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Interlaken and Wengen


David Bell
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I thought this might interest someone who has an interest in Swiss Railways.

I was lucky enough to own a house in Wengen for 15 years and took a keen interest in all things railway in the area,holidaying there 2 or 3 times a year. So much so that I did start and partially complete an HO model of Interlaken Ost.

 

Anyway a divorce and house move later has me pursuing other railway interests closer to home. The point of this is if anyone has any interest in photos of the WAB, BOB, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen or Wengen or the surrounding area especially in the period 2013 to 2020 then please let me know. I have hundreds of photos!

 

Cheers

David

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1 hour ago, MOB FAN said:

David,

Can you enlighten me on the work on the BOB at the end of the airport and at Wilderswil?

Google Maps isn’t up to date.

 

David

Hi David,

 

They are building a bypass of Wilderswil. According to the public tender published last year it is about 2km including two bridges over the river and a 500m tunnel. Part of the car park at Widerswil station has been given over to store construction material.

 Cheers

David

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Interlaken Ost is a good prototype for an interesting model which can be accommodated in a reasonable space. The station is essentially a triple terminus station with standard gauge approaching from the west (SBB and BLS) and metre gauge from the east( BOB and Brunig Bahn, now branded ZB). So two gauges and four rail companies. Add to that a daily DB ICE to Berlin and a French TGV (Lyra) from Paris plus a locally based preservation society with steam and vintage train, the variety is impressive.

Also  because the standard gauge tracks don't terminate in the station, they head east to carriage sidings, the station does not look like a terminus, at least from the standard gauge perspective.  This means you can have an oval and watch the trains go round or operate it as a fiddleyard-terminus. My version was 16 ft x 9ft with an additional board on the short side to act as a fiddleyard-terminus for BOB trains. If set in the period before 2010 there are plenty of loco hauled trains requiring locomotives to run round in the station. More recently this has diminished with the increased use of Stadler unit trains, on the BOB and ZB as well as BLS.

 

I will post some prototype pictures later. I hope someone will be inspired to have a go.

 

Cheers

David

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Interlaken was first destination on an InterRail in August/September 1975. We arrived on an overnight train from Paris (managed to kip down in a baggage car) and having pitched the tent at the local camp site had a day on the Brunig Bahn. A great start to the trip.

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It is such a beautiful part of the world. I was lucky enough to get to know it well. From a train perspective you can't get better.For a time I actually had a real railway at the bottom of the garden. The old WAB line from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen was still in situ just 50ft from the house. It was still occasionally used for freight. That line was lifted at the end of 2009. We could also see the train from Murren to Grutschalp across the Lauterbrunnen valley from the house. Happy days!

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2 hours ago, David Bell said:

Hi David,

 

They are building a bypass of Wilderswil. According to the public tender published last year it is about 2km including two bridges over the river and a 500m tunnel. Part of the car park at Widerswil station has been given over to store construction material.

 Cheers

David

The bypass is shown in dotted on the Swiss Maps site

 

https://map.geo.admin.ch/?lang=en&topic=ech&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege&layers_opacity=1,1,1,0.8&layers_visibility=false,false,false,false&layers_timestamp=18641231,,,&E=2633047.33&N=1168575.73&zoom=10

 

Brian

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Just been taking a look at Google Earth. Certainly a decent layout project. The standard gauge is actually quite simple and it is handy that the carriage sidings curve round like that.

 

Strange really that quite a small town should have international services direct from other countries. But it has been a popular resort for a very long time.

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And finally for now at least a rare view of something not according to plan on Swiss Railways. This is A WAB train derailed in Lauterbrunnen station. In typical Swiss fashion this was sorted out in a matter of minutes with hardly any disruption to services to Wengen

DSC_0111.JPG

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Happy memories . In my case my first visit in 1978 was with my parents on our first "foreign" holiday by coach travelling through Europe to stay 6 days in the Royal St Georges Hotel Interlaken .  It really was a railway enthusiasts dream and because my parents recognised my interest in railways they organised for me to go on the Jungfrau trip with my father (I think they felt it was too expensive for them both to take me!)  . I loved it . BOB to Lauterbrunnen  then Wengeneralpbahn to Kleine Scheidegg  and Jungfraubahn from there to summit . Then back via Grindlewald . I think it was called the "Top of the world" and it really is 11333ft and at the top a stunning view down the Glacier .  Really chocolate box stuff . I'm so envious of you having a house in Wengen. It must have been superb.

 

I've often thought Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost would make a great layout . the section between the two runs over the Aare twice and along the base of the mountain . In 1978 its was BLS blue and cream coaches, brown RE4/4s I think , but you also had SFF RE4/4s in Green and TEE colours . German rolling stock, SFF and BLS . Then of course the Brown and Cream of the BoB and the red of the Brunig railway . Just superb.

 

I revisited in 1988 and 1990 , inspired by a book by Martin Bairstow,  myself and using Interlaken as the base travelled extensively . I think my favourite was the BLS Lotschberg line , in these days before the base tunnel was complete . So the trip up from Spiez through Blausee Mitholz through the tunnel and then the descent on the other side . The track had recently been doubled . Then up to Zermatt on the BVZ . I travelled to Lucern, Montreux, Berne and had trips on both Lakes Thun and Brienz . And a trip up the Brienzer Rothorn  as well as Schynige Platte (apologies if I've got spelling wrong). Ahh happy days .  I always said one day I'd do a Swiss layout . I remember there was a model railway shop in the block next to the Royal St Georges . Drooling at the models , but , of course the prices were astonishing , and that was when there were more than 3SFr to £1.

 

Love to see any pics you have . I still love the trains, but to me it was a shame when the BOB changed colours from Brown/Cream to Blue/Yellow . Similarly the WAG went Flourescent Green/Yellow compared to the more subtle colours of the 60s /70s , and of course worst of all is we lost the Blue/Cream of the BLS which I think was replaced by bright green ?

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1 hour ago, Legend said:

still love the trains, but to me it was a shame when the BOB changed colours from Brown/Cream to Blue/Yellow . Similarly the WAG went Flourescent Green/Yellow compared to the more subtle colours of the 60s /70s , and of course worst of all is we lost the Blue/Cream of the BLS which I think was replaced by bright green ?

Absolutely. The old liveries look a hundred times better than the horrible new ones. The old colour/cream liveries enhanced the look of the stock, looked nice in the landscape and were recognisably swiss. The new ones are pretty ugly. Likewise the old stock from the 50s on had a family resemblance on all railways, which is now sadly lost and replaced by boxy, ugly things.

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32 minutes ago, MOB FAN said:

Looks like the BEMO stock on these has dried up.

 

Perhaps this helps - Winco are still listing a few items available via them from the factory:

 

Brunig items including zebra coach

 

MOB coaches including Panoramic Express coach ordered from factory

 

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Hi David

 

Some lovely photos. I holidayed with my parents at Interlaken around 1979. I still remember it with tremendous fondness.

 

Do you have any photos of Brienz? I am looking to model Brienz, Meiringen and Brünig Hasliberg in a somewhat meandering garage lifetime layout. I will model the pre-advertising era.  

 

I just wish wish I could find a HOm loco of 1991 Meiringen or 1992 Giswil. No luck so far.

 

regards

 

Pete

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10 hours ago, brack said:

Absolutely. The old liveries look a hundred times better than the horrible new ones. The old colour/cream liveries enhanced the look of the stock, looked nice in the landscape and were recognisably swiss. The new ones are pretty ugly. Likewise the old stock from the 50s on had a family resemblance on all railways, which is now sadly lost and replaced by boxy, ugly things.


The current BLS livery is certainly an acquired taste. It sort of works on the latest units, but I’m not really sure on an Re4/4 II or the ex Swiss Express stock. This was taken at Interlaken Ost in September 2017. I gather that there are very few scheduled BLS loco hauled passenger workings left now.

011670E1-14E9-4D25-AC7F-8254333FE3DB.jpeg

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10 hours ago, vectispete said:

Hi David

 

Some lovely photos. I holidayed with my parents at Interlaken around 1979. I still remember it with tremendous fondness.

 

Do you have any photos of Brienz? I am looking to model Brienz, Meiringen and Brünig Hasliberg in a somewhat meandering garage lifetime layout. I will model the pre-advertising era.  

 

I just wish wish I could find a HOm loco of 1991 Meiringen or 1992 Giswil. No luck so far.

 

regards

 

Pete

I will look some out over the weekend

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Your earlier photos remind me of how it looked on my first visit back in 83! Super stuff keep them coming, I was there a couple of times in the 80’s then a long gap until 2008!

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