Virtual Railfan Tour of Switzerland -Friday - Freight Trains at Olten and Montreux

Today we will take a look at some videos of freight trains.  The Swiss freights may be short compared to North American standards but there are a lot of them and they move at speeds which do not conflict with passenger trains that use the same tracks.  This video shows the action that can be observed at Olten.  It is a large through station with an overall train shed.  Well worth a visit but because of the large number of trains, both passenger and freight, it is impossible to see everything.

The following videos were all taken by Colin at Montreux where the freight trains have to be interleaved into the passenger train schedules of two long distance and one stopping train each way every hour. There are no passing sidings for the freights which just have to run hard.  Some trains have double 4/4s making them 8/8s and a few have a 4/4/ and a 6/6 making a 10/10.
The 4/4s have a rating of 4700Kw or 6300 hp, while the 6/6s have a rating of 7850 Kw or 10527 hp.
A 4/4 and a 6/6 pack almost 17,000 hp into two locomotives!











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