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| With lake Thun to one side, and the Swiss alps beyond, the spot at Einigen has to be one of the best railway views in Switzerland. Re460 078 pushes an IC set towards Spiez. 25/05/2024. |
Thursday 23rd May-
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The single railcar of the Le Locle - Les Brenets
railway at its destination. 23/05/2024. |
Arrival into Basel was technically the previous night, but
with a slight delay to the flight we were pleased to make the penultimate 50
bus from the airport to the city in the early hours.
The weather forecast for today was dreadful. Plan A had been
to stand in fields photographing freight trains around Arth-Goldau, but that
was quickly abandoned. It was actually something of a surprise that the day dawned
dry but it certainly wasn’t going to be standing in a field weather. We made our
way with 460 023 to Olten to watch the trains for a bit, at which point it did
begin to rain.
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| Chermin de fer du Jura at Tavannes. 23/05/2024 |
Not particularly being number takers, this activity didn’t
keep us interested for long and the decision was made to ‘colour in’ some track
in areas that we had not travelled before. Heading from Olten by way of Biel to
Le Choix du Fondes the target was to traverse some of the lines of Chermin de
fer de Jura, but first there was a distraction as we headed further west to Le
Locle, since there wasn’t immediately a Jura train. From here it was impossible
to pass up the short meter gauge to Le Brenets, even though the 8 minute journey would set our Jura
plan back by 2 hours due to service gaps.
We were pleased to see that the stock was a nice vintage
single car unit, and that while stuck at Les Brenets a bar was available for a
quick lunchtime beer. Back on the train to ride back to Le Locle we did a bit
of research and realised that the line is very much under threat- due to be
closed this year (or was it last?) and converted into a busway by 2025. A good
use of the morning then!
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Re4/4 11149 emerges into sunlight from the
depths of Zurich Hbf. It had brought in stock for
the sleeper to Budapest. 23/05/2024 |
Back to Le Choix du Fondes and finally onto the Jura with a
unit to the junction at Le Noirmont. Here we were able to change onto one of
the ‘semi-unit’ trains with nice opening window push pull coaches working with
what is effectively a modern EMU power car for the run down to Tavannes. En route
we passed a freight train (loaded rubbish) and another passenger service with a
freight wagon on the rear. An interesting operation to potentially come back
to. With tight connections I never did get a decent look at the EMU vehicle
pushing the train and on arrival at Tavannes it was back onto an SBB ‘Domino’
unit to start the journey back to Biel, Basel and on to Zurich.
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| 'Lion' Re420 216 works S19 train 19972 from Pfäffikon ZH to Dietikon past the fields at Ilnau 23/05/2024 |
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| Re420 205 departs from Ilnau. 23/05/2024 |
We had done well not to get very wet at all, and my weather app
was showing that the evening weather in Zurich might even be quite good, so we
needed to make a speedy reversion to ‘Plan A’ and tackle the evening ‘Lion’s’. The
Commuter Re420’s working out of Zurich had been on my list for last May’s trip,
but unfortunately, I got well and truly rained out once I arrived at my location.
Today despite the dire forecast the evening had produced a nice sunny patch
around the location at Ilnau on the line to Pfaffikon ZH and although we didn’t
get the full sun shot for the first train, that objective was achieved before
we had to leave. Frankly I couldn’t believe it. Now it was time to head down
towards the Gotthard pass and our accommodation for the night, the Gusthaus
Schafli right outside the bus stop at Inschi between Erstfeld and Wassen. There
was no time for food, but after our pre-arranged late check-in that the hotel
didn’t know about, they were thankfully still able to serve us a beer.
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| A pair of Re450's, trailed by 450 032 passes between Ilanu and Effretikon. 23/05/2024 |
Friday 24th May-
Another poor weather forecast, though not as bad as Thursday,
so we were all pretty excited to wake up to a clear sky! Of course it wasn’t to
last and had clouded over by the end of breakfast! Undeterred we got the bus up
to Wassen for a day on the Gotthard Pass- something that until the freight train de-railment in the base tunnel at
the end of last year hasn’t been worth doing since 2016!
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| Re460 107 on the rear of a classic Swiss loco-hauled (well, pushed) set at the Wattlinger curve at Wassen. 24/05/2024 |
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An Re4/4 hauled postal train on the mid-level at
Wassen with 420 280. The rainbow proved there
was some sunshine- but not here! 24/05/2024 |
The damage to the Gotthard Base Tunnel has forced almost all
passenger services back over the scenic mountain route, as well as a few
freight trains (but how few we really did not know). While the line would
certainly be busier than the standard one EMU an hour, I wasn’t expecting to
see a lot of loco hauled activity. To my knowledge there was one turn booked
for an Re460, The Re4/4 hauled ‘Gotthard Panorama Express’ and whatever little freight that
might turn up. Other trains would be the usual golden Sudostbahn EMU’s and Pendolinos
working the through trains to Italy.
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| A pair of RABe 501 'Giruno' units make their way towards Wassen on the old Gotthard mountain route. 24/05/2024 |
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| 940 045 on the Watlinger curve with a single wagon in tow. |
In reality I think we did pretty well. The Panorama turned
up as expected, but in the end there were at least three Re460 loco hauled sets
in use on the line. In the 12 hours we spent on the line 6 freight trains were
seen, plus a works trip with Aem 940 045 which ran north light engine and later
returned with a wagon. This certainly isn’t much compared to pre-base tunnel
levels, but is a lot more than I had expected. Of those freights, four were seen
with classic Swiss RE4/4 or 6/6 traction and three of them all turned up within
5 minutes around midday, and naturally all under a massive cloud!
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Re460 046 'Rotsee' leads across the mid-level viaduct.
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We did however
manage to at least photograph something in each of our locations that was well
lit, and the line provided sufficient entertainment. I don’t however think I
will be coming back when the diversions have finished. Spectacular as it is, an
hourly EMU is not worth the effort.
After a semi-successful but slightly frustrating day with
the light, we retreated back to the hotel for what was my only proper sit down
meal of the trip- and very nice it was too!
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| Holy cow! A 'proper' freight at Wassen on the Gotthard Mountain route in 2024! DB 152131 leads a classmate past the Wattinger curve. 24/05/2024 |
Saturday 25th May-
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| Die Zentralbahn traction at Engelburg. 25/05/2024 |
It was straight out after breakfast to leave the Gotthard and move on to our next target, the loco hauled operations on the Zentralbahn. There was just time for a whistlestop tour of Luzern before heading onto the Engelburg line. Again, I covered this route last May but didn’t manage the shot I wanted due to a torrential downpour. Today was looking better than that, but success was very far from guaranteed. 101 966 was taken up to Engelburg from where we dropped back to Wolfenschiessen to attempt some nice sunny photos- well the cloud did have some breaks in it.
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| ZB 101 965 heads downgrade on the rack towards Meiringen. |
After our first attempt we went for a little wander and realised that only around 10 paces away was a nano-brewery the ‘Brauerei Äigèbraij‘. Even better, due to a festival in the valley it was open! We did the obvious thing and bought a beer before we got chatting to Thömu the owner who put some sausages on the BBQ for us before we were beckoned into his ‘cellar’ to taste his private barrel of Whisky! What a man and what a lovely whisky! If you are in the area and the place is open (apparently when the light outside is on) it is well worth a visit! What is more, between our beer and sausage the next train passed and the sun just about obliged as well. Wolfenschiessen had been kind to us, and now it was time to move on.
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| ZB 101 966 passes between Wolfenschiessen and Grafenort. 25/05/2024 |
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Two older style ZB driving cars at Meiringen where the trains
reverse. Both will be pushed by Ge4/4iii's. 25/05/2024 |
During the summer there are two pairs of IR trains on the main route of the Zentralbahn between Luzern and Interlaken Ost, unlike all other trains on the route these are loco hauled- so had to be done. Sure enough 101 965 was waiting in the platform at Luzern with the 13:55 to Interlaken Ost which was taken throughout. Another stunningly beautiful line complete with lakes, mountains and various rack sections. As the train reversed at Meiringen it was unusual to see another loco hauled set present, with 101 968 which had reportedly been working between there and Interlaken.
The loco hauled train on the ZB connects nicely with one of the GoldenPass gauge-changing trains from Interlaken Ost to Montreaux via Zweissman, and BLS Re465 001 was duly taken to Speiz, netting a new class for all of us.
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| Re460 057 'Val-de-Ruz' heads west from Interlaken Ost. |
From here it was by bus to the popular photo spot at Einigen, where once again there was some great light, but usually not when the trains were around. We spent a good couple of hours waiting for the perfect shot, but left somewhat disappointed with only three northbound freights (plenty more heading south, the ‘wrong’ way) of which the only one with an older loco came in cloud, as did most of the loco hauled passengers!
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| SBB 193 462 with a rolling road passing through Einigen near Spiez. 25/05/2024 |
Back in Interlaken it was already getting fairly late. There was a food festival near the station so this became dinner and after a few beers it was time for bed.
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| 101 965 pushes its Zentralbahn IR train through Brienzwiller. 26/05/2024. |
Sunday 26th May-
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A Berner Oberland Bahn departure from
Interlarken to Lauterbrunnen. 26/05/2024 |
The original plan for today was to ride and photograph the BLM from Lauterbrunnen to – Murren before the old railcars were replaced, but due to a badly timed week-long possession (probably to commission the new railcars) this was now disappointingly not going to happen. Fortunately all was not lost, as by chance I had stumbled upon a steam trip being run by the Brünig Steam Railway from Interlaken to Giswil over this scenic line. These trips run once a month during the summer months, and this was the first of the year. Starting from Interlaken Ost the train was led by adhesion steam loco G3/4 208 to Meiringen where it reversed and gave way to rack loco HG3/3 1068.
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| G 3/4 208 shunts out of the way of passing trains at Oberried am Brienzersee. 25/05/2024 |
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| ZB Ge4/4iii 101 964 at Luzern. 26/05/2024 |
There are plenty of opportunities to photograph the train as it shunts into loops to clear the way for ZB passenger services. Passenger also have the opportunity to stand on the coach end balconies, or enjoy a beer (or champagne as one guy our area was) from the bar coach. The staff were super friendly and the whole excursion was excellent. Full details of future trips are at
https://bruenig-dampfbahn.ch/
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| HG3/3 1068 shunts the tourist train at Brunig Hasliburg. 26/05/2024 |
After leaving the train we picked up a sausage at the recommended bar across the street and made our way to photograph the return trip climbing out of Giswil. Of course, by now it had clouded over.
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| HG3/3 1068 climbs out of Giswil with the Brunig Dampfbhan charter back to Interlaken. 26/05/2024 |
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| HG3/3 1068 on the turntable at Giswil. |
It was now time for me to start thinking about heading home, one of the usual units was taken back from Giswil to Luzern (via a beer in the restaurant car of course), and another couple of 101’s picked up on the Engleburg line before I made my way back to Basel airport- an unusually disrupted journey by Swiss accounts with my chosen train being cancelled along with several others from Luzern. It was not a bother as the next train would still give me plenty of time, only that too was late due to an ill passenger. Of course none of it mattered in the end as I got to the airport on time to find that my flight was delayed.
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| Intercity on the Gotthard- an SBB Re460 descends the ramp, viewed from the churchyard at Wassen. 24/05/2024 |
