RhB news

[Railpassion]

Does anyone know what is in the shed at Filisur these days? 

[PaulRhB]

6 hours ago, Railpassion said:

Does anyone know what is in the shed at Filisur these days? 

We were trying to figure it out in September, it was in loco brown but we could only read the vmax lettering, I think it was vmax 45km/h from memory, so we guessed it was Ge2/4 222 from that as no other detail was visible. 

[Glorious NSE]

On 21/12/2022 at 16:12, MikeB said:

Now that two more Allegras are needed on the Bernina with the withdrawal of the TWIIIs from local trains....

Thanks, that's the underlying change i'd not spotted - presume that's as from the December timetable change?

Not at all surprised at that being the cascade, but i'm a little surprised they've gone through with it at this moment before being up to full strength on the GE4/4III  🙂

[MikeB]

5 hours ago, Glorious NSE said:

Thanks, that's the underlying change i'd not spotted - presume that's as from the December timetable change?

Not at all surprised at that being the cascade, but i'm a little surprised they've gone through with it at this moment before being up to full strength on the GE4/4III  🙂

Yes, this was from the December timetable change. 

 

One oddity in the winter schedule (Mon-Fri) is  that the Allegra working the first Poschiavo-St Moritz train (4624) is then meant to work the GEX to Chur and back before ending its day on the 2002 departure from St Moritz to Chur.  Another Allegra is meant to work the 0509 departure from Chur to Samedan before going to St Moritz to work the 0848 depature to Tirano as the start of a day's work on the Bernina.  However, every day so far has seen the Allegra stay on the Bernina and a Ge4/4 II on the Albula workings.  This saves  an Allegra diagram so one is free for something else, such as a Ge 4/4III Albula diagram, which fits in with your idea that the Allegras are in high demand.

 

The seasonal workings are now on the RhB website -they show no Ge 4/4 I workings in conenction with the Albula tunnel workings, only on the summer Rhine Gorge excursions.

[Blobrick]

On 14/10/2022 at 16:09, Satan's Goldfish said:

 

............. 'sadface'

Sad to hear that the 7xx 6/6 iis have been withdrawn, when were they withdrawn from service?

[PaulRhB]

3 hours ago, Blobrick said:

Sad to hear that the 7xx 6/6 iis have been withdrawn, when were they withdrawn from service?

End of 2021, one has been preserved. 

[Blobrick]

6 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

End of 2021, one has been preserved. 

Thanks Paul, sad news indeed. I wonder if they will return the preserved one to original condition with the three windows cabs?

 

Bob C

[PaulRhB]

1 hour ago, Blobrick said:

Thanks Paul, sad news indeed. I wonder if they will return the preserved one to original condition with the three windows cabs?

 

Bob C

Not heard of that idea with this one but they are preserving two Ge4/4i’s and the intention is one of those will be returned to original condition. 

[Blobrick]

6 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

Not heard of that idea with this one but they are preserving two Ge4/4i’s and the intention is one of those will be returned to original condition. 

I suspect that would mean round lights and Green livery, that would be nice to see, thanks Paul

[Gordonwis]

On 23/12/2022 at 18:24, MikeB said:

The seasonal workings are now on the RhB website -they show no Ge 4/4 I workings in conenction with the Albula tunnel workings, only on the summer Rhine Gorge excursions.

 

 

At the height of the Ge4/4I workings on the Albula tunnel related work, they did not appear on diagrams, only as 'operating reserve'. That did not stop them from working a daily train from Samedan to Preda.

[31A]

Filisur webcam gone?!

 

[MikeB]

10 hours ago, 31A said:

Filisur webcam gone?!

 

It's been reported elsewhere that Manfred Luckmann, owner of the Filisur webcam, passed away on 13 December 2022 at the age of 73.  His website schmalspurbahn.ch with the Filisur webcam and the large archive has now disappeared from the Internet.

Edited December 27, 2022 by MikeB

[31A]

11 minutes ago, MikeB said:

It's been reported elsehwere that Manfred Luckmann, owner of the Filisur webcam, passed away on 13 December 2022 at the age of 73.  His website schmalspurbahn.ch with the Filisur webcam and the large archive has now disappeared from Internet.

 

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, both from his point of view obviously, and also the lack of the web site!  I knew the hotel was for sale, and wondered whether that might affect it in any case.  What a pity, the archive was almost as interesting as the daily snapshots, going back as it did to before the rebuilding of the station.  A sad loss.

[PaulRhB]

A sad loss on both counts as it was a simple but fascinating glance into the day to day operations. 
Thank you Manfred. 

[Gordonwis]

The archive can still be accessed here:

 

https://www.bergfex.ch/berguen-filisur/webcams/c2119/

 

The camera appears to have frozen after 08.02 on 27 December.

 

A sad loss to the railway fraternity. I both planned and undertook RhB journeys based on what the webcam showed and noted past and current activity for modelling purposes thanks to Manfred's work. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Gordonwis

[Glorious NSE]

On 23/12/2022 at 18:24, MikeB said:

One oddity in the winter schedule (Mon-Fri) is  that the Allegra working the first Poschiavo-St Moritz train (4624) is then meant to work the GEX to Chur and back before ending its day on the 2002 departure from St Moritz to Chur.  Another Allegra is meant to work the 0509 departure from Chur to Samedan before going to St Moritz to work the 0848 depature to Tirano as the start of a day's work on the Bernina.  However, every day so far has seen the Allegra stay on the Bernina and a Ge4/4 II on the Albula workings.  This saves  an Allegra diagram so one is free for something else, such as a Ge 4/4III Albula diagram, which fits in with your idea that the Allegras are in high demand.

Bit bizarre that, could end up with the odd situation of anyone being able to use the GEX like they can with the BEX! 

Just a bit of expanding on my thoughts - back in 2019 pre-Covid every other Albula diagram was worked with Allegra's, so in that fairly stable state of operating (pre covid, pre Capricorn,) they had effectively three "extra" (IE very competent, but plainly not what they were ordered for!) Allegra available every day, logically you can surmise they were extras purchased to cover retirement of the last three pair of Bernina railcars when that time came, as building a small batch of 3 a decade later than the rest wasn't likely to be viable.

At that time from memory they were running both a Landquart-Davos-Tirano BEX and a Chur-Tirano BEX, and the former hasn't resumed - so far at least, so that accounts for only two of the three Albula ones needing to move across now I guess.

The juggling diagrams to free up resource is really fun to watch :)
 

[MikeB]

On 28/12/2022 at 13:19, Glorious NSE said:

Bit bizarre that, could end up with the odd situation of anyone being able to use the GEX like they can with the BEX! 

Just a bit of expanding on my thoughts - back in 2019 pre-Covid every other Albula diagram was worked with Allegra's, so in that fairly stable state of operating (pre covid, pre Capricorn,) they had effectively three "extra" (IE very competent, but plainly not what they were ordered for!) Allegra available every day, logically you can surmise they were extras purchased to cover retirement of the last three pair of Bernina railcars when that time came, as building a small batch of 3 a decade later than the rest wasn't likely to be viable.

At that time from memory they were running both a Landquart-Davos-Tirano BEX and a Chur-Tirano BEX, and the former hasn't resumed - so far at least, so that accounts for only two of the three Albula ones needing to move across now I guess.

The juggling diagrams to free up resource is really fun to watch :)
 

It isn't quite as simple.  In winter, two pairs of Bernina railcars worked local services and the year-round BEX was an out and back Chur-Tirano-Chur working.

In summer, two pairs of railcars worked Tirano / St Moritz BEX and one pair was on local services. Two extra Allegras were needed; one to work local services instead of an ABe 4/4 III pair, which was managed by an Allegra working the BEX from Chur to Tirano and then working local services and another working local services before going to Chur with the afternoon northbound BEX.  In addition the Landquart-Davos-Tirano BEX you mentioned has been replaced by a Tirano-Chur-Tirano service, which needed the other Allegra.  This is the pattern planned for 2023 except that yet another Allegra is needed to replace the railcars on the local services, which presumably is the reason why the use of an Allegra on the GEX is not scheduled in summer.

 

The full summer schedule needs 10 power units on the Bernina and the Arosa line needs three as the minimum.  So allowing for maintenance and reserves, with only 15 3-car Allegras suitable for regular service on these lines it looks like more units will be needed if / when the ABe 4/4 IIIs are ever retired.

Edited January 3, 2023 by MikeB