Monday 31 August - Dolderbahn then in the Basel area

Catch of the day

An SBB 620 on a freight at Prateln. These are being retired quite quickly

Our first trip today was to take a tram and then the Dolderbahn which is a rack railway climbing the hill out of Zurich. The trams are interesting. Ours had seven sections and they run at quite close intervals The Dolderbahn has two cars but normally only one is used at a time, although there is a possible passing loop half way up. The new Stadler cars are extremely good. 

  Dolderbahn Lower Station

Paul at Upper station

From there we came back to the main station by tram. At the Zurich main station we caught the first train to Basel which are arrived approximately an hour later. We quickly changed onto a local train to Prateln. There were a large number of freight trains, as well as passenger, to watch. We didn't keep track but I would estimate about 20 freight trains an hour. 

We then went into the town and had a quick lunch at a local bakery at which we had eaten last year. From there we took a train to Liestal and crossed the station to pick up a train on the Waldenburgerbahn. The line is now meter gauge although when we first knew it, it was 750 mm. The trains are a little cramped inside with two and two seating but the space between the seats is very small and there's not much room for knees. However the acceleration is high and the trains were overtaking the vehicles on the road right alongside us. Another pleasing aspect was the fact that in the journey to Waldenburg we made meets with three trains. Each one happened very effectively and quickly and there was no delay while the track switches were changed. This is so superior the slow operation of OC Transpo line 2.

Walldenburgerbahn at Liestal

Waldenburg

At Waldenburg we had to walk at least 50 yards to pick up the Post Bus which was to take us to  Balstal. We even had to wait 5 minutes before the bus took off. The ride is through pleasant forested country and we both enjoyed it immensely. We had to wait just 5 minutes for the train which was to take us on this private railway to Oensingen.

At Oensingen we were treated to a large number of freight trains of all descriptions. We were especially pleased to see the large 620s as well as the smaller 420s in front line service.

 
A 620 standing at Oensingen

A 420 on a freight at Oensingen

The surprise of the day, this locomotive was operated by the SOB on passenger trains between St. Gallen and Lucern. It advertised a shoe company. It has been out of regular service for many years and followed a passenger train up the branch to Balstall

An SBB Vectron on a freight at Oensingen

It was an exhausting day but the variety and number of freight trains, interleaved with the passenger trains made it very interesting indeed.