To get an idea of our progress today I am setting out below an extract from our plan.
0806 Olten to Luzern
Luzern to Alpnachstad direction Giswil (narrow gauge Zentralbahn)
0955 Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm (50% discount with Swiss Travel Pass) Steepest rack railway in the world
1104 Pilatus Kulm to Alpnachstad
1222 Alpnachstad lake steamer to Luzern Bahnhofquai 1328
1416 Luzern to Langenthal (look out for Makkies gravel opersation in Zell area
Langenthal Regio to Niederbipp Aaree Seeland narrow gauge
Look at dual gauge track and main line trains
1704 Niederbipp to Olten
Our first objective today was to ride the line up to the summit of Mount Pilatus. We left Olten on an early train to Lucerne, it stopped at all stations but was a very comfortable FLIRT train. These have incredible acceleration, I noticed it running at up to 125 km/h. The country is pleasant agricultural and we saw a number of storks in the fields as well as geese and a couple of cats.
A narrow gauge locomotive hauled train at Luzern
Our train to Alpnachstad in the gloomy Luzern train shed
At Lucerne we had the opportunity to look at a narrow gauge locomotive and then took a narrow gauge train on to Alpnachstad. This allowed us to catch an earlier train up to the summit. The crowds were heavy even at this early hour. It was quite well organized but we were moved around like cattle and held in pens. No cattle prods were in evidence.
View from the top
The approach to the summit is along a narrow shelf under a high wall
The birds made a good living off the tourists
The weather at the summit was very good clear but quite hazy and very hot, we certainly didn't need any additional clothing.
The new trains are quite impressive, each train comprises two cars and the railway is running two trains at a time in both directions. We took a quick look around at the summit and then took an early train back to Alpnachstad. This gave us some three quarters of an hour before the departure of our steamer which we were allowed to board early, to have our drink and snack sandwich. The lake is very clean and there are lots of water birds.
Alpnachstad
We had a pleasant, leisurely ride back to Luzern. First class was not crowded and we were able to enjoy the views in sheltered comfort. On the lake were coots, swans, cormorants, grebes, gulls and many other water birds.
Lucerne was very heavily visited by tourists but we were able to find Magnums on the station platform which we had while waiting for our train to Langenthal. This was a BLS train the first one that we have taken on this trip although we have seen several in the station at Olten.
These powerful locomotives are very quiet
While sitting quietly on the bench waiting for my train to come in I was surprised by a large 460 locomotive drifting in on the adjacent platform so quietly that I hadn't even noticed its approach. We took the BLS route from Lucerne to Langental paying very close attention while running near Zell to see the Mckkies gravel operation. We saw all of the equipment on the south side of the main line but it was too far to walk back from either of the adjacent stations so we decided to go straight on to Langental.
From there we took the delightful narrow gauge train to Niederbip. This runs partially on its own reservation but also there is some street running and the trains are very close to both both pedestrians and cars. At Niederbipp we watched our train go on to Oensingen and then return to go on to Solothun. The platform at Niederbipp was quite interesting because of the number of freight trains which went past at a good speed, there were several hauled by the large 6/6 locomotives pulling oil cars.
Interesting dual gauge track work at Niederbipp
Narrow gauge train for Solothun at Niederbipp
Evening entertainment at Olten
At Olten this fourteen car German ICE train was on a local route to Interlaken.
An interesting day in which we rode trains from four companies on two gauges, took a ride in the steepest rack railway in the world and had a leisurely cruise on Lake Luzern.
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