Sunday 30 September - Bern Steam Tram and a Bonus

We travelled to Bern today to see the steam tram which operates one Sunday in the month through the historic part of the city. While changing trains at Lausanne I spotted this 1938 railcar on a private excursion.

The Bern steam tram operates over the tramway network. It was built in 1894 and is maintained by a group of enthusiasts. They slot it into the regular tram service and it runs right through the busy section outside the SBB station under the canopy.  We took the 50 minute ride running down the historic area and out to Wankdorf for a water stop. It is well maintained and handled the trip easily. There are duplicate controls at each end so that it can be driven from the front. The regulator and reverser, sanders etc are all hooked up so be operated from either end. The weather was quite sunny but most of the route is unfortunately in shade.

Throughout the trip both Mary and I could smell bacon cooking and thought there must be a lot of restaurants open in town. It turned out the driver was heating up sausages in a pan placed on top of the boiler.

I took a lot more pictures, including many details and they can be found here

Back in Montreux there was a storm over the lake around sunset.  The western sky turned an unusual bright pink. This disturbed the crows who had come in to roost very early. For several minutes the air was filled with disturbed crows.

Saturday 29 September - Chillon

It was cloudy today and the wind was cool as we walked in stages along the lake to the Chateau de Chillon.  The autumn colors are now beginning to show.  Back at the apartment the sun was shining and the balcony was hot.

The bakery close to the SBB station has great canolets, even though it is part of a chain. The outside is a strong toffee and the interior is soft.

Friday 28 September

Our apartment is just below the vineyard of Chateau de Chatelard although it is a long way up to get to it.

Thursday 27 September - Rochers de Naye

The day started calm and bright. It was cloudless with no wind, very hot

I cannot resist taking pictures of the Italie as it steams into Montreux in the morning light

We took the Rochers de Naye rack railway up as far as Jaman. Service stopped here to allow work on the line further up to the summit. The train was crowded and included a group of 20 very small children with two teachers.  There is a "restaurant" at Jaman but it was pretty crowded and so we took the first train back to Glion and had lunch at the Buffet de la Gare.

From Jaman

The line is spectacular, especially in this wonderful weather with hot sun and without a breath of wind. Lunch at Glion was good as it had been last time. The menu du jour was pumpkin soup followed by sausage with lentils and vegetables

I tucked into my sausage before remembering to take a picture.  Sorry.

After lunch I made a short side trip to take a look at the railway workshop. The line is 80 cm gauge and runs on 850 V DC.

#2 was built in 1909 when the line was opened

The workshop was extensive here at one time as this traversing table illustrates

The Buffet de la Gare is on the floor above the station, very convenient.

Mary patiently read her book while waiting for me and the train back to Montreux.

The line traverses some very steep gradients and the rack is continuous. The driver took it very carefully when going through switches. The ride down was much slower than the ride up.

Wednesday 26 September - Errands

Couldn't resist another picture of Italie in the morning sun at Montreux.

We walked up the hill to Le Caveau des Vignerons for lunch.

Mary had a traditional fondue

I had Rosti, (potatoes) with a melted cheese on top

The meal was good but we were the only people there for lunch.

After lunch we walked up into the old section of Montreux and then stocked up at the supermarket.

Montreux is built on the side of a mountain.

Tuesday 25 September - Chexbres

We took the train up the hill to Chexbres and checked that the Lion D'Or would be open for lunch. The place was busy way before 1200 and we were the only non-locals eating there.  The vendage is in full swing and there were several vineyard workers there.  We had turkey cordon bleu with an excellent half bottle of St. Saphorin pinot noir from Chexbres. The vigneron was at one of the tables.

Chexbres

Rivaz

In clear sunny weather the views across the UNESCO designated terraces across the lake were superb. The black grapes have been largely harvested but there are still the green ones to be done.

St. Saphorin

Monorail systems are used in several places to gain access to the more difficult locations

La Suisse calls at Rivaz

My better side

This walk is always delightful even in hot weather, unfortunately the final part, the walk into Vevey is along a busy road. 

Click here to see all pictures taken this day

Monday 24 September - Villeneuve and Chillon

It was windy and cold this morning but there was plenty of sun. We took the trolley bus to Villeneuve and found a restaurant with a good lunch special - pumpkin soup, beef stew with mushrooms, vegetables and potato rosti, glass of wine.

Villeneuve Cop Shop

We walked along the lake as far as Chillon. The wind was pretty cold but the sun broke through at times.  I waited to take some pictures of the paddle steamer Italie calling at Chillon. The sun was just right.

We walked up to the entrance to the chateau and Mary decided to return by bus while I decided to walk back along the lake - it took about an hour.

Sunday 23 September - Mont Pelerin and Vevey

View from Mont Pelerin looking east up the Rhone valley towards Aigle. Montreux to the left.

The trolley bus on the 201 route took us right to the Vevey base station of the funicular to Mont Pelerin. Although the forecast was for rain later the views were excellent.

Deer were grazing in a field. We decided they were domesticated because it is now hunting season

Back in Vevey we had lunch in La Tour de Peiltz - two very filling pizzas and some rose wine which turned out to be Portuguese - then walked along the water front in hot sunny weather.

Vevey has some interesting street art.

It did, in fact, rain a few drops in the evening but nothing remarkable although the other side of the lake was obscured briefly.  We had a huge visitation of crows this evening. Several thousand swooped down to roost.  Images of Hitcock.

Saturday 22 September - Part 2 - Walking of the Cows at Blonay

On the train to Blonay we fell into conversation with an American working with Nestle at Vevey. He told us there would be cows in a street procession at the next station south of the Blonay station. He had no idea how many cows or when. We decided to stop off at this station on our way back and caught the entire procession. I think the video explains it well. It is not exactly in the same league as the running of the bulls in Pamplona but much safer and a lot of fun. This is a tradition in many parts of Switzerland which has been carried on for centuries. It is known as Desalpes and marks the bringing down of cattle from the high pastures at the end of summer.

What luck. we saw everything in the half an hour between one train and the next.

After the procession the cows were happily let loose to graze in a field.

Saturday 22 September - Part 1 - Blonay Chamby Museum

We visited the Blonay-Chamby Railway Museum today. They are celebrating 50 years of operation as well as a special series of events highlighting the Bernina line.

We took the train to Vevey and changed to the narrow gauge line for Blonay.

At Blonay we arrived in time to catch the steam hauled train to the museum. This is Furka-Oberalp Railway #3 built in 1913.

The curved viaduct is a feature of the short ride to the Museum

From the first car there was a good view of the action on the engine

A special grouping of Rhaetian Railway locomotives was arranged

An interesting collection of Edmondson card printed tickets in a ticket rack. Sadly many museum lines are now going over to computer

One of the most interesting exhibits was a working steam rotary snow plow, Rhaetian Railway  #9214 of 1914.

Some people dressed for the occasion

We had a good lunch in the restaurant. Salad with grilled chicken on rice followed by fruit tart (apple and plum) from the cantine. The wine, a Blonay rose, was very drinkable

The museum has an impressive array of well restored equipment. It was surprising to see so much that was in operating condition. Electric power does not deteriorate nearly so fast as operating steam or diesel and can be brought into operation almost instantaneously,

On the way back to Blonay there was a special stop on the viaduct while the crew blew down the boiler.

Blonay

Other videos taken at the Blonay - Chamby Museum

Click here to see all pictures taken here