New Albula Trainsets

[Satan's Goldfish]

2x old coaches, then set of new coaches.

 

 

The 'articulated' + driving coach sets are obviously going to be the core vehicles used, do the RhB have any plans for matching individual coaches to boost train lengths when required? Or are they sticking with the older stock for that?

 

This current set up seems to be a growing theme, the Luzern - Engelberg 'express' has a similar Loco, old coaches, new coaches/driving coach arrangement.

[PaulRhB]

I guess all the coaches will be updated eventually but only the full sets ordered so far. At least they are compatible without the coupling variety we get with units over here!

Edited April 28, 2018 by PaulRhB

[Satan's Goldfish]

Has this been shared yet?

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Duplicate!

Edited May 11, 2018 by Satan's Goldfish

[Satan's Goldfish]

Brilliant walk through of the new stock on this video. Quite looking forward to giving them a go in a couple of months now, was worried it wouldn't quite feel the same with modern 'fixed' stock (As good as they are, I'm not a fan of the Allegras) but this video does a good job of dispelling that. I want a go on the slide!

 

[Floreat Industria]

If anyone is going to the Albula this summer, the graphic timetable is here:- (the whole of Switzerland is on this site)

 

http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/fileadmin/fap_pdf_graphic_tt/2018/GRhB5.pdf

 

and the loco workings here:-

 

https://www.rhb.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/redaktion/Ueber_die_RhB/Unternehmen/Dokumente/Lokdienste/Lokdienste_Sommer_Samstag.pdf

 

I can only find Saturday at the moment. They all used to be there but evidently since June they are  only available to club members - CHF 89 a year!

[Floreat Industria]

This photo, from Haribu's excellent site, shows the end of coach 57705 from set 5705 on delivery. The coaches seem to be bolted together within the set and the connections are only at one side:-

 

http://www.haribu.ch/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=1174

 

Checking the Filisur webcam most days, all kinds of stock is turning up attached at the St Moritz end.

You can look back at previous days/months/years.

[Floreat Industria]

No sign of the driving trailers being used with the new "articulated" trains yet but an interesting sight has been a driving trailer (I don't know which batch) being used as as a coach as part of an old train set over the last week..

 

Here is a picture from the Filisur webcam today:-

 

https://www.schmalspurbahn.ch/filisur/webcam/m1810081106580

[Floreat Industria]

If anyone is going to the Albula this summer, the graphic timetable is here:- (the whole of Switzerland is on this site)

 

http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/fileadmin/fap_pdf_graphic_tt/2018/GRhB5.pdf

 

and the loco workings here:-

 

https://www.rhb.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/redaktion/Ueber_die_RhB/Unternehmen/Dokumente/Lokdienste/Lokdienste_Sommer_Samstag.pdf

 

I can only find Saturday at the moment. They all used to be there but evidently since June they are  only available to club members - CHF 89 a year!

 

The whole workings (not the daily ones which are club only) are now available again.

Grab them while they're there! I wonder whether the winter ones will turn up on screen at the end of the month.

 

  https://www.rhbclub.ch/de/saisonale-lokdienste

Edited October 8, 2018 by Floreat Industria

[Satan's Goldfish]

No sign of the driving trailers being used with the new "articulated" trains yet but an interesting sight has been a driving trailer (I don't know which batch) being used as as a coach as part of an old train set over the last week..

 

Here is a picture from the Filisur webcam today:-

 

https://www.schmalspurbahn.ch/filisur/webcam/m1810081106580

Whoops, I forgot to update here after my holiday, but there was 1 driving trailer in 'push' mode in regular use:

 

https://youtu.be/wAtsReo1sWQ

 

(That video was taken from directly beneath the web cam!) I do mention them a bit on my holiday thread, but Didn't see any of the 2nd class driving trailers move anywhere. The orientation is interesting; at Landquart there was 2x 1st class and 2x 2nd class driving trailers all facing the same way. The Albula sets are all orientated with 1st class at the Chur end, so it Looks like that 2nd class driving trailer has been turned. Will we see push-pull sets with the loco at different ends when they're all in use?

 

I did see the driving trailer in the video also being pulled when a Gourmino restraunt had been added to the back of the set.

 

[Floreat Industria]

I must look out for the driving trailer on the webcam. I've missed a lot lately as I've been in hospital for a knee replacement.

 

It looks like the Gourmino isn't wired for push pull. Anyway, interesting times ahead, by the look of things.

[Satan's Goldfish]

 

 

So it looks as if the sets are almost all running with driving coaches now. All of them 1st class. So does anyone know what the 2nd class driving coaches were for that i saw back in July?

 

 

Thanks

[PaulRhB]

Probably to replace the older ones on the Vereina line which are also loco hauled. Don’t know for certain but all the EW stock is supposed to be gone in the next few years and they are EW based. 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Shamelessly pinched from another social media platform (credit to RhBbennio on instagram), but looks like the 2nd class driving coaches may have been for the Engadine line. (Picture is at Samedan)

 

[PaulRhB]

That’s what I meant when I said Vereina, but should have said Engadine line or via the Vereina! Need to read it back so it makes sense to others too!  

[PaulRhB]

I need to get there before the EW1’s and their superb full opening windows are gone  

[Satan's Goldfish]

4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

That’s what I meant when I said Vereina, but should have said Engadine line or via the Vereina! Need to read it back so it makes sense to others too!  

 

Ah, I must have got lucky last summer then getting a ge4/4ii + 4 EW1 coaches from landquart through the Vereina and up the Engadine if they're push/pull now.

 

Hmmm, if the rest of the timetable is fairly similar I wonder if one of those sets heads down the Albula as one of the last services of the day...

[PaulRhB]

Not that I’ve seen so far as the Allegra’s seem to cover that. The usual passenger trains through the tunnel were normal loco hauled when I was last there but I have seen driving trailers through there maybe to get back to Landquart on maintenance schedules? That’s probably going to change though as I assume the Capricorn units will take over the Engadine and Davos services too. The Chur locals are the four car Allegra’s already. 

The local Scuol services were pretty much all push pull though. If you watch that video you posted the driving trailers on at least one Albula set are boxed in so not fully push pull still. 

It’s the Capricorn units that are the real change as the Allegra’s just replaced other railcar sets. Interesting that the standard GEX and BEX sets don’t seem to be included in the push pull concept, possibly because of the loco changes at St Moritz and Disentis?

The RhB’s bung on another coach flexibility is the other thing that’s going to be interesting as they will have to go inside the set, you can’t just bung it in the back with a Tmf anymore. It remains to be seen if the restrictions we got with units here will see that flexibility go on the RhB too or if there will be enough spare to strengthen as required unlike here where diagrams are pretty much maxed out

[Satan's Goldfish]

Another pic shamelessly stolen from Instagram (all credits in the screen shot), showing another place the 2nd class Albula style driving trailers are in use. Makes the standard coach in the formation look a bit odd.

 

[Glorious NSE]

Interesting to see an Allegra back on that route, it's had a mix of LH push pull sets and the old pendelzug sets scheduled through last year apart from the daily BEX through train.

If it's now regular, does that mean another Albula working has gone back to loco haulage, as from memory half those diagrams were Allegra powered last year?

No RhB formation guides yet on vagonWeb to check...

 

[PaulRhB]

Might be a test run too. Watching the Filisur webcam over the last few days still showing pendlezug sets with 4/4ii & iii’s. 
I spotted the white Allegra on it one day at 11 but checked to see other days and it’s a 4/4ii at that time. 

Edited February 4, 2020 by PaulRhB

[Glorious NSE]

That's just inspired me to browse it a bit...some interesting consists today!

Push pull worked traditional coaches deputising for one of the fixed sets, with one of the 2nd class control cars, powered by an Allegra.
https://www.schmalspurbahn.ch/filisur/webcam/m200204090410851
https://www.schmalspurbahn.ch/filisur/webcam/m200204090513172

And a second Albula set running with a 2nd class rather than it's usual 1st control car
https://www.schmalspurbahn.ch/filisur/webcam/m200204130029715

Can't see there being fewer Allegra's on the Albula line from that,  so yeah, maybe just a test.

[PaulRhB]

The distributed power of the Allegra’s means they are ideal for the Albula and it does make me wonder if we will one day see a ‘Brighton Belle’ style unit when the GEX and BEX sets are due for replacement?

We have a few more years of loco hauled but the Capricorn’s will likely replace quite a few of the Pendlezug sets so I wonder if one or two diagrams will remain on the Davos and Engadine lines using locos and the 2nd class driving trailers to keep the ability to move freight that the Capricorn units can’t haul. The two types of Allegra seemed ideal, it would be interesting to know why they didn’t just build more of those, better quote I’m guessing, or specified conventional drawgear on the Capricorn’s for flexibility. 

[Glorious NSE]

From a UK perspective they would cite faster coupling - but the crews aren't exactly slouches at splitting and joining trains with existing stock! There will be less manpower, but given the splits/joins suggested are at one place you'd have thought that'd be less of an issue.

Bit of "fantasy fleeting" here, but i'm still trying to get their fleet changes to make sense to me:

Based on a future fleet of 25x loco's: (13x 4/4iii, 12x 4/4ii, as mooted elsewhere.)
 

If that's just passenger loco's and the 6/6ii continue to work the freight, that works out as:
4x GEX (summer timetable)
3x Albula (based on current usage)
14x Push Pull sets (they will have 16x low floor 2nd class control cars)
2x Maintenance
2x Spare

That adds up, but if they have 14x push pull sets running then adding 34x Capricorn to replace 9x loco's plus the 2x Pendelzug (I think that's the number of sets still in use...) doesn't seem to add up.

If the 25x also sees the 6/6ii retire - then:
6x Freight (based on there being a spare 6/6ii diagram at present)
4x GEX
3x Albula
8x Push Pull sets
2x Maintenance
2x Spare

That makes more sense in terms of absorbing the new Capricorn's better, but if so, why then have they just increased the cab car fleet to 16, surely that's severe overkill?

Or am I way off track, and did somebody sign an order for 8 extra cabs before doing a major policy U-turn and ordering the Capricorns?

Allegra's on local push-pull trains with the cabs is neat - but I can't see them freeing up many Allegra's to change these numbers as the Capricorns definitely won't work the Bernina, and I doubt will end up working the Arosa either?

 

[PaulRhB]

Like you say it doesn’t add up from outside but we don’t know what traffic they are thinking of once the first batch of 4/4ii’s retire over the next few years. With 628 from the second batch scrapped now it remains to be seen if one of the 1973 batch gets a reprieve.