Day 4 - A Railway in a Garden Centre - Schinznacher Baumshulbahn

Take a ride behind this train, then select and buy your plants.

The garden centre is in the country outside Brugg but getting there was half the fun.  Zurich HB provided a number of surprises. We saw a train arrive with two Re 4/4s on the front. This was unusual in itself but this was followed by an overnight train from Austria headed by three Re 4/4s, all with their pantographs up, including two diamond pantographs. 

By the time we got there the front one of the three had been detached. The sparrow cleaning staff had a ball.
It is possible to take a direct train to Brugg but it is more interesting to change to the narrow gauge tramway at Dietikon, take it to Wohlen and take a train into Brugg from there. This is a single track line with passing sidings. In each community the train runs through the center on city streets. Out in the country there are some very tight curves as the railway follows the highway in many places. The trains are all new, and we were surprised to see that there is a first class, and the floors are all hardwood. 
Tram at Dietikon

We took the first tram as far as Bremgarten where we decided to spend half an hour looking around before taking the next tram. The line runs down the main city street and across in front of a very pleasant park which was being used by many stalls. Just across the street there is a bus station. The train is well integrated into the community.
Car shops at Bremgarten. There is a heritage car on the right hand track.


Bridge by the river at Bremgarten


There is a bridge over the river which is close to a request stop from where we took the next tram on to Wohlen and found that we had just missed the hourly train to Brugg. There were a large number of local buses all connecting with the SBB trains.

Wohlen
We caught a train from Wohlen to Brugg and quickly found the Migros restaurant. It turned out to be very good and we were able to get an excellent meal very quickly. We then caught the Post Bus from Brugg to Schinznach Dorf Baumschul.
The garden center was open but not very busy and we traveled on the first train of the day. To get an idea of the scale of this two foot gauge railway here is the track layout.

The railway uses Edmondson card tickets

The weather was good and we had a delightful ride through the very large setup of the garden center. After that we walked back to the lake where we were able to take pictures of the second trip around the garden center. Our train was hauled by a small tank engine called Molly, built in Winterthur.
Ready to depart from the station



There are some pretty steep gradients to negotiate. Parts are heavily wooded. 

The train rounds an artificial lake.


Back at the loco sheds there were two diesels outside plus a large number of steam locomotives in various stages of repair or disrepair. It was difficult to estimate the number of steam locomotives actually in the two sheds because an archaeological excavation might very well uncover a number of previously unknown ones. Suffice to say there were a lot of steam locomotives in various stages of decomposition. 
This is a view from the train over the large part of the centre which is not open to the public.
The garden center is well worth a visit not only for the steam train ride but also for the incredibly large array of plants that are available for people to take home. With a restaurant/cafe and walks through beautiful and interesting plants as well as in woodland, it is a destination in itself.

The Post bus was a few minutes late but we were in time to catch a train from Brugg direct to Zurich where a great many people were swimming in the river.

Wandering in search of a Magnum we found that the Polybahn, a very short rope-worked cable car was back in operation having been completely refurbished.

To see all pictures taken click below

Garden Centre Railway https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinchurcher/albums/72177720301631519/

Bremgarten Wohlen Line https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinchurcher/albums/72177720301640073





 

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