Virtual Railfan Tour of Switzerland - Friday - Waldenburgerbahn
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The Waldenburgerbahn runs from Liestal, on the mainline just south of Basel to Waldenburg. It has the unusual gauge 750 mm gauge which is not used elsewhere in Switzerland on a regular railway operation. The trains run on 1500V DC. The line is now part of the Basel regional transport system and the seven trains, built between 1985 and 1993 are nearing the end of their useful life. It would be uneconomic to buy brand new equipment for this gauge and so the decision has been taken to change the gauge to meter, improve the trackage to allow more frequent operation and provide new trains, presumably similar to those used in Basel. This work is due to be completed in 2023 so let us enjoy the old 750 gauge system.
Trains start from a stub end platform in Liestal with a cross platform transfer. On the left can be seen the work already in hand to expand the Liestal station.
This video contains a complete cab ride over the entire line, It also contains a useful map.
Note at the start out of Liestal we are overtaken by a Hupac train of trucks complete with a sleeping car for the drivers. Note also the spring switches at the crossing places with the train forcing the blades over as it passes through.
Approaching Talhaus from Liestal
Until recently 0-6-0T steam locomotive #5 of 1902 was used on infrequent excursions over the line. With the imminent change of gauge this will be impossible in future so the locomotive has been retired in this purpose-built building at Talhaus. Unfortunately it is impossible to take photos through the glass.
Waldenburgerbahn locomotive #6 of 1912 is housed in the Transport Museum near Luzern
Approaching Talhaus from the Waldenburg direction.
For most of its length the line is a roadside tramway although there are some sections of reserved right of way. Oberdorf is a good place to stop as it is possible to get lunch and sit at a table in the window to observe the passing trains.
Waldenburg
Waldenburg is where the shops and storage are located
At Waldenburg we have two options. We can take the Post Bus over to Balsthal where we can catch the standard gauge Oesingen -Balsthal Bahn to the main line network at Oesingen
The other option is to return to Liestal. This video runs in the opposite direction to the one above. As we run into Liestal there is a long freight train on the adjacent track.
Zurich Hauptbahnhof Paul has prepared some extensive notes and photos of the Zurich Hauptbahnhof. This will be in several parts. The busiest station in Switzerland is Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich HB) which is used primarily by the SBB. It has 26 tracks serving almost 3000 trains daily and it is one of the busiest stations in the world. It was built in the 1870s and is a main shopping destination as well as a transport hub. There are three levels for platforms and the "Shopville" shopping plaza. The river Sihl river passes right through the station with platforms passing above and below the river. This shows the general layout of the station with the surrounding tram tracks shown in purple Tracks 3 to 18 are terminal tracks located at ground level, served by two side platforms and seven island platforms. These are used by long-distance trains from throughout Switzerland, and by international trains. Tracks 21 and 22 are underground terminal tracks, served by a sing...
Tuesday 23 August Paul and I travelled to Zurich on Air Canada via Toronto. The flight from Ottawa was over an hour late - luckily we planned for this with a three hour connection in Toronto. Toronto airport was disgusting. It was overcrowded and there was nowhere for people to stand while waiting to board their flights. Obviously the Toronto airport focusses on relieving passengers of their money. Once aboard the plane things went well. There was plenty of space for carry on and the flight was excellent. It seems that the problem with airline travel is the airports rather than the flights. Our flight landed four minutes ahead of schedule (Wednesday) which was 0800. By 0820 we had cleared passport control and by 0840 we had taken a connecting internal tram and found the tram to downtown. We could have taken the SBB trains but we were in no great hurry and we enjoyed the 35 minute tram ride to close to the hotel. At Gladbrugge we passed two SBB 6/6 locomotives on the main line clos...
This video, by Noel Wyler, shows what we have just missed. Last Saturday (14 September) the Oensingen Balsthal Railway organized an event to commemorate 60 years of the Re 4/4 locomotives. They brought together 24 of them and ran them as one train. Paul and I flew home on KLM from Schiphol Airport. We took a train from Den Haag directly to the airport. The trip back was marred by a couple with a young boy who was obviously teething. He cried almost continuously for the full six hours. I found I could tune him out when I dug deep into the KLM sound system and found a treasure trove of classical music. Bach violin concertos, Mozart piano concerto No. 23, Beethoven symphonies, Schuman etc. We survived the stupidities at the entrance of the Montreal airport and caught the KLM bus back to Ottawa where we arrived precisely on time. A good ending to a wonderful, tremendous, trip
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