Virtual Railfan Tour of Switzerland - Sunday - Bern Steam Tram
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A group of volunteers operate this 1894 steam tram on the first Sunday of each month in the summer. It is seen here having just come out of the overall glass roof of the central tram station
The starting and terminating point is a little away from the main station but all you have to do is to look for the sacks of coal.
The single passenger car can get crowded and many have to stand so it is a good idea to get on board quickly and buy your ticket.
Notice the half circular frying pan on top of the dome - the handle is sticking out
The tram is parked at a regular stop so we have to wait for a margin between the regular service trams.
We set off through the modern glass dome of the central tram station and into the historic part of the city
The route varies. Here we are stopped at a regular tram terminus where there is a chance to take water and examine the finer details of the locomotive.
The frying pan can clearly be seen here. The coal fired exhaust smells of sausages.
As was common in those days, the motion is completely enclosed to protect passers by.
On the way back we manage to find a place on the front platform of the car fron where we can observe the way the tram is operated
The historic area is becoming busy as we head back to the terminus at the end of our ride.
After our ride we walk into the historic area and take a table at a restaurant where we can enjoy watching the steam tram pass.
This is an excellent video taken on a special run in August 2019. It runs through the main station, follows and pases regular city ttrams and there are a couple of good run pasts.
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...
This is the only picture I took today - Hamburg Hauptbahnhof We took Air France from Ottawa to Paris with a connection to Hamburg. There was great chaos in the security section at Ottawa airport. One of my bags was diverted onto the intense search section and it was evident that with the speed they were going it would take a long time. I found a supervisor who explained and facetiously offered to get me a chair to sit on while I waited - which I facetiously accepted. After this it seems the whole process was speeded up and my bag was quickly released from the security prison. This made us late getting to the gate but a quick word with one of the staff at the gate in which I explained how my leg could be very painful if I had to stand up for some time and we finished up being in the first group to get on the aircraft after the wheelchairs. At Paris we had a long wait for our connection to Hamburg and this time one of the security staff came over and invited Paul and I to be first on the...
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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