Ernest H. Robl stock photos: Austria at Christmas:

Friedenslicht
(The Light of Peace)

Click on the images to view larger versions.

011826 Two railroaders from the SLB help a small child light his Christmas candle from the railroad's light of peace.

011828 A group of volunteer musicians from the Austrian Federal Railways participated in the Friedenslicht distribution run by playing seasonal music at various stops along the Salzburger Lokalbahn. Though this is the area where "Silent Night, Holy Night" originated. That was not included, as that song is reserved for special Christmas Eve celebrations.

011829 The control stand of the nearly century-old SLB car ET3 frames a quartet of railroad musicians playing seasonal tunes.

An Austrian Christmas tradition, little known outside the country, is the distribution of the Friedenslicht (Light of Peace) throughout the country.

Each year, in the pre-Christmas Advent season, a flame is lit in Bethlehem, in the Holy Land, and then brought to Austria (in an explosion-proof safety lantern, much the way the Olympic flame is transported by air). That single flame is then used to light other candles and lanterns throughout the country, each of which is then used to light hundreds of other candles--and on and on across the country.

That way, many Austrians can have candles burning in their own homes at Christmas with a flame that originated in Bethlehem.

While many organizations participate in the distribution of the light of peace, the most prominent are the railroads, which have made this a special Christmas project. In the final days before Christmas you'll find railroad conductors traveling with the flame in simple wood and glass lanterns. And you'll find the flame flickering behind the ticket counters of virtually all staffed railroad stations (and these number in the many hundreds on the country's dense railroad network). Any railroad passenger or town resident is welcome to come bring his own lantern or candle and to light it from one of the railroaders' lanterns.

Distributing the light of peace has a special significance on the Salzburger Lokalbahn (Salzburg Local Railway or SLB), a line that stretches only about 20 miles, but which serves the small towns where the world's most famous Christmas hymn, "Silent Night, Holy Night," originated.

So, on the morning of Christmas Eve day, December 24, the SLB brings out its most treasured piece of equipment, car ET3, built 1908 and still fully operable, and makes a special run up and down the line to transport the light of peace. Volunteer railroader musicians (from the much larger Austrian Federal Railways) play seasonal tunes at stops while residents come to light their lanterns and candles.

These photos are from the December 2001 peace light run with SLB car ET3 from Salzburg to the snowy high country above the city.

Click on any of the images above or below for larger versions with additional caption text.

 

A feature by me on the Friedenslicht appeared in the December 2006/January 2007 issue of German Life magazine.

I also had an extended feature on the Salzburger Lokalbahn (SLB) in the March 2005 issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine.

• Go to the main Austria at Christmas page.
• Go to a page with with images of the annual Christmas Eve Gruber-Mohr Memorial Procession.
• Go to a page with images of a winter steam locomotive excursion.

011632 For a look at the SLB's modern equipment, click on the image at left. This scene depicts two SLB trains in the snow at Bürmoos, Austria, in December, just before Christmas.

• Austria (1): Primarily Vienna and eastern Austria.
• Austria (2): Primarily Innsbruck and Salzburg (non-winter)
• Austria (3): Between Innsbruck and Salzburg

For other European images from other countries, click here.

• Austrian Federal Railways (contemporary equipment)
• Austrian Federal Railways (historic equipment)

And, you may also be interested in my sample travel feature:

• The slow side of the Danube--a rail trip along the north shore in Austria