Swiss steam and other railway animals

[leslie10646]

In Switzerland Interrailing. There is some steam if you know where to look! This little loco was running trains between Bauma and Hinwil last Sunday 

Not the most comfortable seating -

But they know how to deal with kids!!

[leslie10646]

Monday was Montreux on the “Golden Pass” line.I’m staying near Spiez on Lake Thunder, so first I rode to Zweisimmen on a Bern Lotschberg Simplon electric unit and then I chose their lovely Belle Époque  train:

 

Haulage was different!

I did a circuit via Lausanne where a new Metro saves your legs down to Lake Geneva.

Then after nosh via Neuchatel  ( I’d never been along its Lake) after another change, Bern and on to Spiez.

Edited July 18, 2023 by leslie10646

[leslie10646]

A day off from Interrailing today to go into the Bernese Oberland for my favourite walk.

Metre gauge rack and adhesion line to Lauterbrunnen where you change onto this cable car (takes 100 people).

Goods and luggage are carried underneath as you can see. The return trip had bales of laundry from the Murren hotels.

A little train takes you along to Murren then after coffee you WALK back. Thunder and lightening interrupted our walk but the sun did pop out to allow me to photograph the little train in front of one of God’s Masterpieces - Eiger, Monch and the Jungfrau in a line. I should mention that this view accompanies you along the whole 90 minute walk.

I should mention that I’ve typed this lot on the balcony with another electric storm in background.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Stunning scenery 

[jhb171achill]

Superb stuff, Leslie!

[leslie10646]

Wednesday! Must have STEAM.

To Interlaken to join the Lotschberg  a 1914-built paddle steamer, renovated in 2000.

This has impressive pistons, valve gear etc and a perfume (mainly hot oil) all of its own.

 

To Brienz, then Zentralbahn to Lucerne. Quick visit to Jesuit church (yes, you read that right!) an understated beautiful Baroque church.

Candle lit, back to station to join train over old Gotthard route to Goschenen, up the Schollern Gorge on the little rack railway to Andermatt and finally along the Glacier Express route to Brig.

The fast train through the Lotschberg Base Tunnel was cancelled, so had to use the local over the old route via Kandersteg and the original Lotschberg tunnel. We’d missed our bus, so train-spotted more freight in half an hour than runs in Ireland in a week.

as PEPYS USED TO SAY - “and so to bed”………

 

[leslie10646]

Today  was a trip to Lugano todo two new tunnels.

Guess what? My train didn’t come and I hastily replanned to get there by the Centovalli Line. that’s a remarkable run, although one wonders how it came to be built.

A day of quick connections, so few photos.  There are still some 1970s electrics around Spiez -

And Lugano has a streamlined, air conditioned Funicular -

After a late lunch in Lugano overlooking Lago Maggiore, it was 189kph through the new Gotthard Base Tunnel and back to Spiez. A relief to get away from the stifling heat at Lugano.

Edited July 21, 2023 by leslie10646

[jhb171achill]

Absolutely superb stuff, Leslie!

[Irishswissernie]

Superb Leslie! My old hunting ground, I'm past making long trips these days but I have amassed 230 odd hours of video and 13000 photos/slides over 25 trips to Switzerland mainly between 1997 and 2009 and I usually put one of my videos on in the early evening for an hour's peace whilst Madame is at work.

I have some of them and a few videos on Flickr ; this is the Collection Link to the various albums.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/collections/72157705396264381/

As an aside I was watching the Tour de France yesterday and at a point some 40km from the finish there was an EWS Class 66 lurking in the background! One of the European transfers.

[leslie10646]

Totally shattered after yesterday, so just trainspotting in Spiez.

Most unusual sighting was this OBB electric on test!

Spiez is a crew and loco changing point for freight through the new (and old) Lotschberg Tunnels. Traax, Eurosprinter, Vectrons, BLS 465s, etc, etc. Note the 1970s  BLS BoBo No.190 hiding behind the Vectron.

 

Sexy new trains like “Gauge-changing” Golden Pass Panoramic Express pushed by a BLS Class 465.

These off the iPhone, better stuff on camera which must wait until I get home.

Suffice to say that the number of locos it would take to recreate this in model form would bankrupt everyone on this forum. It’s a great train set!

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by leslie10646

[leslie10646]

Saturday, we moved on to a place called Rottweil in the Black Forest. A nice old (50 years) seen in TEE livery was seem en route.

Usual 460-hauled intercity to Zurich. Where we connected into this new German “Kiss” unit on to Singen.

which had a very comfortable First Class, with a very odd, asymmetric folding table arrangement.

The route took us by the Rhine Falls at Schaffhaussen.

We checked into our usual hotel in Rottweil and had a look around this very picturesque Black Forest town - you can where Faller got some ideas for their famous building kits!

And that was Saturday, the real reason for being there was what was happening on Sunday - now read on .......

 

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by leslie10646

[leslie10646]

Rottweil is home of Eisenbahn Freunde Zollernbahn (aka EFZ). They have a big depot opposite the main platforms, not that you could see much as there were fifty-plus hopper wagons, dumped out of use in a loop, blocking the view. We were supposed to be travelling to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) behind a 2-10-0, but what appeared from behind the hoppers - 

was NOT the promised 2-10-0 (an engine I'd a few runs with already), but their former East German Deutsche Reichbahn Class 01.5 Pacific. Much better, as quite a bit of the line offered a chance to run at speed, I wasn't complaining. Just four coaches including a diner and not full, either. At €44 for 200kms, it was quite a bargain. She ran chimney first to Villingen, then tender-first South on the Schwartzwaldbahn main line to Singen and its final destination of Oberlingen.

This meant that we had a chimney-first run back up the long climb from Singen to near Immendingen, when we enjoyed twenty minutes of noisy effort climbing some 600 feet in 10 miles or so. Descending in the high fifties (mph), we just touched 60mph. Villingen, where the train reversed to return to Rottweil has a fine array of semaphore signals, to accompany your photos of the locomotive.

It had been nice to travel over some new "Steam track" during the day, but I first travelled over the line between Rottweil and Villingen in 1970 behind a little Prussian T18 (DB 78) 4-6-4 tank. Good memories.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by leslie10646