Colin Churcher 2020

This map shows the lines over which we travelled. Black - standard gauge, Red - narrow gauge, Blue - trams, buses, Green - steamers, Orange - funiculars In all we rode 120 standard gauge trains, of which 11 were rack and 3 steam 57 narrow gauge trains, of which 5 were rack, 1 steam, 1 steam rack and 3 heritage 15 trams of which one was heritage 6 funiculars 2 lake steamers Of the above all were on time or within two minutes of time, a couple were four minutes late, one steamer was five minutes late and one suburban train was 18 minutes late. No connections were missed although some were as tight as two minutes. We purposely avoided the tourist areas and enjoyed rides through very pleasant countryside. I think the most spectacular ride was from Yverdon les Bains to Ste. Rose with the incredible climb up the side of the Jura cliffs. This is a hidden gem. There was a lot that was new but we couldn't fit everything in that we would have liked to. Paul and I are already thinking about o...

One of the Ae 4/7 electric locomotives we saw at Payerne Our first stop this morning was at Payerne. There were some heritage items just outside a shed. According to the outdated book on Swiss Railways the group here has two Ae 3/6, 4  Ae 4/7, an Ee 3/3 and a shunting tractor. We were surprised to see the large number of Ae 4/7 as well as the number of other electric locomotives.  Another Ae 4/7 at Payerne This is a very early Re 6/6, one of the first two which were articulated with a vertical hinge in the centre.   It had rained intermittently but we took a quick look around the town and were a little disappointed to see a very pleasant area in the center which had been, in effect. devoted to car parking. Payerne could be an interesting place to visit if it could better control the motor vehicle indiscriminate parking From Payerne we went on to Friburg and took the trolley bus out to visit the Kaeserberg model railway. Fribourg Trolley Bus  There weren't very m...

Narrow gauge skates used to carry standard gauge cars. Each four wheel skate carries one standard gauge wheelset which is locked in position by its weight. These are connected to the locomotive air brake pipe. Standard gauge cars on skates Yesterday evening while passing the main Lausanne marshalling yard we noticed some railway flat cars with army tanks as well as a couple of green hopper cars used by the narrow gauge MBC line from Morges. These would have to go up the line being transferred to narrow gauge at Morges . We left early this morning in the hope that we could see the transfer of standard gauge cars with tanks onto the narrow gauge. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the tanks must have left and been taken to the military depot at the end of the line near Biere. However, when we took a look at the freight operation at Morges, all of which can be seen from the platform, we realized there was a lot of work to be done. As we arrived, the two narrow gauge locomotives owne...