Day 8 Wednesday - Arosa and a Krokodile

The visibility at Arosa was a little limited.

It looked as if we were going to be delayed getting away from Zurich this morning. Our train to Chur came in from Basel late. It was a German ICE train. However, a 3 minutes late departure was turned into an on-time arrival by the time we arrived at Chur. The ride was superb - through Sargans and Landquart - pleasant farming country by the lake with some industry as well.

The narrow gauge trains to Arosa start from outside the main station where the city buses stand.  There was a large group waiting for our train and there was some interesting switching carried out by the Rhaetian Railway to add two coaches and a panorama open car to our train which was a three unit Allegra set already with three additional coaches. It was like switching in a parking lot.

The cars to be added - needless to say the panorama car was not used

Our train ready to leave Chur for Arosa

The Landwies Viaduct is an impressive concrete structure

We left on time and enjoyed the climb up to Arosa. Most of the way is through densely forested country with extremely steep hillside and many valleys. There was a good view of the Landwies viaduct but the higher we climbed the closer we came to the clouds and by the time we reached Arosa it was misty and raining. The visibility was very poor. We decided to forgo Magnums in favour of coffee.

Luckily we didn't have too long to wait for the train which would take us back to Chur. However switching had to be done in order to get a driving cab at the front of the train while the Allegra unit was buried in the middle. We were a few minutes late getting towards Chur but with ample recovery time, we managed to arrive on time in spite of an emergency brake application in the city main street, presumably to avoid an errant car.

The next item on the agenda was the Migos restaurant where we had an excellent lunch.  Magnums were enjoyed while looking over the magnificent Post Bus station set above the railway station. 

We then went down onto the platforms and took a look at the narrow gauge trains, many of which were still locomotive hauled. 

It turned out that the train we had intended to take to get us to Filisur was the Glacier Express which would have cost us a lot of extra supplement as our Swiss Travel Passes were not valid. However speaking to the train staff they recommended we take a later regular service train which would get us to Filisur in ample time (five minutes) to pick up the Heritage train. As it turned out this was a better choice because our train was an Allegra the first class was right behind the driver, and the driver lowered the blinds so that we could see through the front windows. He pointed out to us when we were about to go over the Landwasser Viaduct. 

Landwasser Viaduct seen from the front of the train.

At Filisur we had a quick cross platform transfer to the Heritage train to Davos Platz which was hauled by number 414 a narrow gauge krocodile. Our train of old coaches was very well restored and we had an interesting trip back to Davos Platz. This train was run on a regular schedule and made all the station stops. There was a slowing to go over a very high viaduct and the exit from one of the tunnels had a great torrent of water going past the windows.

When we reached Davos there was adequate time to take a look at the locomotive and catch a connecting narrow gauge train to Landquart. 

For a locomotive built in 1929 and running in regular service twice a day between Davos Platz and Filisur No 414 is doing very well indeed. There were times when it seemed to be having trouble on the grades but it made it in fine style. This is more impressive bearing in mind that the other trains used in this service are the new electric multiple units.

The journey back to Zurich on the SBB was spoiled to some extent by the train being a Bombardier Twindexx. These are poor runners and the motion in the top deck can be quite violent at any speed. At least the return was direct. In the Pfaffikon area there are many tank traps moved to the edges of fields or ditches.

Mission accomplished today - we wanted to ride to Arosa and ride behind a narrow gauge krocodile.