Austria 20 Euro Silver Coin 2007 Austrian Railways - Imperial-Royal South Railway
Obverse: Steam locomotive 1848 standing still, viaduct in background
Obverse Legend: REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH
Obverse Inscription: DAMPF - LOKOMOTIVE / STEINBRØCK / 1848
Reverse: Steam train traveling right through city
Reverse Legend: K.K. SÜDBAHN WIEN - TRIEST
Edge Description: Reeded
occasion: Father's Day
face value: 20 Euro
date of issue: 12.09.2007
coin design: Thomas Pesendorfer / Herbert Wähner
diameter: 34.00 mm
alloy: Silver Ag 900
fine weight: 18.00 g
total weight: 20.00 g
Connecting landlocked Vienna to the port of Trieste, the Imperial-Royal South Railway was vital to the Habsburg Empire for both trade and tourism. The superb second 20 euro silver coin in our Austrian Railways series charting the history of rail in Austria commemorates the 150th anniversary of the line’s completion in 1857.
A major feat of engineering, not least due to the obstacle represented by the Alps, work on the railway began following an imperial edict in 1841. One of the numerous viaducts bridging the mountain valleys is shown on the coin’s obverse behind the Steinbrück, the locomotive specially built for the railway in 1848 and still preserved as a museum piece today. The reverse depicts the railway station in the harbour of the Adriatic port of Trieste, with a type 17c 372 steam locomotive emerging from its entrance. The Imperial-Royal South Railway was immensely popular with the Viennese and this scene, taken from a watercolour of the time, shows exactly why.
Austria 20 Euro Silver Coins - Austrian Railways