Monday 1 September - Travel in the St. Gallen Area.

The weather forecast was not very good today for the Basel area so we decided to change the order of our trips and go to the St Gallen area instead. This is the order of travel. 

Zurich to St Gallen 
St Gallen to Gais - Apenzellerbahn narrow gauge
Gais to Alstatten Stadt - Appenzellerbahn narrow gauge with rack
Alstatten Stadt to Gais - Appenzellerbahn narrow gauge with rack
Gais to St. Gallen - Appenzellerbahn narrow gauge
St Gallen to Etzwilen
Etzwilen to Winterthur (never having been on this section)
Winterthur to Zurich

All trains ran precisely to time so that making connections was very easy. We also avoided the rain. The weather was cloudy with sunny periods.
We rode in first class throughout - on the first train a passenger seemed to think that first class gave him privacy. He was sitting there quietly picking his nose. He had several goes - maybe he should have let his finger nails grow a little. After the operation he produced a nose spray and went to work with this. You have to pay extra to pick your nose in private.

St, Gallen to Gais.
There have been some significant changes on this line. The old steeply graded section climbing up from St. Gallen has been replaced by a tunnel. All the equipment has been replaced by very good, smooth running  well kept trains. The track also seems to be in good condition.
Appenzellerbahn train arriving at St. Gallen. This is outside the main station

Gais to Altstatten and return
I first rode the cab over this section which is heavily graded and has a number of sections of the Strub rack system. This is the only time I have stood in the cab of a train and the change in grade was so quick that my sight of the rails disappeared. 
As soon as he had read the last paragraph Martin Cobb sent me this picture. He was with me and Bill Noel in the cab of the rack locomotive from Gais to Altstatten. Many thanks for reviving old memories Martin,
Over the edge - picture taken from the cab

The views across the Rhine valley are stupendous and I was interested to see a number of WW2 concrete tank traps. I remember seeing these in the woods at home in the UK
The view across the Rhein valley


The rack train has an air operated bicycle car on the front (lower) end

This farm has a number of tank traps

We made a quick turn around at Altstatten so that we could catch a Thurbo train to Etzwilen. 
The upper end of the rack train at Gais
The downside rack car at Gais

The ride to Etzwilen was very pleasant with many views of Lake Constance. Etzwilen was technically a request stop but we made our connection to Winterthur with no problem. The line was very pleasant although the only notable item was a high bridge over the river Thur at Thurbrucke.
A Thurbo train at St. Gallen

We caught an IC2000 train back to Zurich - a comfortable smooth running end to the da..
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