Sunday 9 October - Kaeserburg and Yverdon Ste. Croix

This Rhaetian Railway locomotive is outside the entrance

This is the front of an Ae 6/6 locomotive which has been set up as a simulator

This circular display of models of different scales kept the kids interest until it was time to go in for the presentation

After an uphill climb to the station we caught the train to Fribourg.  The countryside is fairly flat with mixed farms.  At one station we stopped beside a field of bright green lettuce plants.  They will have to be harvested quite soon before the frost gets them. At Fribourg we caught a trolley bus and then walked about ten minutes to visit the Kaeserburg Model Railway.  We had reservations but arrived behind a coach party.  We had plenty of time but the lady on the desk ensured that we had priority seating for the presentation before the visit.

The first part is an audio visual presentation on the concept of the railway, how it was developed and how it was built.  Paul and I found this very interesting but many of the kids must have been bored stiff.

We were then taken into the lower level where there were set up two massive staging yards, one for SBB standard gauge and one for RhB meter gauge.  At this point there was a lengthy description and some of the kids, big and small wanted to actually see some trains running

There is no scenery in this two level staging yard

Mirrors are used to show the wiring complexity

There is a large, four track, helix which takes the trains up into the operating area.  We then went upstairs to see the trains.

The main station area is controlled through an entrance-exit CTC panel.  This is pretty complicated and the operator has to be on top of things.  All trains are run by computer but he has to route trains through the station area.

At one point the lights were dimmed and we were treated to six minutes of night.  All the passenger trains are lit as are all the vehicles on the layout.

The upper level shows the Kaeserburg rack railway which is served by the Rhaetian Railway

There is a large section unfinished.  One gets the impression that it is there to demonstrate the techniques used in the construction rather then as an interim stage towards a finished product.

The people at the railway were impressed that we had made a point of visiting coming all the way from Canada and said that we should come back in 2018 when the model would be complete.

A lot of work is required on all equipment before it is put on the layout.  In order to ensure reliable operation all wheels are turned to their own specifications. We were surprised to learn that this is a DC layout with an incredible number of sections, the power to each one being controlled by computer.  If they had to do it again they would probably use a DCC system.

Click here to see all pictures taken of the Kaeserburg Railway

The trolley bus took us back to Fribourg and we decided to go to Yverdon les Bains to see what was happening on the Yverdon to Ste. Croix narrow gauge line.

The fake "crocodile" was still in use but the cars behind it were only used now to pull freight trains

There was no evidence of sugar beet loading but these two large flatcars of pit props had just been transferred from narrow gauge skates to the standard gauge.  Pit props were being loaded at Ste. Croix and there was evidence of loading at other stations as well.  It must have been quite a sight when these large cars were brought down the hil on narrow gauge skates.

Since we were here this time last year the railway has taken delivery of three new trains which have taken over all passenger operations with a doubling of train frequency

Ste. Croix. The climb up the scarp to Ste. Croix is always exciting, especially this time as there had been a serious runaway here late last year.

To accommodate the improved train schedule the sidings at Vuitboeuf and Trois Villes, at the top of the hill, have been signaled.  Under the old service the trains crossed at Baulmes.

Click here to see pictures taken of Travys (Yverdon - Ste. Croix)

While waiting for the ICN to take us back to Neuchatel we noticed two 70 year old side rod switchers which are being gradually scrapped at Yverdon

Saturday 8 October - Garden Centre Railway (Schinznacher Baumschulbahn)

We checked out of the hotel and rode a couple of trams first thing then caught a train to Brugg.  The bus to Schnitzbach Dorf Baumschule had just left so we had to wait half an hour for the next one. We were taken right out into the country which is pleasant with gently rolling hills.  Paul was following our progress with the GPS on his phone but the information system on the Post Bus was very good and put us down right outside this garden centre.

The whole place is immense with all types of garden and house plants and trees available in large quantities.  The railway is an adjunct of the garden centre and is one of the items that give the visitor an experience more than just buying plants.

The crew were getting up steam on the locomotive when we arrived and did not mind us wandering around the workshop.  I was amazed to see a South African Beyer Garratt locomotive.  It was not working at present. The working steam locomotive, an 0-6-0, then took off through the potted plants.

It was not apparent where the station was until some 30 minutes before the advertised departure when a whole bunch of signs and notices appeared and the ticket office appeared.

The engine then returned with a train.  The train has air brakes and there was a long and involved brake test before the conductor was satisfied.

At the station

Leaving the station

The garden centre is vast

Entering one of the greenhouses

Inside the greenhouse

The train took us on a 25 minute ride through the various sections of the centre, including a large lake.  The grades are quite steep in places and the route passes over itself in a couple of places.  An interesting feature is that the train runs through one of the large greenhouses full of plants. After the ride we had some time to spare before catching the bus back to Brugg.  There is a large, pleasant cafe where we had good cappuccinos.

The cafe was a good place to relax

Entering the station

The bus took us back to the station and we went on to Neuchatel with a break of an hour or so in Olton to see the train movements.  The passenger traffic was heavy but there were some four freights that had to be threded through the station layout in the time we were there.

We are familiar with Neuchatel but what is especially galling is that the funicular down the hill from the station was under repair - it was out of action last time we were here.  We took a taxi to the hotel but will be walking the hill most of the time on the future.

Click here to see all pictures of the Garden Centre Railway

Friday 7 October - Meiringen and Sherlock Holmes.

Which ever way we choose to go Meiringen is a long way around.  We went out from Zurich changing trains at Bern, Spietz and Interlaken Ost.  The transfer times were reasonable yet it took us four minutes to walk down the train at Bern to find first class.  These trains are enormous. There was a change of gauge at Interlaken to the meter gauge Zentralbahn which has been completely re-equipped with new trains in the last couple of years.  Most of the new trains are equipped with the Riggenbach rack system.

One of the new Zentralbahn trains.  This one is not rack equipped and is restricted to working between Interlaken and Meiringen where the line is level.  It is also equipped with wheel scrubbers to clean off the aviation spirit residue from the jet fighters which will otherwise accumulate and affect the signal system

At Meiringen we took the Meiringen Innertkirchenbahn which only has one car and provides a basic service every half hour.  They will be getting new trains in a couple of years.  Much of the line has been relaid and reballasted.  There is talk of building a tunnel for trains and power lines through to Goschenen or Andermatt.

The MIB has only one car.

The journey to Innertkirchen only takes about ten minutes so we went out to the end and returned to the station in the outskirts of Meiringen where it was a short walk to the lower station of the funicular railway up to the Reichenbach Falls. The funicular was the easy part.  You can see the falls from the platform close to the station but there is a steep path, with many steps and rough in places, to get a better view of the falls and the surrounding countryside. Paul made it all the way to the top and I managed most of the climb - at least to a really good viewing platform.  The Swiss people must be really fit.  Couples with young families were marching up, the grown ups with rucksacks and many with baby carriers as well.

These are the falls where Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty met their deaths.

Meiringen with the river Aare running across from right to left.  The water is a muddy white

The weather was good with a fair amount of sun and the views were excellent.

We went back down and took the little train the one stop into Meiringen and then had to decide how to get back to Zurich.  We briefly considered taking the Post bus from Innertkirchen to Goschenen and then train down the Gotthard Pass but eventually decided to take the Zentralbahn over the rack to Luzern and SBB back to Zurich.  There was just enough time to visit a model railway shop close to the Luzern station where we laughed at some of the prices but Paul managed to find some Swiss detail items.

This is our last day at Zurich. Tomorrow we transfer to a hotel in Neuchatel.

Click here to see pictures taken in the Meiringen area

Thursday 6 October - Gotthard Pass

Going through Zurich station on a weekday there is always somebody giving away free samples.  If you go back to the same location or find one of several where the free stuff is available a good haul can be had.  The other day I picked up several packets of Balsam flavored Kleenex tissue, yesterday there were several different types of cookie and today there were chocolate wafer biscuits available.

Having checked out the curves on the climb up to the old Gottard tunnel we decided to go to Wassen today to see trains on this route before the new tunnel is opened completely in December.  After that time all freight trains will use the new tunnel as will most of the passenger trains.  This was an opportunity which will be lost as of December.  The weather was good with strong sun most of the day.  The air was cool in the mountains but we managed to find a good photo spot with good sun but well protected from the wind.

We took a train from Zurich to Zug and changed to a local train for Ersfeld where we had time for a coffee before catching the bus to Wassen.  The lady in the cafe was zapping mosquitoes with an electronic tennis raquet.  The bus was crowded with walkers who gradually got off as we climbed up the hill.  The bus follows the old road which has lots of sharp curves and luckily not much traffic.

The train journey up the hill to Goschenen is notable because there are so many reverse curves in tunnels that the train actually passes the Wassen church three times in its climb.  It is difficult to take pictures from a moving train so today I was able to take a picture of Wassen church from terra firma.

In fact I took a large number of pictures of this well known landmark.  This is a favorite as it shows the mountains in the background

It was quite a climb up from the village.  We passed the middle line and went up to see the view from the top level.  In the end we settled for a location on the second level above the village and just waited for the trains to come by. There was a pattern to the train movements.  First would come a fast passenger train, tilting around the curves, then would follow a local passenger train and finally one or two freights.  The freights were interesting in that they could be headed by Swiss locomotives, quite often a 10/10 and many with a banker 4/4, German trains quite frequently had four locomotives on the point, while BLS trains had a couple of Traxx locomotives. There was also a light engine and some work equipment.  At times we could see a train coming down and a train going up.  

An hourly local train coming down

A Swiss high speed tilting train

This work equipment was running hard

A Swiss 4/4 leading a 6/6 in the old green livery on a freight climbing the hill.  There was a 4/4 banking as well

A down bound freight with four DB locomotives

A Swiss 4/4/ light engine

An Italian class 610 high speed tilting train

It was a wonderful location.  This was the main reason Paul and I had wanted to come to Switzerland and at this time before the new tunnel was fully open.

We had our sandwiches and finally decided to walk back into Wassen and take the bus up into Goschenen which is at the northern entrance to the old tunnel.  Here it was interesting to see the way trains were regulated through the double track tunnel. Northbound freight trains exiting the tunnel have to cross to sidings on the west side unless they have a margin to get down the hill. Freights might have to wait 45 minutes to get a margin either to move down the hill or to get a path into the tunnel.

This German freight train waited a long time to get a path down the hill.  When it got the road it set off quickly.

This Swiss ICN tilting train was what the German freight was waiting for.

The air gets cold early in the mountains and there was a nip in the air when we boarded the local train back to Zurich.  Included in the consist was one of the special first class cars modified for the Gotthard route with high curved panoramic windows.  A perfect way to end the day.

Click here to see all pictures taken in the Gottard area