Interlaken and Wengen

[DGO]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

 

I wondered what it was, especially as the entrance is in both German & English.

It's called a lodge, does that mean it's a refuge for use in the winter?

 

Maybe if you could get through the deep snowdrifts that are often up against it in winter, but it's more usual at Fallboden to get off the train and ski straight off down the hill, you can also walk or sledge down from there to Kleine Scheidegg, it's not far 

[Re6/6]

53 minutes ago, DGO said:

 

 

Purely as an aside went to see the industrial laser people yesterday, came home with this

 

 

Intriguing. Can you tell us what scale and material it is?

[eastwestdivide]

1 hour ago, DGO said:

...the "Eiger Trail" a walk that takes in the North Face of the Eiger...

or more accurately, takes in the foot of the North Face of the Eiger - you don't need to be a mountaineer to follow the Eiger Trail! Plus, nice little cafe at Alpiglen.

I might have an older photo of that building when I walked the Eiger Trail in about 2007ish. Will have a look later.

 

Edit: nice rack!

Later edit: no older photo, sorry.

Edited July 17, 2020 by eastwestdivide

[DGO]

17 minutes ago, Re6/6 said:

Intriguing. Can you tell us what scale and material it is?

 

Sure it was cut from nominally 0.5mm thick brass that they had in their scrap pile the squares on the green cutting mat are 1cm, module of the teeth is 0.4 to match NEM rack rail standards for H0 scale we decided 0.5 is a bit thin but it was just a test done for free, going to go for slightly thicker material probably 0.7 - 0.9mm and we might look at stainless steel, or nickel silver final cuts to probably be meter lengths and I'm going to draw up some entry and exit curves for transitions between horizontal and whatever angle I decide is appropriate but probably a 10% gradient Yes surprising me no end the teeth are pretty much perfect on the rack, the hole is slightly out of circular on the spur gear but the teeth are spot on. The biggest issue was the thin brass being so flexible that the gas jet at the laser end was distorting the material.

 

These are engineering correct profile teeth by the way not just a pretty zigzag pattern they will work with any module 0.4 pinion

Edited July 17, 2020 by DGO

[David Bell]

Today's pictures. Modern ZB stock at Interlaken Ost

[SED Freightman]

Having looked through all of this thread over the past week or so it has been very interesting to see the changes that have taken place with rolling stock, stations and even operating companies since I regularly visited the area between 1984 and 1988.  Even the smallish family run Hotel Europe close to Interlaken Ost, where I stayed, has been greatly expanded and now forms a part of the much larger Carlton Europe Hotel.

[DGO]

59 minutes ago, SED Freightman said:

Having looked through all of this thread over the past week or so it has been very interesting to see the changes that have taken place with rolling stock, stations and even operating companies since I regularly visited the area between 1984 and 1988.  Even the smallish family run Hotel Europe close to Interlaken Ost, where I stayed, has been greatly expanded and now forms a part of the much larger Carlton Europe Hotel.

 

Also the large modern Youth Hostel next to Interlaken Ost Station, still a nice walk down the Hoewegg to Interlaken West though :-)

[Legend]

1 hour ago, SED Freightman said:

Having looked through all of this thread over the past week or so it has been very interesting to see the changes that have taken place with rolling stock, stations and even operating companies since I regularly visited the area between 1984 and 1988.  Even the smallish family run Hotel Europe close to Interlaken Ost, where I stayed, has been greatly expanded and now forms a part of the much larger Carlton Europe Hotel.

interesting . In my  vusit with my parents in 1978 the catering in the Royal st George’s  was grand but not great , so we Used to nip,across to the Hoel,Europe for a plate of Pommes Frittes!G

[David Bell]

1 hour ago, Legend said:

interesting . In my  vusit with my parents in 1978 the catering in the Royal st George’s  was grand but not great , so we Used to nip,across to the Hoel,Europe for a plate of Pommes Frittes!G

I did not discover Wengen and Interlaken until 2003. I had visited Switzerland before in the eighties and nineties ( Zermatt and St Moritz) and was modelling the RhB at that time. Even in the time I knew it the BOB ,Brunigbahn and WAB changed significantly. In 2003 there were still some brown and cream coaches  around on the BOB. All the trains were loco hauled with run round at Interlaken Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. The Brunig Bahn was still SBB. Wengen trains ran in threes and fours for each timetable slot. Now there is one six car train for each timetable slot. The old line from  Lauterbrunnen to Wengen was still in use, just. It was lifted in 2009.The old line ran 50m below the balcony of my house in Wengen. I had a railway at the bottom of the garden! The way up to Grutschalp was by funicular. The onset of low floor unit trains has changed the way trains are run , and the way they look significantly. Not quite as interesting as before. Run round loops have disappeared at Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. All that said I still find much of interest.  And of course the scenery is ever present, magnificent and unchanging. I have been lucky enough to stay in the Hotel des Alpes at Kleine Scheidegg, the Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken, the Schweizerhof in Bern and the hotel at Giessbach, all on nights when I had a perfectly good bed to sleep in in Wengen!

It is all part of the experience.

Attached is a picture of a BOB train at the end of the run round loop at Grindelwald. This bit of track has gone now.

 

 

 

[neilu]

Hi, great thread. I've visited Wengen for Skiing every year for about the last decade, TBH the railways are probably of more interest than the skiing!  I've always been fascinated by the older He2/2s which WAB are still using.  As I travel in the winter I yet to see the SPB in action. Within the WAB,BOB,SPB,JB is there any effort made to keep older items of stock for nostalgic reasons or are the various survivors simply kept because they are still required for daily use?  

 

I'm noticing the older WAB railcars rapidly disappearing with each visit that I make, I've struggled to travel on any during my last two visits (2018/19 - this year was cancelled) any ideas as to when they will disappear completely?

 

Neil Urquhart

[DGO]

2 hours ago, neilu said:

Hi, great thread. I've visited Wengen for Skiing every year for about the last decade, TBH the railways are probably of more interest than the skiing!  I've always been fascinated by the older He2/2s which WAB are still using.  As I travel in the winter I yet to see the SPB in action. Within the WAB,BOB,SPB,JB is there any effort made to keep older items of stock for nostalgic reasons or are the various survivors simply kept because they are still required for daily use?  

 

I'm noticing the older WAB railcars rapidly disappearing with each visit that I make, I've struggled to travel on any during my last two visits (2018/19 - this year was cancelled) any ideas as to when they will disappear completely?

 

Neil Urquhart

 

Hi Neil

 

the WAB is likely to keep at least some of the trains for a while yet, last time I was there 2 years ago there was still one of the old green coffee grinder engines down at Lauterbrunnen and that's over a hundred years old, much of the old WAB stock ended up on the SPB because of the same size, the JB got rid of a lot of it's old stock when they did something with the power supply, apparently cheaper to replace with new than upgrade the old, the WAB will likely keep at least some of the older trains for when it needs extra capacity . Over the years much of the rolling stock has been repeatedly upgraded or altered to suit the needs of the line

[DGO]

Frustrating day today, my DVD with what should have been hundreds of drawings and photos of the WAB rolling stock arrived from Germany, I eagerly opened the package an d slid it into the DVD slot and then waited .... nothing :-( Looks like they managed to send out an unformatted DVD and yes checked on a second DVD drive with same results

[David Bell]

3 hours ago, DGO said:

Frustrating day today, my DVD with what should have been hundreds of drawings and photos of the WAB rolling stock arrived from Germany, I eagerly opened the package an d slid it into the DVD slot and then waited .... nothing :-( Looks like they managed to send out an unformatted DVD and yes checked on a second DVD drive with same results

Ouch!

[neilu]

3 hours ago, DGO said:

Frustrating day today, my DVD with what should have been hundreds of drawings and photos of the WAB rolling stock arrived from Germany, I eagerly opened the package an d slid it into the DVD slot and then waited .... nothing :-( Looks like they managed to send out an unformatted DVD and yes checked on a second DVD drive with same results

 

That's a pain, just out of interest where were you buying the DVD from, it sounds like something that I might purchase myself at some point.

[PaulRhB]

4 minutes ago, neilu said:

 

That's a pain, just out of interest where were you buying the DVD from, it sounds like something that I might purchase myself at some point.

I’ll guess these

https://www.buch-auf-dvd.de/eisenbahnbuch-kaufen/jungfraubahnen

 

https://www.buch-auf-dvd.de/eisenbahnbuch-kaufen/jungfraubahn

 

I’ve got several of the RhB ones, very useful. They have an auto launch but if you go to the dvd drive as you put it in and click on there you can open the individual PDF’s and save them.  

Edited July 30, 2020 by PaulRhB

[neilu]

On 25/07/2020 at 15:04, DGO said:

 

Hi Neil

 

the WAB is likely to keep at least some of the trains for a while yet, last time I was there 2 years ago there was still one of the old green coffee grinder engines down at Lauterbrunnen and that's over a hundred years old, much of the old WAB stock ended up on the SPB because of the same size, the JB got rid of a lot of it's old stock when they did something with the power supply, apparently cheaper to replace with new than upgrade the old, the WAB will likely keep at least some of the older trains for when it needs extra capacity . Over the years much of the rolling stock has been repeatedly upgraded or altered to suit the needs of the line

The coffee grinders were still around in 2019 - I suspect that they will be around for a long time as there's only the two new locos (I forget the numbers) to assist with the shunting, although it I spotted various of the older railcars shoving wagons up the mountain. One disappointment was that railcar 101 appears to have been scrapped, I had wondered if this might linger on. It ran with decals pointing out it's age and millage for a while so WAB must have had some appreciation of the service that it gave them. 

 

I believe that there was a plan to try WAB railcars on the SPB, one was transferred, but subsequently scrapped.

 

The logistics and costs would be a nightmare, but a railtour over the BOB,WAB & JB using older items of rollingstock would be something.....

 

I've never had any issues taking photos are looking around the public areas on the WAB (on one occasion a freight just above Wengenalp slowed down and waved whilst I was pointing the camera) does anyone have any idea what the response might be to a polite letter to the WAB asking for a guided look around the depots at Grund or Lauterbrunen?

 

Neil 

Edited July 30, 2020 by neilu
spelling!

[DIW]

1 hour ago, neilu said:

I believe that there was a plan to try WAB railcars on the SPB, one was transferred, but subsequently scrapped.

 

Neil 

 

I refer the honourable member to the final picture and the associated comments from my contribution to this thread on 20th June:

 

On 20/06/2020 at 17:19, DIW said:

Finally, still on the theme of swapped stock, here is a picture of Wilderswil from 2005. What's that in the SPB sidings? Only a WAB ABeh4/4 and its Abt!

It was there as part of experimentation to see if the units would fit on the SPB. Unfortunately not many experimental runs had been made when the unit was damaged beyond repair by the Lutschine river bursting its bank and flooding the station and the old area of Wilderswil.

As far as I am aware, not further experiments have been made with ABeh4/4s, despite recorded concerns about the future availability of parts and skills to keep the old He2/2s running.

 

 

[DGO]

2 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

I’ll guess these

https://www.buch-auf-dvd.de/eisenbahnbuch-kaufen/jungfraubahnen

 

https://www.buch-auf-dvd.de/eisenbahnbuch-kaufen/jungfraubahn

 

I’ve got several of the RhB ones, very useful. They have an auto launch but if you go to the dvd drive as you put it in and click on there you can open the individual PDF’s and save them.  

 

bahnundbuch.de

[DGO]

2 hours ago, neilu said:

I've never had any issues taking photos are looking around the public areas on the WAB (on one occasion a freight just above Wengenalp slowed down and waved whilst I was pointing the camera) does anyone have any idea what the response might be to a polite letter to the WAB asking for a guided look around the depots at Grund or Lauterbrunen?

 

Neil 

 

As with anything in Switzerland it's usually a case of finding the right person to ask, certainly there have been cab videos which would suggest they are not unwilling to let people in to locations not normally open to the public, You might need to contact the Jungfraubahn as they actually own the WAB, Firstbahn, BLM and Harderbahn, I know that a number of members of the DHO ski club got a private tour of the Jungfraubahn workshops several years ago, but the DHO has a very good relationship with the railway and tourist office.

[neilu]

1 hour ago, DGO said:

 

As with anything in Switzerland it's usually a case of finding the right person to ask, certainly there have been cab videos which would suggest they are not unwilling to let people in to locations not normally open to the public, You might need to contact the Jungfraubahn as they actually own the WAB, Firstbahn, BLM and Harderbahn, I know that a number of members of the DHO ski club got a private tour of the Jungfraubahn workshops several years ago, but the DHO has a very good relationship with the railway and tourist office.

Thanks for that, they do seem to be reasonably relaxed, I've witnessed at least one crowed WAB train where passengers were packed into the cab as well. 

 

I have a contact in the DHO, I'll maybe ask them if they are planning another trip and if so, could it be the week that I'm likely to be there.....  My experiences in Germany have been very positive, DB employees generally seem to be friendly and tolerant of photographers. 

 

Neil

[DGO]

10 hours ago, neilu said:

Thanks for that, they do seem to be reasonably relaxed, I've witnessed at least one crowed WAB train where passengers were packed into the cab as well. 

 

I have a contact in the DHO, I'll maybe ask them if they are planning another trip and if so, could it be the week that I'm likely to be there.....  My experiences in Germany have been very positive, DB employees generally seem to be friendly and tolerant of photographers. 

 

Neil

 

I seem to recall that for the DHO it was sort of unexpected, they were attending a "Lunch" courtesy of the Jungfraubahn and were invited to take a tour of the nearby workshops. PS I'm a DHO member (also webmaster for them LOL). 

[David Bell]

You don't see any freight on the BOB these days, but in times past there were freight trains. You do see the odd piece of freight stock here and there like this van at Interlaken

[scottystitch]

Nice thread and excellent pictures.  My afinity for Swiss railways continues to grow...

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Best

 

Scott

[David Bell]

Hi Scott, thanks for your post.

They really do have something, the railways of Switzerland.

 

Cheers

David

[David Bell]

Another picture from Interlaken