The private (or, better, non state owned) swiss railways always have been one of my focuses of interest. There is an incredible variety of trains, lines, gauges and operations and some years ago there were various pieces coming from the first half of 20th century, but old or new they were all perfectly efficient, clean and giving an excellent service.
The Rhaetian Railway (Rhatische Bahn, RhB) is a metric gauge network of mountain lines in the south-east of Switzerland that run in magnificent sceneries. The lines are, in the major part, electrified at 11000 V single phase current but there are some lines using DC.
This first image shows a single phase railcar doing a local service between Spinas (at the southern entrance of the Albula tunnel) and Samedan in August 10, 1991. ABe 4/4 502 was built in 1939 and was nicknamed "flying rhaetier" because of good acceleration (for the time) that was useful in stopping services.
DN2r ABe 4-4 502 RhB in corsa tra Spinas e Bever il 10 agosto 1991.jpg (94.24 KiB) Viewed 2831 times
The town of Aigle, in the Vaud canton, is the starting point of three meter gauge railways, different in kind of electrifying and rack.
The Aigle-Leysin (AL) connect the SBB station of Aigle, on the plain, with the college town of Leysin, on a peak, with an adhesion route between the main station and the depot in the periphery of Aigle, and then using Abt rack and pinion system until the upper end.
The second shot, taken in August 1987, shows BDeh 2/4 203, built in the '40s, coming in Leysin Village station; the last stretch to Leysin Grand Hotel is on a tunnel. Note the décor of the station building.
DN6r BDeh 2-4 203 AL in arrivo a Leysin Village l´8 agosto 1987.jpg (73.67 KiB) Viewed 2831 times
And now a great classic. The RhB always had electric locos inspired to the bigger sisters of SBB and this had been the case also with the famous "crocodiles". With the coming of newer and powerful locos the baby crocodiles were downgraded to minor services but these pioneers were always useful and soldier on.
Here is Ge6/6' 415, from 1925, with a mixed train crossing the Cinuos" viaduct on the Scuol Tarasp-Samedan line, still under 11000 V. The photo was taken in October 15, 1991 and you can see the magnificent color tones of the trees in autumn.
DN7r Ge 6-6´ 415 RhB con misto in transito sul viadotto Cinuos 2 il 15 ottobre 1991.jpg (138.19 KiB) Viewed 2831 times
Nice? Next time something more
Ciao
The Rhaetian Railway (Rhatische Bahn, RhB) is a metric gauge network of mountain lines in the south-east of Switzerland that run in magnificent sceneries. The lines are, in the major part, electrified at 11000 V single phase current but there are some lines using DC.
This first image shows a single phase railcar doing a local service between Spinas (at the southern entrance of the Albula tunnel) and Samedan in August 10, 1991. ABe 4/4 502 was built in 1939 and was nicknamed "flying rhaetier" because of good acceleration (for the time) that was useful in stopping services.
The Aigle-Leysin (AL) connect the SBB station of Aigle, on the plain, with the college town of Leysin, on a peak, with an adhesion route between the main station and the depot in the periphery of Aigle, and then using Abt rack and pinion system until the upper end.
The second shot, taken in August 1987, shows BDeh 2/4 203, built in the '40s, coming in Leysin Village station; the last stretch to Leysin Grand Hotel is on a tunnel. Note the décor of the station building.
Here is Ge6/6' 415, from 1925, with a mixed train crossing the Cinuos" viaduct on the Scuol Tarasp-Samedan line, still under 11000 V. The photo was taken in October 15, 1991 and you can see the magnificent color tones of the trees in autumn.
Ciao
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