The Abt systemВ - the most common rack system in Switzerland at the timeВ - was limited to a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%). Locher set out to design a rack system that could be used on gradients as steep as 1 in 2 (50%). This system allows use on steeper grades than the other systems, whose teeth could jump out of the rack. The Locher rack system, invented by Eduard Locher, has gear teeth cut in the sides rather than the top of the rail, engaged by two cog wheels on the locomotive.

The steepest gradient on the rack section of the Mount Morgan Railway was 1 in 16.5 (6.06%).

The steepest gradient on the rack section of Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was 1 in 15 (6.67%),.

The steam locomotives on the West_Coast_Wilderness_Railway have separate cylinders driving the pinion wheel, as do the 'X'-class locomotives on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The pinion wheels can be mounted on the same axle as the rail wheels, or driven separately. The Abt system was also used for the construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales from 1894 to 1896. The first use of the Abt system was on the Harzbahn in Germany, which opened in 1885. However the Riggenbach system exhibits greater wear resistance than the Abt. The Abt system is cheaper to build than the Riggenbach because it requires a lower weight of rack over a given length. The use of multiple bars with offset teeth ensures that the pinions on the locomotive driving wheels are constantly engaged with the rack. Two or three of these bars are mounted centrally between the rails, with the teeth offset. In 1882, Abt designed a new rack using solid bars with vertical teeth machined into them. In particular, the Riggenbach rack was expensive to manufacture and maintain and the switches were complex. Дuring the early 1880s, Abt worked to devise an improved rack system that overcame the limitations of the Riggenbach system. In 1885, he founded his own civil engineering company. Abt worked for Riggenbach at his works in Olten and later at his IGB rack locomotive company. The Abt system was devised by Carl Roman Abt, a Swiss locomotive engineer. ДЄbt rack system used on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The Riggenbach system suffers from the problem that its fixed ladder rack is more complex and expensive to build than the other systems.ДЇollowing the success of the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn, Riggenbach established the Maschinenfabrik der Internationalen Gesellschaft fГјr Bergbahnen (IGB) вЂ“ a company that produced rack locomotives to his design. It uses a ladder rack, formed of steel plates or channels connected by round or square rods at regular intervals. The Riggenbach system is similar in design to the Marsh system. Following the construction of a prototype locomotive and test track in a quarry near Bern, the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn opened on. Eager to boost tourism in Switzerland, the government commissioned Riggenbach to build a rack railway up Mount Rigi.

During this time, the Swiss Consul to the United States visited Marsh's Mount Washington Cog Railway and reported back with enthusiasm to the Swiss government. Riggenbach was granted a French patent in 1863 based on a working model which he used to interest potential Swiss backers. The Riggenbach rack system was invented by Niklaus Riggenbach working at about the same time as, but independently from Marsh. The first mountain rack railway in continental Europe was the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn on Mount Rigi in Switzerland, which opened in 1871. The track was completed to reach the summit of Mount Washington in 1869. state of New Hampshire, which carried its first fare-paying passengers in 1868.

The first mountain cog railway was the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the U.S. This used a rack and pinion system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop. The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, where the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, ran in 1812. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades above 10%, which is the maximum for friction-based rail. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. Functioning of the rack and pinion on the Strub systemДЄ rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails.

Mt washington cog railway