They touch the sky and for some they go straight to hell afterwards, leading over extreme heights, across oceans or savannahs and braving hurricanes. A challenge for intrepid engineers and railway builders who have been conquering nature with state-of-the-art technology for almost 300 years. Railway lines are not only legendary carriers of myths, people and machines. They are also the proof of high engineering skills and witnesses to the indomitable will of humankind to open up new routes into the unknown in order to conquer nature and its treasures. Railway lines on all continents tell the story of industrial culture, of progress and the art of travel.