We took an ICE train to Basel and caught an SNCF local to Mulhouse. The National Railway Museum is a short tram ride away from the station. The Museum has always told a good story and we found a number of improvements to go along with the war stories including the steam locomotive blown on its side. The outside exhibits were good and there were a number of locomotives that have recently been repainted - I hope they can be brought under cover quickly before the weather does its worst.
The Museum has a very good self serve restaurant. Paul had rognons while I had cassoulet, both freshly prepared. Click here to see all pictures taken at Mulhouse
We went back to Basel and took a tram to the Rathaus only to be disappointed to find that the model shop has closed.
New platforms at St. Gallen and an "old" Trogen tram.
At St. Gallen we rode the Trogenbahn which is now leaving from the new platform outside the main station. The fairly new trains will soon be sent to Neuchatel to be replaced by the new ones from Stadler.
After an interesting visit to Zuba Teck we took a bus to Teufen and rode one of the brand new Appenzeller trains to Gais then on the Strub rack to Altstatten.
From Altstatten we went to Davos Platz (SBB and RhB) to ride the Heritage special train hauled by an RhB Crocodile. I was surprised to see that the train itself was all heritage vehicles thinking that it would be a regular set of red coaches hauled by the Crocodile. The train was full, it was advertised as a regular service train, and the journey to Filisur contained some spectacular scenery with high viaducts, deep valleys and rushing waterfalls.
At Davos Platz
Filisur
This waterfall could only be seen briefly as the train exited one tunnel and entered another
The locomotive was in good shape and hauled the train very well. The following videos show this.
Train Zurich to Luzern
Paddle steamer down the lake to Brunnen
Walk through Brunnen
Train watching at Brunnen
Train Brunnen to Ersfelt
Train Ersfelt to Goschenen
Narrow gauge rack train Ersfelt to Andermatt
Postbus Andermatt to Meiringen
Narrow gauge rack train Meiringen to Luzern
Luzern to Zurich
We left Zurich early for Luzern and managed to catch the paddle steamer an hour earlier than planned. This gave us an hour's wiggle room for the day. The weather forecast for Andermatt was rain which would have made for a poor trip through the Susten Pass. We decided to keep our options open until we reached Goschenen.
The two hour boat ride on a calm lake and under blue skies was delightful. We had a cappuccino in the lounge before going out on deck to enjoy the scenery. The boat wasn't crowded and many got off at the various small landing points as we made out way down to Brunnen.
Brunnen
At Brunnen we walked through the town, picking up a snack at the Coop on the way, and spent an hour and a half on the platform. There is a double track main with several sidings. The normal running is left hand and there is a rough cycle of fast passenger, stopping passenger then freights every half hour or so. This is where trains can be regulated for movement through the Base Gotthard Tunnel. Things can quickly get ot of hand and one southbound freight train hauled by a DB Traxx locomotive was held at Brunnen and when it did get a path the margin was not good and two fast trains were delayed. The freight trains are short by north American standards but they move at speeds closer to the passenger trains so they cause less interference.
The following were all taken at Brunnen
Italian 610 without graffitti
A new SBB Vectron
SBB Re 6/6
SBB 10/10
DB Traxx
SBB 610
From Brunnen we took a train to Ersfelt, formerly an important place for adding locomotives for the climb up to the old tunnel - now deserted, and then a train up to Goshenen, also pretty much deserted now. The weather looked fine so we took the MGB rack train up the steep grade to Andermatt where we took the Poat Bus to Meiringen.
MGB rack train for Andermatt at Goschenen
Andermatt
The ride through the Susten Pass was spectacular with many hairpin bends, tunnels and steep grades. The Post Bus was fitted with a special horn that was used frequently to warn approaching traffic at blind corners. We had a good view of a glacier and there was a 30 minute rest stop built into the schedule.
Susten Pass
Susten Pass with glacier
As was to be expected the bus arrived at Meiringen 30 seconds ahead of schedule in spite of the various hold ups with traffic etc.
We caught a rack equipped train from Meiringen to Luzern and an SBB train back to Zurich.
While waiting for our train to Luzern we watched a ZB crew playing silly buggers with a couple of trains.
The light was shining on the front of trains in Zurich this morning. The Re 4/4s are a firm favorite and I couldn't resist putting this in here
We caught an early train to Luzern and decided to ride the Panoramic line to Engelberg. This is narrow gauge but the train is very comfortable and we made ourselves at home ion one of the cars that had tall curved windows for good views of the mountains.
Engleberg did not have much to hold us as it seems full of hotels and it a place to take off for skiing and walks etc.
This is the landing for the Transport Museum. A great way to arrive although there is also frequent service by train and trolley bus
This Bern steam tram locomotive was one of the first to arrive in the museum. I hope to see one in operation at Bern later this month
We came right back to Luzern and caught an early boat for the Transport Museum, a ten minute ride across the lake.
The museum is very well done and contains a lot of new material about advances that are being made in Switzerland, as well as illustrating the history. It is amazing what has been thought up to keep the small children busy and happy. Boats, scooters, tricycles, playing with pulleys etc.
We had fun on a couple of the train simulators and managed to get our trains into the station reasonably although we both drove into the platforms too slowly.
Another short boat ride took us back to Luzern and we decided to take a different route back to Zurich. There is a local train on the former Seetalbahn which runs through beautiful country and past several lakes to Lenzberg from where there is a frequent service on the main line back to Zurich. The line is single track and carries a half hour service. Some of the clearances are very tight and there is quite a bit of roadside running.
Today we took a train from Zurich to Aarau to ride two narrow gauge railways. These metre gauge lines are now under the one company AAR Bus + Bahn. The trains are quiet and pleasant and run every 15 minutes through pleasant countryside. There is much roadside running and the lines are well used.
Aarau
Double slip switch at Schoptland
We went first to Menziken then returned to Aarau to go to Schoptland. The trains now run through with a short pause at Aarau. The corn harvest is now in full swing although the sugar beet has not yet been lifted. Several cats were patrolling in their fields.
Lavazza has joined Selecta
From Aarau we went to Liestal which is just south of Basel. We took a more unusual route via Olten then on a regional line to Sissach which SBB is trying to close.
We first rode the Waldenburgerbahn a 750cm line which will be regauged to one metre and rebuilt in the next few years so as to become an adjunct of the Basel tramway system. We stopped for lunch at Oberdorf then continued on to Waldenburg and back to Liestal.
The purpose of going to Liestal was to observe the parade of trains to and from Basel as well as to the yard. We weren't disappointed. I lost count of the trains but there were about 24 trains an hour, six freight, ten stopping passengers and about eight non-stop passenger. The mix was amazing. The passenger trains, both multiple unit and locomotive hauled, with both French and German high speed trains passing. The freights were mainly hauled by SBB 4/4s, 6/6s and 10/10s but there were also BLS Traxxs, Widner Rail Services 4/4s and right at the end we saw a pair of SBB Vectrons.
A pair of BLS Traxx
The old reliable SBB 4/4
An SBB Cargo 10/10 combination.
Two 4/4s on passenger one with a diamond pantograph
Widner Rail Services
TGV Lyria heading for Paris
SBB Cargo 6/6
A German ICE heading for Frankfurt
Two SBB Cargo Vectrons
When we decided to return to Zurich we found there would be a wait of about 45 minutes so we decided to go to Olten and catch a train there. We had to run to catch a double decker train at Olten and it wasn't until we arrived in Zurich that we realized we had ridden in one of the new Bombardier Twindexx trains which we have been looking for since arriving in Zurich.
