Favourite picture: High-wire artist in the Alps

Favourite pictures

Unimog on the trapeze.

Forty years ago: in the Swiss mountain community of Betten, waste was carried away by simply attaching the Unimog to the aerial railway.

The all-wheel drive small refuse truck floats down like a trapeze artist. To transport the waste from Bettmeralp to the incinerator down in the valley, the aerial railway simply takes the 9.5 tonne Unimog with it.

Since transferring the waste to special containers is costly and only worthwhile once there is a large amount of waste, the community decided on this solution. It takes about two minutes until the refuse truck is hanging under the aerial railway. Seven minutes later, the vehicle arrives in the valley. In this time it covers a distance of 2.43 kilometres and an altitude of 1100 metres.

Its compactness means that the Unimog is just the right vehicle for use in the narrow roads and difficult terrain conditions in the small mountain village. The Unimog body assembly was designed so that it can be replaced with a 3-sided tipper body in a very short time. This makes it suitable both as a commercial carrier and for refuse collection.

Photos: Daimler AG

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