Colin Churcher 2020

  We had a lot of traveling planned for today. We left Zurich main station early on the train which took us right through to Landquart where there is a connection with the Rhaetian Railway - narrow gauge. There was bright sun and the ride alongside Lake Zurich was beautiful.  At Landquart the scenery was equally spectacular although much more hilly and mountainous. The train took us right through to Davos Platz Here we changed to a third very unusual railway. There is a regular train service, every hour between Davos Platz and Filisur but two times a day in each direction the rhb puts on a historic train. Today it was an interesting set of carriages hauled by a GE number 605. The ride was rough although interesting and it was very very bumpy at times and there were no lights in the tunnels. At least we were entitled to an ancient first class coach We passed through a tunnel which has a quick view of a spectacular waterfall and there is also a large viaduct. As we approached Fi...

This morning we decided to go to the Solothurn area to see what we could see on the East West Main line. We took a train direct from Zurich to Solothurn then changed for Bettlach . There was a useful road overpass but it would have been a long walk in the hot sun to get to it. We walked a little way but in fact there was very little freight traffic on the line, although we did see a freight hauled by a 420.  A 620 runs light through Bettlach Bettlach We took a train back to Solothurn West and walked to the to the central train station through the Old Town which was quite impressive.  Solothurn The Aar Sealand tram starts in the middle of the street in front of the Solothurn station After a quick snack we took the street tramway to Oensingen where the shoe advert locomotive was switching a siding  and a 420 was waiting to take out a freight to wards Olten.  We took a short trip to Balsthal to see what was stored there and then back to Oensingen. A 620 stored at Balsth...

Our objective today was to see the ballast trains that originate in Huntwangen Will which is a little way north of Bulach The lineup of 620s waiting for work in Bulach., all looking in good contition for a 40 year old machine Four 620s are the equivalent of 44,000 horsepower First we took a train to Bulach to see what if anything was stabled there. We were happy to find four 620 locomotives obviously all waiting for a job. As we were there, a driver came along and picked up one and took it towards Huntwangen. We took the next train to Huntwangen but, as we expected, the locomotive was already coupled to a train and began to pull as we arrived in the station. A 620 arriving at Huntwangen for its next duty We contented ourselves by walking down to a place where we could see trains crossing the high single track bridge over the Rhine river. We hadn't been there more than five minutes when an old lady, who was doing her gardening, offered to let us stand on her lawn to get a better vie...

  This morning we started out by taking a direct train from Zurich to St Gallen. There we went to the model shop  ZubaTeck  where Paul had a fine time looking at the incredible array of model railway equipment, all gauges. WE then took the narrow gauge Appenzell train from St. Gallen. This is pretty much a roadside tamway but the speeds are high Gais Some fun with the route between Gais and Amstatten Gais - St. Gallen train leaving From Gais we took the train down to Altstatten which goes down an incredible rack section overlooking the Rhine Valley. This brought back many memories of similar trips. The weather was fine and the views over the Rhine valley were excellent. Train for Amstatten arriving at Gais View over the Rhine Valley The train at Alstatten showing a bicycle carrier coupled in front of the train Alstatten At Alstatten we had a quick lunch at the micros restaurant and then walked around the town a little in time to catch the next train back up the rack secti...

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....

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 Ve...