6. The Lindau lighthouse can be used to set the time
One doesn’t usually associate lighthouses with railroads, but the Lindau Lighthouse in southern Germany was built to mark the entrance to a port which was itself built entirely for the purpose of accommodating the Ludwig South-North Railway. The port was built in the mid-1850s on Lake Constance, providing pier facilities for shipping on the lake connected to rail heads owned by the Royal Bavarian State Railways. The narrow entrance to the harbor is guarded by the lighthouse on one side, across from which a statue known as the Bavarian Lion stands on a pedestal. The Lindau lighthouse has the face of a clock displayed prominently in the side of the tower, which was built at the same time as the port and stands just over 100 feet tall. The beacon was first lighted in the autumn of 1856.
When it first opened, Lindau used an open oil fire as the source of light, which was labor intensive for the keeper, who also had the responsibility of firing the fog cannons in conditions of heavy fog, which were and are frequent. The cannons were quickly replaced with a bell and later steam foghorns. Oil gave way to kerosene, followed by gas, before the source of illumination was changed to electricity in the 1930s, as part of Adolf Hitler’s programs to combat the Great Depression by upgrading German infrastructure. In the 1990s the lighthouse was fully automated and is used on demand. If a navigator needs the beacon to help guide him to the harbor mouth, the lighthouse is contacted via radio signal, and the beacon illuminates. The lighthouse was acquired by the town of Lindau in the early twenty-first century (as was the port) and became a popular tourist attraction.