[Gordon]

In Switzerland: Chambrelien, on the BLS railway route from Neuchatel to la Chaux de Fonds - is a famous stub end switchback. I most recently travelled through there in May 2025. The service is now units, so the reversal is not as much fun as it used to be, in the days when BLS brownie locos had to run round the stock.

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

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[185]

Been to Badaling and whilst the train is a pretty journey, the wall there was hell. We discovered Mutianyu 15 miles east of it. Far better place to see the wall although the public transport to it is rather... err... interesting. Or lacking.

 

[Gordon]

Also in the Jura mountains in Switzerland - on the metre gauge line La Chaux de Fonds - Glovelier of the Chemins de Fer du Jura (CJ) is Combe-Tabeillon. Its a dead end switchback like Chambrelien because there was deemed to be not enough room for a loop or spiral tunnel. I also passed through this station on my May trip this year.

 

[AdamWW]

Also in the Jura mountains in Switzerland - on the metre gauge line La Chaux de Fonds - Glovelier of the Chemins de Fer du Jura (CJ) is Combe-Tabeillon. Its a dead end switchback like Chambrelien because there was deemed to be not enough room for a loop or spiral tunnel. I also passed through this station on my May trip this year.

But I don't think it matches the rather unusual geometry of the one in Badaling. I wonder if that one is unique?

Been to Badaling and whilst the train is a pretty journey, the wall there was hell. We discovered Mutianyu 15 miles east of it. Far better place to see the wall although the public transport to it is rather... err... interesting. Or lacking.

Interesting. Might have helped that I got up early and caught the first train of the morning, but by walking to the far ends of the usable bit of wall I found it very quiet - in fact at one point I had it all to myself. The middle bit was uncomfortable crowded though.

 

[Tester]

But I don't think it matches the rather unusual geometry of the one in Badaling. I wonder if that one is unique?

It doesn't, and I rather suspect that it is.

I was there in the early noughties. I went from Beijing and walked to the wall from the west station, with no idea of the layout. Somewhere at the wall I saw a map, and it dawned on me that I didn't actually know where to go for the return!

 

[AdamWW]

It doesn't, and I rather suspect that it is.

I was there in the early noughties. I went from Beijing and walked to the wall from the west station, with no idea of the layout. Somewhere at the wall I saw a map, and it dawned on me that I didn't actually know where to go for the return!

When I was there, after doing the wall I got a train north to the end and then back, so I wouldn't have had that problem.
But the stations on the switchback weren't in use as passenger stations any more.

On the way out we did go past a map showing the unusual track arrangement. I only got a glimpse of it and meant to have a proper look on the way back.
But got distracted by all the bits of wall I could see.
Though now I know the layout it occurs to me that possibly we didn't go past it on the way back anyway.

Wikipedia tells me that the engineer responsible for the railway was buried in the "downhill" station.

 

[NCT]

Been to Badaling and whilst the train is a pretty journey, the wall there was hell. We discovered Mutianyu 15 miles east of it. Far better place to see the wall although the public transport to it is rather... err... interesting. Or lacking.

For Mutianyu you just take the package bus aimed at Western pockets ...

Mubus, Beijing to Mutianyu Great Wall Bus Tour, Beijing Bus Tour

How to get to the Mutianyu Great Wall from Beijing downtown, Mubus is a bus transportation service that drives directly to the Mutianyu Great Wall, offering single and round-trip tickets. Morning departure, Afternoon departure, 5 hours sightseeing time for you to explore the Great Wall of China.

www.beijingmubus.com

 

[AdamWW]

For Mutianyu you just take the package bus aimed at Western pockets ...

Mubus, Beijing to Mutianyu Great Wall Bus Tour, Beijing Bus Tour

How to get to the Mutianyu Great Wall from Beijing downtown, Mubus is a bus transportation service that drives directly to the Mutianyu Great Wall, offering single and round-trip tickets. Morning departure, Afternoon departure, 5 hours sightseeing time for you to explore the Great Wall of China.

www.beijingmubus.com

I'd rather have a crowded wall and a train trip, myself. I don't recall there being many people on the train who looked like foreign tourists though so it probably wasn't a very common choice.

Mind, I like the "No Shopping Stops: A pure sightseeing experience with no hidden charges." bit for that tour.

I think it was the Man in Seat 61 who said that his first trip to the Wall was on a tour and they spent most of the time at "retail opportunities" and very little time at the wall itself.

 

[185]

For Mutianyu you just take the package bus aimed at Western pockets ...

Mubus, Beijing to Mutianyu Great Wall Bus Tour, Beijing Bus Tour

How to get to the Mutianyu Great Wall from Beijing downtown, Mubus is a bus transportation service that drives directly to the Mutianyu Great Wall, offering single and round-trip tickets. Morning departure, Afternoon departure, 5 hours sightseeing time for you to explore the Great Wall of China.

www.beijingmubus.com

Avoiding the tourists, from the city we got the Suburban train (£1 each) up to Yanqi Lake (worth a visit) then a (£4) taxi, 20 mins up to Mutianyu.

 

[Gordon]

I went to Mutianyu in mid winter when it first opened. This was with a TEFS tour group. We also travelled by day train from Beijing to Datong via the Badaling zig zag, with a German diesel hydraulic pulling and shoving.

The wikipedia list looks quite good to me, and I don't think it matters if it's a 'complicated' zig zag or a simple one it's still a Zig Zag and, for example I went on the Nariz de Diablo with steam in 1991 and it was more spectacular than the ride mentioned above, even if the zig zags were more 'simple' in geometry