Virtual Railfan Tour of Switzerland - Monday - Bex

One amazing feature of the Swiss railways is their timekeeping.  It all springs from the iconic Swiss Railway clock found everywhere and by which the trains leave on schedule. The second hand stops at the 60 second mark and the minute hand advances one minute.  This is the signal for the conductors to give the right away.

Bex is a short distance to the east of Aigle and it too has a tramway, now run by the TPC.

We arrive at Bex by train. I am wearing my Bex Art T shirt - from a friend in Ottawa who was brought up there
The tram starts from the station forecourt
The Bex system differs from the Aigle trams in that it runs on 700 V DC although it uses the same Abt rack system for the grades. The town of Bex is over a mile away from the station but the tram makes it in fine style, running though the middle of a traffic circle and then along the western side of the road to Bex itself where the fun starts. The trams run through some very narrow streets which makes for some interesting viewing,
A  tram entering Bex

After the tortuous curves the tram finally makes it into the tiny town square with a tram stop in the center.
Villars is at the end of the first section and is a staging point for the final section to Col de Bretaye which is a ski resort
Villars

Col de Bretaye is a ski resort and there is not a great incentive to stay
Back at Villars it is possible to catch a Post Bus back to Aigle but we return to Bex with a short stop off at Le Sepey where the tram reverses direction

The station at Le Sepey is stub ended

Train movements are overseen by the dispatcher

Before boarding the train back towards Montreux there is a chance to rectify the one real problem in Bex. We searched all over and could not find anywhere in town selling Magnum chocolate ice cream bars on a stick. We found them at the station and got on the main line train happily munching this one essential of Swiss railway travel.

Comments

  1. MarkMay 18, 2020 at 12:18 PM

    Very interesting about the clock -- how can the time be accurate except at the start of the minute? Using my watch, I timed the period when the second hand was stopped at two seconds. The second hand did not appear to jump to the two second mark after that, or even move appreciably faster immediately afterwards. Does that mean the second hand completes the full sweep of the clock dial in 58 seconds? Or, more generally, how does the second hand make up the time when it was stopped?

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