Sunday 30 August 2026 - Chasing Crocodiles

Catch of the day. 100 year old SBB crocodile arriving in Olten with an excursion from Sissach

Our original plan for today was to ride the steam train from Triangen to Sursee then travel to Olten to see the SBB Historic crocodile which was making two round trips between Olten and Sissach. However because of the dry weather conditions the steam train was canceled so we decided to go directly to Olten to see a bit more of the crocodile operation. 

We travelled to Olten on an SOB Traverso. It did the job but was a little unpretentious. On arriving at Olten it was evident by the few rail fans that were already clustered at the end of some platforms that there was going to be some interesting action. We saw the arrival of the empty train with the crocodile at the head end and watched it depart.



14305 was built in 1927 

In the interim we went to Wangen bei Olten to see if we could find a Vectron Co-op locomotive, which we did. We came back to Hammer to look at another Co-op Vectron and had a brief walk around the town.

Wangen bei Olten
Wangen bei Olten

Hammer

Back in Olten we took a walk around the Old Town and then back at the station in time to see the arrival of the crocodile from Sissach,




After a quick snack at Alton we took a train right through to Sissach. We waited for the arrival of the crocodile which came into the side platform, very full, everybody got out and the train was shunted it to the siding where the locomotive ran around in preparation for the return to Olten. 



In the meantime a regular train arrived from Olten and we took it as far as Laufelfingen. It turns out there was an incredibly large festifval underway with model railway rides for kids and lots of other things happening such as rides on donkeys, beer snacks and generally having fun.

Horns


Cow bells

The crocodile came here and went into the siding where it passed the regular service train to. We watched it to go and waited for the next service train to Olten from where we caught a train back to Zurich,

Arriving

Waiting for the signal to depart for Olten

An intersting day if you like SBB Historic locomotives






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