[PRCo] Switzerland

[Schneider Fred]

LötschbergYOU KNOW THIS IS PRIMARILY FOR SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO ARE ON  
THE LIST.   BUT IF SOMEONE ELSE WANTS TO READ IT ... FINE.    
OTHERWISE, YOU KNOW WHERE THAT BUTTON IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE  
KEYBOARD THAT DELETES.   I WON'T BE OFFENDED.  NO ONE IS BEING FORCED  
READ.  SUBJECT IS CLEARLY IDENTIFIED.
GUT GUNUG?  GOOD ENOUGH?   I WAS HAVING FUN LOOKING AT THESE.

One of the most beautiful countries on the planet ... been there many  
many times.   One of those places there I really don't need an excuse  
to go back, I just need to peek the wallet first to see if it will  
support the trip.   Where,  Die Schweiz.   Suisse.  Switzerland.    
(By the way, it is one that chose not to be part and parcel with the  
European Economic Community.   They still have the Swiss Franc  
instead of the Euro Dollar.)

This is hardly comprehensive.   I simply looked for things that  
impressed me.  But there are always other things that could be  
added.   I simply tried to convey the spectacular beauty of the  
country.   What I did not show are a lot of open air museums, places  
like the church in Zurich where Zwingli preached, the fabulous zoo in  
Basel, the red sandstone minster or cathedral in Basel or the city's  
famous city hall, and so forth.   They're all in Michelin or Baedeckers.

The first video is a mixture ... starts out with Geneva (those huge  
trolley buses and the colorless trams), passes through Bern and ends  
up in Zurich.   The yellow and red cars are in Basel.   By the way,  
if you buy a Swiss Pass before you go, it includes the trolleys in  
the largest cities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VQ09skH5pg

The blue trolley buses may be Zurich.   Starting with the green  
trolley bus you are in Bern,  My reaction to the sequence of the red  
coach coming down the hill was " that's by the bear pits in Bern" ...  
the bear's are the signature of the city.   And sure enough the bears  
turn up next.  (And the rose garden on top of the hill is also a  
signature of the city.)  The remainder of this tape is Bern.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gA2HA9B_0o

This video is accompanied by a foot stomping song about the sun  
shining in the morning.  Well it wasn't that morning but still it has  
some fabulous scenes of Zurich with and without trams including the  
tour tram.   Many of these are in front of the main train station and  
on Bahnhofstrasse (Station Street) which is a really upscale shopping  
street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXb4TnuzPXw

These Siemens Combinos have been built since the last time I was in  
Bern (the red Combinos going through the old gate), then Baselland  
Transport in Basel (the red and yellow cars)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18BxAGAHnYg&feature=related

This whole line in Geneva is new since I was last there.   That city  
had abandoned everything but route number 1 and now they are  
restoring routes.   Geneva is in the western part of the country in  
the French speaking area.   But don't worry, the hotel and restaurant  
people speak English.   No one goes hungry.   Fred had no trouble  
getting a Chinese lunch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaq9F0J8uT4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCyHmEtVd8I&feature=related

And I stuck this in because the fountain in Lake Geneva is sort of a  
trademark of the city of Geneva

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TpWCZEhfto&feature=related

But why do most railfans go to Switzerland?   To ride the trains.    
Whether it is Swiss Federal, or the independents, there can nothing  
more spectucular.    The picks here are in no particular order.    
Just things that came to mind.   Things I looked for because to me  
they were signature railroads for railfans.

Let's start with the Gornegratbahn from Zermat.   Zermat is a town  
that prohibits automobiles.   You either drive to a park and ride lot  
outside of town and take train in, or you ride all the way from Brig  
on the Brig-Visp-Zermatt mete-gauge train.   Why do you ride the  
Gornegratbahn?   Supposedly beautiful views of the Matterhorn.   I've  
never seen the mountain for the clouds.   By the way, the Eurail Pass  
or the Swiss Pass does not cover these extreme mountain railroads ...  
at best it may get you a 20% discount.   In case you didn't pick up  
on it ... two trolley wires and two side by side pantographs ...  
three phase alternating current.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O67sQ1472fI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJZnE0KCbPo&feature=related

The Brig-Visp-Zermatt Bahn, the Furka-Oberalp Bahn, and Rhatischebahn  
all partner to run the Glacier Express (and many other trains over  
the length of the three railroads from Zermatt to Brig, Andermatt,  
and Chur in eastern Switzerland.  Enroute it cross both north-south  
standard gauge lines through Switzerland, the Simplon Tunnel route at  
Brig and over the St. Gotthard Pass tunnel at Andermatt.     I picked  
this out of all the many Glacier Express videos as the one I thought  
was the most representative.   I like the way it starts in the  
basement of the Zurich Airport ... a great place to arrive in  
Switzerland because the trains meet you right in the airport.  You  
can get a train from there right to Brig!    The clip of the  
Landwasser Viaduct ... that's on the Rhatian railway southwest of  
Chur in the direction of San Moritz.   (Our friend John Bromley was  
photographing it from the ground this last October.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO2A_5H97ks&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXZpaLi_q7E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DGBEmzZNTI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOwUAU1JeeU

On the north side of the alps (the other of the range from the Furka  
Oberalp) is a small town called Interlaken (Between the Lakes, in  
English).   A branch of the standard gauge Bern Lötschberg Simplon  
Railway from the west meets the narrow gauge (meter gauge) Swiss  
Federal Railway line from Lucerne (to the northeast).   South of  
Interlaken are several meter-gauge lines going into the mountains.   
These are worth several days of exploration.  The brown trains with  
BOB on the side are the Berneroberlandbahnen (Bernese Overland  
Railway) ... it runs south from Interlaken to Zweilütschinen, where  
you see the junction where trains are split.   One line goes  
southeast to Grindelwald, the other southward to Lauterbrunnen.    
Connecting the two ends is the Wengernalpbahn (the olive and cream or  
green and yellow cars), which is mostly rack operated.   There are  
some pictures of it in here too.   One of my favorite small towns is  
Wengen, nestled on the east side of a glacially-carved valley high  
above Lauterbrunnen.   No automobiles are allowed.   All the food,  
bedding, shaving cream, everything comes in on BOB and the  
Werngernalp.   I remember standing on the back porch of a hotel one  
night ... twilight in September ...  looking across the valley and  
thinking ... won't be long now until the first snow of the season.    
Absolutely gorgeous star filled night.   I've also been up on the  
mountain in January too.   Fantastic in the snow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EKPIKzZKRo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcTbgCfUnVo&feature=relatedt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-hewybi_o

For all practical purposes Switzerland is 100% electrified ... well  
99.99%.  There are a couple of steam mountain railroads.   This one  
connects with BOB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=311qTaAxn_k

At Kleine Scheidegg the Wengernalpbahn connects with the Jungfraubahn  
(Young Lady Railway) for the trip up to Jungfraujoch (the saddle in  
the mountains next to the Jungrau.   There are three mountains in the  
alps side-by-side, the Eiger, the Monk and the Junfrau (the  Ogre,  
the Monk and the Young Lady).   Most of the Jungfraubahn is in tunnel  
and the fare is exorbitant.  I'm told you see nothing until you get  
to the end of the line where you can see out of the galleries over  
the snow capped alps.   I've only ridden up as far as the tunnel  
portal (much cheaper) and hiked backed down taking pictures of the  
trains with the mountains and glaciers in the background.  To use the  
German word, phantastiche.  In the the tape you will see the word  
zahnradbahn.  The word "zahn is tooth.   Zahnrad is a toothed  
wheel.   Most of the mountain railways in Switzerland are rack  
railways (we would use the term cog railways).  In the peak season  
they run trains in multiple sections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yibh5_ehp4A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrIQAtCu-i4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUKpJ3_ij50&feature=related

On the west side of the valley above Lauterbrunnen and directly  
opposite the town of Wengen is the village of Mürren.   It has a  
railway with absolute no normal connection to the outside world.   
There is a carbarn on top of the mountain.   A funicular leads down  
the side of the mountain to Lauterbrunnen.   When the line bought new  
cars 20 years or so ago, they were hauled up the mountain in crates  
and assembled up on top.   So, you take BOB to Lauterbrunnen and then  
the funicular, and the the isolated Lauterbrunnen-Mürren Railway  
south and hanging on the edge of the cliff to Mürren.   Would you  
like to return a different way?  Well you can take the Standseilbahn  
(the cable tramway) down the mountain from the village and catch the  
post bus back to Lauterbrunnen.  You can also taken the cable tramway  
to the top of the mountain, get a sandwich, and enjoy the views.   On  
a clear day you can even see Bern.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRVRjXFqGGM&feature=related

Cows on the street in Mürren?   In Europe the farm homes have the  
barn in the house next to the kitchen.   You march the cows out of  
town to the pasture in the spring and back to the house in the  
fall.   Perfectly normal.   If you are there at the right time of the  
year, you'll see the cows come home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71j3Q-CXDrk&feature=related

OK, if we're done in the mountains, back to Interlaken and we can  
leave town.  East of Interlaken, there is a Swiss Federal Railways  
mainline to Lucerne.   Just happens not be 1435 mm gauge (standard  
gauge).  Yes, standard gauge in Europe is the same as standard gauge  
in the U. S. A.   It all originated in England.   This SBB line is  
meter gauge.   Now guys, if you are accustomed to riding at 12 mph on  
Rio Grande's Silverton line in Colorado, don't for a minute think  
that mountain narrow gauge railroad has to be slow.  These trains  
might drop down to 50 km/hr going up Brunig Pass but on the level ...  
maybe 100 km/hr.    This is one of those copyrighted professional  
videos that someone stuck on youtube.   It is at least sharp enough  
that we can comment on class distinctions.   Notice the large numbers  
2 and 1 on the coaches by the doors as they pass the camera;  they  
stand for reasonable fare and show how much you had before you spent  
it (50% more).  Eurailpasses are automatically first class.  But you  
can buy country passes in either first or second class  
denominations.   Most people buy second class tickets unless they are  
snobs.   The only advantage to first class is on holiday weekends  
when trains might be jammed.   When I went to the on-line timetable  
for tomorrow morning, I found four trains between 7:55 am and 9:00  
out of Luzern with running times to Interlaken of 2 hours to 2:31 for  
a route about 50 miles long over the mountains.   Not too shabby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7mMHZG9ypE

Another very pretty meter gauge line is the MOB (Montreaux Oberland  
Bernoix) in western Switzerland ... connects the Bern region with  
Montreaux.  The second disc shows their Golden Panoramic coming into  
Monreaux.   Now back among those arches in the rear of the station  
was the finest station restaurant I've ever found.   I always  
believed that when the language changed to French, the food became,  
well, "C'est magnifique."   And what they served there was one of the  
finest meals I've ever had in a train station.   The ambiance wasn't  
bad sitting on the platform and watching trains either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGDdeHnGaDI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpZ0cxHgOwU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HW2uNmFh0A&feature=related

Another one of my favorite small ones is the Ferrovia Centovalli (or  
Hundred Valleys Railway) which runs from Domodóssola, Italy to  
Locarno, Switzerland.   Domodóssola is on the Italian State Railways  
mainline south of the Simplon Tunnel.   Now the trade secret, if you  
go through the Simplon Tunnel with the intention of going to Locarno,  
the Swiss Pass is valid in Italy for that ride.   Otherwise you would  
have to pay a fare for the Italian portion of the ride.   So if you  
are stopped, you just show the Swiss pass and tell the conductor you  
are going to Centovalli.   This is one of those lines that is hard to  
distinguish from a interurban, in fact the east end winds up in a  
subway in Locarno with a name that should never be inflicted on  
American railfans.  I think it has something to do with the words  
Ferrovia a Ticino (the canton in Switzerland) and some other word.    
The initials on the subway cars are FART.   But in spite of having  
had the worst arthritic back in my life at the time and winding up in  
the hospital for back surgery a month later, I have to pronounce the  
Centovalli as one of the most overlooked scenic railways in  
Switzerland.   Someone, however, didn't like the subway and had other  
opinions as you will see when you click on that link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0bhzk37L9I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR8q5RL2enE&NR=1

How about the standard gauge mainlines.   Probably the two most  
important are the BLS (Bern Lötschberg Simplon) line north-south from  
which carries the Basel - Italy traffic toward the Simplon Tunnel and  
the Swiss Federal Railways line through St. Gotthard Tunnel which  
handles all the Munich - Zurich - Italy traffic.

Sudrampe or south ramp.   The first film starts a Brig and runs in  
sequence up out of the Rhone Valley toward Lötschberg tunnel (14.6  
miles long, opened 1908).    (Wir wirlassen Birg translates ... we  
leave Brig.)  There is no auto highway over the spine of the alps  
here.   You have to drive over 100 miles out your way to the west or  
75 miles over worse roads to east ... the best part of day.   You  
will note that BLS runs auto racks through Lötschberg Tunnel on a  
very convenient schedule.  I've used them.   You can also put your  
car on a train through Simplon Tunnel going south out of Basel.   The  
Swiss have also been very good at "encouraging" or strong arming the  
truckers into putting their cargo onto trains through the mountains  
rather than polluting the pristine atmosphere.   As a result, BLS has  
been forced to double track their entire railroad within the past 15  
years and some of it is triple tracked.   The traffic they move is  
nothing short of phenomenal.   Of the next two links, the first is  
the best.   The second is redundant but if you like trains, trains,  
trains and more trains on mountain bridges, go look at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb3E-AFkKtw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D4gzXuqJl4&feature=related

If you are curious about handling of the auto trains, here is a clip  
of one of them.   You simply drive your car on.   The train pulls  
out.   When it arrives at the other end, within a few seconds, the  
side rails are dropped and you drive off.   Can you imagine our FTA  
approving that operation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYhIuuumRkI

And this clip is the north side of Lötschberg tunnel ... not really  
all that scenic.   Unless you are really turned on to trains, I would  
skip it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhxEMetpGfs

I could not find any good pictures of the Simplon Tunnel ... the far  
south end of the BLS route ... but I did find this clip of someone's  
trip from  Domodóssola, Italy north to Brig, Switzerland.  The very  
last tunnel is Simplon ... it is 12 miles long and was completed in  
1906.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9KcfKV-EXs&feature=related

But before we move on, the Bern Lötschberg Simplon railroad run a  
steam ship (Dampfshiffe) named the Lötschberg on Lake Brienz.   While  
these are on the Brienzersee (east of Interlaken), I've also been on  
BLS steamboats on the Tunersee to the west of Interlaken.   The Swiss  
Pass is valid on the ships too.   The Eurailpass might also be valid  
on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIleegtSCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOwUAU1JeeU

Finding good stuff on the St. Gotthard line on the internet isn't  
easy and yet the spiral tunnels on the north side of the pass are  
outstanding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQNGyNHjaA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7xj4lM6CMA&feature=related

Summary?   The yellow buses, by the way, are run by the post  
office.   They go just about everywhere the trains don't.   If you go  
into a train station and buy a Kurzbuch (their version of the  
Official Guide), you get both the bus and the train book.   It's only  
about two inches worth of schedules for a country of 7.58 million  
people.    There are some lies in this publicity blurb.   They do run  
late trains.   Every railroad does.   I've seen them 2 or 3 minutes  
late in Switzerland once in a while but I have never once missed a  
connection because one was late.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKVyJsJUZ80

If I have teased anyone into a trip and he wants clarification or  
more information, call or write.   I was having a lot of fun bringing  
back memories.   Not reason not to share.