Saturday 31 August - Zurich to Yverdon-les-Bains and more

We took an early train to Yverdon this morning and dropped off our bags at the hotel which is close to the station.

At Yverdon-les-Bains the narrow gauge line to Ste. Croix had a lot of equipment out but there was no sign of the "crocodile". Which we eventually found on a work train at Baulmes

A train to Lausanne, then Vevey and then narrow gauge to Blonay saw us with plenty of time to catch a museum train to the Chamby Rail Museum.

Blonay - rack equipped railcar about to enter the rack section

Blonay

Blonay

Blonay - car returning to Vevey

This car took us to the museum

 We had an excellent lunch in the museum

This was a "croute" - a piece of bread with lots of cheese

Lamb with potato etc

This car took us back to the "main line" (albeit narrow gauge) at Blonay

We returned to Blonay to take the rack section of the narrow gauge up to Les Pleiades where there were some excellent views across towards the French mountains.

At Les Pleiades

We then returned directly to Vevey and returned to Yverdon via Lausanne. The weather has been hot and there is a fairly thick heat haze over Lac Leman. Even so the views of the vineyards were excellent.

There was a little time in the evening top take a trip up  to Ste. Croix on the narrow gauge,

THe climb up the mountain above Baulmes is always spectacular.On the way back we saw two mountain goats, two deer and a fox. The new trains run well but there are some track problems in some areas which give a very poor ride.

Friday 30 August - Appenzellerbahn

We took an early train from Zurich directly to St. Gallen this morning, carefully avoiding the Twindexxs. The first thing to do was to check out the newly restored Muhleggbahn funicular railway. It is little more than a long elevator that's very convenient because it climbs a pretty steep hill. In making our way to the station I was using Google Maps which unfortunately directed me to the upper station rather than the lower one. We found out my mistake half way up the hill.  All good for my step count.

Muhleggbahn Lower Station

St. Gallen has a really nice central area with many streets used by pedestrians and vehicles but with no set out side walks

We then took the Appenzell train from St. Gallen station directly to Trogen. Once out of the town this is a single-track roadside tramway.  The climb up to Trogen is quite steep through very attractive countryside with good views over towards Lake Constance. The weather was good and sunny but with quite a heat haze. The cows were contentedly grazing with their bells ringing madly

New train in a new station at St. Gallen about to run through a new tunnel

At Trogen we turned straight round and came back on the same train which now goes right through St. Gallen and through the new tunnel and on to Gais. This was a first time through the new tunnel which has some quite steep grades.

At Gais we transferred to the train down the Strub rack equipped line to Altstatten. This train has a small wagon on the front which is connected to the train control pipes and has a mechanically operated set of doors for cyclists.

Gais - train for Altstatten

Bicycle car

The ride down the extremely steep line to Altstatten is always, pleasant doubly so today because of the fine views over towards Austria and Liechtenstein.

We decided to walk through the town to the SBB station rather than wait for the bus. It was sunny but there was a pleasant cooling breeze.

We had to ride in an uncomfortable Twindexx from Altstatten to Sargans where we transferred to Ziegelbrucke. This station has ten platforms and can get pretty busy at times with the through passenger and commuter trains to handle.  At Ziegelbrucke we transferred to a train on the branch to Linthal. The ride was pleasant but the air conditioning was not working in our part of the train.  The prospect of travelling in the high humid heat all the way back to Zurich was not appealing but Paul found out that only parts of the double deck coach were affected so we moved to a different part and enjoyed the comfort of air conditioning without having to move out of first class.

Being a Friday afternoon there were plenty of school kids on board as well as people wanting to get a drop on the  weekend in Zurich.  

Thursday 29 August - Train watching at Liestal and the Waldenburgerbahn

We like to visit Liestal because we can watch safely from the platform, all the trains running out of or into Basel, either the passenger station or the massive freight yard at Muttens. Liestal is currently a bit of a bottleneck as there is only one southbound track,  (platform 1) and two northbound tracks, one of which is the platform for passenger trains for Basel. In addition there is the 750 mm gauge Waldenburgerbahn with its two trains an hour - shortly to be regauged to meter and equipped for service at 15 minute intervals. Work has already commenced on adding an additional track.

We took a direct train from Zurich and within the first hour we saw seven freight trains, a work movement and lost count of the number of passenger trains,

The German ICE trains work through to Zurich and Interlaken

A BLS Traxx locomotive hauls a Hupac train of trailers plus a car for the drivers

THis work crane was making track speed

The SBB 6/6 locomotives seem to get most of the tank train assignments. This one blew my cap off my head.

SBB 4/4s were much in evidence on both passenger and freight

BLS 465s

A hired in TRaxx and a Vectron

We then took a break and rode the Waldenburgerbahn to Waldenburg, possibly the last time we will ride the 750 mm gauge. The trains are getting old and metre gauge replacements are on order from Stadler

At Liestal

We came straight back from Waldenburg and stopped off at Talhaus where the WB steam locomotive is "on display". It is certainly preserved but the building is only opened half a dozen times in the year.

The WB steam locomotive is stuffed and mounted in this building

Talhaus

Back at Liestal the freight action had intensified - there were four northbound freights within ten minutes and they had to be wound around the passenger trains.

Two BLS Vectrons equals 16,000 hp!

TGV bound for Paris

Light engine movement

After a quick sandwich and cappuccino we decided to go on to Basel and the first thing we saw was a brand new Stadler built Giruno unit on a train to Lugano.

A quick trip on tram 14 revealed a model shop not previously visited then back to the Basel Markitplas before returning to the station.

We had hoped to find another Giruno but had to settle for an ICN as far as Olten. It was here that things started to go pie shaped as there was a problem between Olten and Aarau.

This 10/10 combination paused on a freight in the platform which was due to hold the next train to Zurich

Trains were being cancelled or turned back at Olten and we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and took the first train we could find that would take us to Zurich. It wasn't a bad run but the conductor was almost falling on his sword when he shamefully announced that his train was eleven minutes late into Zurich.

Wednesday 28 August - Rigi Bahn and Luzern

We left early this morning and took the train to go to Arth Goldau. We went to the ticket office and were surprised and delighted to find that Swiss travel passes gave us free transport on the rigi. In the past we have had only a discount.

The train to The Summit was quite full but emptied out after the first couple of stations where many hikers got off. The weather was excellent with very high cloud and we were able to see long distances. This line is a little unusual in that it is rack equipped but uses standard gauge. The Rigenbach rack is continuous

Passing a train on the way up

View from near the summit

View from the summit

Our train at the summit. There is a low car in front of the driving cab so high loads have to be placed on the left side.

Vitznau Rigi train at the summit

At the Summit there was a quick transfer to the train down the other side to Vitznau. Again the views were excellent and this time the train was practically empty.

One memory from the last time I rode this line is the cow bells. They are very loud indeed and even the calves wear them

  

We had a meet part way down and the switch moved remotely like a stub switch with the rack moving as well

Vitznau

The Vitznau shop switcher - battery operated

On the Vitznau turntable which gives access to all shop roads

At Vitznau we watched a boat with a large number of military personnel all going on the train to the summit.  A woman was working her way through the soldiers, looking for business, unsuccessfully. The next train up had to be strengthened by three cars taken from the shop and put onto the train buy a small switcher via a turntable.

We caught a boat to the Swiss Transport Museum

Lake Luzern was beautiful today and many were enjoying it

This model of the Gotthard North Ramp shows the way the railway winds around the church at Wassen

Vevey, Montreux Chillon tram

RhB Crocodile no 402

We took a boat across the lake to Luzern and admired the paddle steamers

At Luzern we decided to take the long way back to Zurich by taking the Seetalbahn which is a standard gauge roadside tramway run by the SBB using GTW units between Luzern and Lensburg. The service is quite frequent and there are many passing sidings on the single line. There are many small villages and excellent views across a couple of lakes.