Signalmen houses along the Semmering railway

At the beginning of the 19th century, the countryside can be characterised as a self-developing system without any influences from the outside. “This condition could be described as paradisiacal but with the snag – as usual in paradise – that those living in it cannot appreciate it.” (Achleitner 1997: 165) Due to the Industrialisation, man’s regard to his environment changed strongly. Small industries were the starting point of new human settlement in the countryside. The means of transportation of the Industrialisation was the railway, which launched the development of a number of today’s tourist regions in Austria. The changing situation through Industrialisation made the countryside appear to be paradisiacal on the verge of destruction. The construction of railway lines in the alpine region presented a major challenge. The landscape, marked through a rough topography, was not the ideal place for the new means of transportation. It was a challenge to overcome the Alps by train. One of these railway lines – over the Austrian Alps – was the Semmering railway. It was supposed to connect the royal seat of the Danube Monarchy, Vienna, with its most important seaport, Trieste. While the railway lines from Vienna to Gloggnitz (1842) as well as from Graz to Mürzzuschlag (1844) had already been finished, the connection over the Semmering, the last branch of the Alps, was still missing. The train journey from Vienna to Graz had to be adjourned and the Semmering had to be overcome via horse and cart. The towns of Schottwien and Mürzzuschlag became increasingly important for the region; they became locations for blacksmiths, horse and cart enterprises, and accommodation facilities. During the construction of the Semmering railway, Schottwien, where the site office of the railway construction was located, had a short upsurge.