RateTheFreight Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Morning all, I’d been watching some YouTube footage of the Swiss RhB Allegra units (they look attractive imho) and there were some clips of a unit in its 3 car formation hauling a number of freight wagons. Is this a regular occurance and if so what’s the reasoning behind it as opposed to running a dedicated freight service? Or is it more about limited freight volumes? Either way these EMUs seem to be very flexible as I’ve seen footage of them hauling coaching stock too. Thanks in advance. Greg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 It was certainly a regular thing with the Allegras in 2014 on the Bernina section when I visited. Also loco-hauled trains on the Albula section with a couple of freight wagons on the back too. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JimFin Posted February 26, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26, 2019 Still regular, particularly with the post wagons. They are a 12 axle power unit rather than an EMU and are replacing conventional locos on passenger service, have a scan through this archive http://webcam.schmalspurbahn.ch/filisur/archiv/ and you will see plenty. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Tail end freight is still common on most of the RhB, so very regular. The Allegras are very powerful units (without checking, I think they're more powerful than the GE4/4iii engines), last summer's holiday I regular saw an Allegra with an Albula set + Glacier express carriages behind, effortlessly hauling all 12 up towards the Albula tunnel. They are dual voltage so also run on the Bernina line down to Tirano from St Moritz which is almost exclusively operated with various railcars. There's still quite a bit of freight along that line too so railcars with wagons is common. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 The RhB treat the Allegras as locomotives; I've often seen them performing shunting activities with freight wagons! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 28 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said: The RhB treat the Allegras as locomotives; I've often seen them performing shunting activities with freight wagons! I wish I'd taken pictures of that happening at Arosa when we visited. The unit we went up in (no tail load) played about shuffling some stone hoppers for about an hour before heading back down to Chur (again, none as a tail load!) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted February 27, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 27, 2019 Yes the three unit Allegra’s are effectively locos with 8 powered axles and more powerful than a 4/4iii. The four car Allegra’s are only powered on 4 axles and used as commuter sets on the relatively flat lines around Chur. The 3 car sets primary routes being the Bernina and Arosa lines where their power allows them to add coaches and freight as required. Mixed trains, especially with containers tagged on the back are common on certain services. The Bernina has always had railcars as it’s main power so mixed trains were very common. The Arosa only had a relatively short period of loco haulage when it was converted to AC, it was all railcars when DC, and it required regular swapping of the 4/4ii’s to even out thermal wear across the class. The new Albula coach sets have Allegra style driving trailers on the rear and are regularly seen with an Allegra or 4/4iii on the front. The new Capricorn units are arriving from March and over the next two years and pretty much all passenger services will be units or push pull with an Allegra or 4/4iii in two years time. The February European edition of Today’s Railways has an article on the RhB’s future. 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutbrook Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 I took this a couple of years ago at Chur, an Allegra shunting stone and cement wagons 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted February 27, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 27, 2019 4 minutes ago, Nutbrook said: I took this a couple of years ago at Chur, an Allegra shunting stone and cement wagons Wow. They don't look like the most convenient things to use as a shunter. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmotrutta Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Prototype for everything on the RhB! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted February 27, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 27, 2019 1 hour ago, Coryton said: Wow. They don't look like the most convenient things to use as a shunter. Driver tends to stay put in one cab and the Shunter controls all his moves by radio so no more cumbersome than a small shunter in reality 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JimFin Posted March 5, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2019 Similar vein but demonstrates their flexible approach - Driving car at the front, passenger coaches in the middle, loco at the end and Oh! stick on some post wagons after that. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 5, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2019 Shame there wasn’t a Coop container with that loco 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted March 5, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2019 On 27/02/2019 at 20:28, Nutbrook said: I took this a couple of years ago at Chur, an Allegra shunting stone and cement wagons For God's sake, don't let anyone at DaFT see that photo. Who knows what they might insist on for future UK stock on new franchises? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
A4CML Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 At Filisur 1.3.19 with tail traffic 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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