RMweb Premium ColinK Posted October 31, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 31, 2023 I built a 0-16.5 layout of a rail served chocolate factory - just passed it on recently. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordonwis Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Nestle will be rubbing their hands with glee now that Broc Fabrique is so 'instantly accessible'. Slightly sad that the bucolic narrow gauge terminus has gone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 1, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 1, 2023 10 hours ago, Gordonwis said: Nestle will be rubbing their hands with glee now that Broc Fabrique is so 'instantly accessible'. Slightly sad that the bucolic narrow gauge terminus has gone. Whilst the Chocolat Express has been launched with great fanfare in CH, it appears custom is low and most of the passengers on the service are normal commuters. There were only a handful of family groups on the train we were on, and others have reported the same. Whilst not a school holiday in Bern, it was in Gva and other areas. Maison Cailler itself and the tour were rammed all day, but the train at Broc was hardly used morning or evening. Hence presumably the 50% off train and tour tickets for November. Presumably someone was hoping for a shift from car/coach to train, but this has not materialised so far. That said, they missed the main summer season this year so could ramp up promotions with SBB, Bern etc for next summer. Definitely a good day out however! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 14, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 14, 2023 (edited) Back to Geneva, there is the large freight yard at La Praille in the industrial part of Geneva. Due to its position, screened by a shopping centre and football stadium, it is difficult to get good photos 🤔 The stations of Lancy-Pont-Rouge and Lancy-Bachet are at either end, but neither has a great view. Freight trains generally arrive from the mainline through Cornavin and then the tunnels to Pont-Rouge, past Lancy-Pont-Rouge station. They also depart the same way. Diesel shunters are often at the southern end taking wagons into the industrial area to the east the includes the Migros depot and other sidings. The arrivals and departures can be seen from the platform at Lancy-Pont-Rouge. On a grey 18th October 2023 there was some activity, with SNCF 26127 waiting to depart with a tanker train, Re620 052 coupled up to Re420 285 to double head their mixed freight, and Re620 016 departs with its mostly VTG tankers. Photos aren't great due to weather. 620 and 420 together View down the yard, the 620/420 mixed consist stretches the full length of the yard. Look very closely and you can see one of the yard shunters in the line immediately next to the end of the train. SNCF 26127 and wagons Re620 016 departs north past Lancy-Pont-rouge Edited November 14, 2023 by ruggedpeak 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 14, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 14, 2023 The day before, on 17 October, the weather was rather better and I had been at Lancy-P-R then too. Some photos for the graffiti afficionados! One or two Re420's are often stabled opposite the station, especially at weekends. 420 139 was enjoying the sun on this day. View down the yard at La Praille Re420 139 sunbathing as 511 026 passes through. Definitely a lot cleaner than other examples parked there. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 14, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 14, 2023 (edited) Later on the 17th I went to look at the Pont des Artisanes by the Stade de la Fontonette in Carouge, Geneva. It is part of the line from Geneva to Annemasse. From Lancy-Bachet to the outskirts of Annemasse the line is in a tunnel, and this bridge is part of that An entirely enclosed bridge that appears out of the ground and then runs into a cliff on the side of the L'Arve river. It looks like it was designed to have a road on top but they stopped that at the cliff. A rather nice spot on a sunny day next to the river. Edited November 19, 2023 by ruggedpeak 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 14, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 14, 2023 (edited) 12th October was a day hiking the bottom end of the 'Sentier des Toblerones', the concrete anti-tank defences from WW2 to stop the Germans invading Switzerland up the side of Lake Geneva from France. Mostly huge concrete triangles running down the side of a river valley from half way up the Jura down to the lake. If you are interested in that sort of thing well worth a walk. This is further up the valley side but gives a flavour https://schweizmobil.ch/en/hiking-in-switzerland/route-114 The route finishes in Nyon, and a footpath runs along side the mainline just north of the station. As it was sugar beet harvetsing time, diesel shunter 841 008 was moving empty beet wagons, with loaded ones in the background. 511020 is departing north from Nyon into the curves. Unidentified 502 heads south towards Nyon and Geneva Re460 110 heads north past Geneve-Secheron Edited November 14, 2023 by ruggedpeak 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 On 14/11/2023 at 14:30, ruggedpeak said: The day before, on 17 October, the weather was rather better and I had been at Lancy-P-R then too. Some photos for the graffiti afficionados! One or two Re420's are often stabled opposite the station, especially at weekends. 420 139 was enjoying the sun on this day. View down the yard at La Praille Re420 139 sunbathing as 511 026 passes through. Definitely a lot cleaner than other examples parked there. Great photos Tony! I’ve always contemplated adding graffiti to some of my wagons but haven’t been brave enough yet! Best regards, Jeremy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 16, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 16, 2023 (edited) 10 hours ago, cornish trains jez said: Great photos Tony! I’ve always contemplated adding graffiti to some of my wagons but haven’t been brave enough yet! Best regards, Jeremy Thanks Jeremy. Was back at La Praille this afternoon as the sun came out after several days of rain. One of things I had noticed since coming here is that some of the graffiti in Switzerland is actually quite artistic. This is a wagon that was sat in the yard today, graffiti'd to look like a carriage. A couple of other half decent examples. If anyone wants more pics of Swiss graffiti on buildings or trains I have more photos, PM me. I won't clog up the thread with graffiti! The other thing to note is that the data panels are not covered. I don't know if the 'artists' deliberately avoid them or rail staff clean them off but for anyone weathering wagons the data panels are usually different from the rest of the wagon on dirty/graffiti'd wagons. The 'Tapaloy' tag seen below is very common in the Geneva area, on buildings and wagons. Not sure if it occurs more widely across Switzerland. Edited November 16, 2023 by ruggedpeak 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 16, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 16, 2023 (edited) Many of my photos are of day to day operations, recently mostly around Geneva. A lot of Swiss rail photography is of the nicer trains with mountains and lakes in the background, and I contribute to some FB groups with those, but I also like the less sexy stuff too. La Praille was busy today, although the low autumn sun was not ideal for photos initially. A fuel train was waiting to leave with 620 039 at the front. Whilst it was waiting the passenger only 460 085 came into towards a line of coaches, as part of training for drivers or shunters, they stopped short and went through the drills for coupling up. At the same time 2 SBB staff were along side the coaches checking the ground installations around the yard like the water pipes (I assume that what the yellow pipes are?). For those not familiar with Swiss trains, some mainline passenger units and the 460 locos have eletrically folding wing mirrors that open at station stops and close on departure. In the shot below of the 460, the left hand/no.1 end has the mirrors out, at the right hand/no.2 and they are folded in and fully recessed into the bodywork. The driver was in the no.1 end when the 460 moved to the right to couple to the coaches apparently using the mirrors as the 2 staff on the ground by the coaches gave no hand signals nor had radios. Any resident train drivers may wish to comment on how they are used! The mirrors on EMU 511 107 are clearly visible here. One stop along the line to Lancy-Bachet and a view of the other end of the yard. This is at the road level at the top of the station, as shunter 843 080 shunts PW vehicles and freight. I then explored the residential streets to the left of this photo (above) and found some good places for photos (OHLE equipment not withstanding!). Whilst 843 080 was busy shunting, 843 066 was sat outside the yard control tower, eventually it fired up and shot off south and round the 180 degree curve into the industrial area. The stadium in the background is the Stade de Geneve, home of top Swiss football team Servette FC. The mountain behind is called Saleve and you can get a cable cable car to top. Krebs crane and wagon in the yard Shunter in action Edited November 16, 2023 by ruggedpeak 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Easterbrook Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 2 hours ago, ruggedpeak said: Was back at La Praille this afternoon as the sun came out after several days of rain. One of things I had noticed since coming here is that some of the graffiti in Switzerland is actually quite artistic. This is a wagon that was sat in the yard today, graffiti'd to look like a carriage. Do that on a model and everyone will criticise the poor modelling of a carriage. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chb2488 Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 (edited) Hello Tony ‚Artists‘ generally avoid painting over the data panels as these will get restored by the wagon owner, thus ruining the picture (depending how you look at it). That doesn‘t seem to apply for passenger trains as these will get cleaned anyway. Regarding the mirrors on a Re 460, they work on pneumatics and fold out when the corresponding button near the deadman’s pedal is pushed. Don‘t wish to comment on the backwards movement as I wasn‘t there, etc… Edit: Usual practice regulation is to always use the forward facing cab when shunting alone, which also means you‘ll change cabs a number of times. If accompanied by a shunter, he will uncouple the locomotive and direct the movements that are towards your back. Running around a set of coaches you would buffer up at your (the driver‘s) end, so I can‘t see why one would practice doing what you apparently saw. Hope this makes sense… Best regards Christian Edited November 16, 2023 by chb2488 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted December 4, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) Snowing heavily in Geneva today, these from yesterday on the NStCM at Le Givrine, between Nyon towards LA Cure. Then a 4km walk to the mountain hut at La Vermeilley for lunch. EXIF Data removed via Windows so they are the right way up 🙂 Frozen wires The Winter Wonderland up the hill from La Givrine Edited December 4, 2023 by ruggedpeak upside down photos 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted December 4, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) Anyone looking for a stocking filler could try the Mondaine official SBB Stop2go watches, an expensive but novelty option! They match the SBB station clocks in pausing for 2 seconds at the end of each minute, which allows all the station clocks across Switzerland to be synchronised. https://ch.mondaine.com/en/pages/stop2go-uhr SBB themselves have a wide range of interesting things in their shop including this paperweight/bookend (and the Stop2go wallclock is reduced on their website) https://commerce.sbb.ch/en/railway-track-bookend-945.html Unfortunately they only ship to Switzerland. Edited December 5, 2023 by ruggedpeak 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordonwis Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 (edited) La Givrine in 1975, a day's skiing around New Year (taken on my rather basic AGFA Rapid square neg camera...) . Edited December 5, 2023 by Gordonwis 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordonwis Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 (edited) For car enthusiasts, here is the photo of number 10 uncropped... Edited December 5, 2023 by Gordonwis 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 On 05/12/2023 at 01:08, Gordonwis said: For car enthusiasts, here is the photo of number 10 uncropped... What a line up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordonwis Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) On 12/12/2023 at 07:46, cornish trains jez said: What a line up! Yep, I can see VW beetles, Saab , Fiat 124, Renault 12, Citroen Ami 8 break, Volvo . Edited December 14, 2023 by Gordonwis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foulounoux Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 Great photos Until a few years ago Morges was a regular destination for me as our EMEA HQ until it was moved to Budapest and always by train from Geneva airport Never had the opportunity to stop in Geneva so these posts are answering questions I had 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted January 12 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 12 Won't start another thread but some freight news via Linkedin (Vincent Ducrot is SBB CEO and worth following on LinkedIn if you like the technical details): my bold... https://www.linkedin.com/posts/muhm-alexander_sbbcffffs-schienengaesterverkehr-logistik-activity-7151506456356290561-zAi9/ "Let's get down to business: On 10 January 2024, the Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the total revision of the Freight Transport Act. Now it's up to us: the modernisation of single wagonload transport (EWLV) is central to ensuring Switzerland's security of supply. At the same time, we continue to focus on the development and introduction of digital automatic coupling (DAC) together with Europe in order to make rail freight transport safer, faster and more economical. Together with our employees, partners and customers, we will make rail freight transport competitive, sustainable and innovative." 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordonwis Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 1 hour ago, ruggedpeak said: Won't start another thread but some freight news via Linkedin (Vincent Ducrot is SBB CEO and worth following on LinkedIn if you like the technical details): my bold... https://www.linkedin.com/posts/muhm-alexander_sbbcffffs-schienengaesterverkehr-logistik-activity-7151506456356290561-zAi9/ "Let's get down to business: On 10 January 2024, the Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the total revision of the Freight Transport Act. Now it's up to us: the modernisation of single wagonload transport (EWLV) is central to ensuring Switzerland's security of supply. At the same time, we continue to focus on the development and introduction of digital automatic coupling (DAC) together with Europe in order to make rail freight transport safer, faster and more economical. Together with our employees, partners and customers, we will make rail freight transport competitive, sustainable and innovative." Yes, but what does this actually mean - less or same as or (more?) wagonload freight. Switzerland is one of the few countries left with lots of wagonload and even pick up freights! . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted January 14 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 14 (edited) The Swiss are keen to retain wagon load freight if possible but it has to stack up economically and practically. They don't want, for example big trucks/artics on the roads for local distribution as you find in the UK and elsewhere. However they need to find ways to improve the efficiency and cost, hence things like DAC to 'modernise' it away from the slow, expensive and potentially dangerous processes of manual shunting etc. This is part of a wider approach to rail freight in the future. Basically they want to drag wagonload freight out of the Victorian era in the 21st century. Here's some useful links on SBB's thinking: https://company.sbb.ch/en/the-company/profile/berne-declaration.html https://company.sbb.ch/en/the-company/responsibility-society-environment/freight/implementation.html https://www.railfreight.com/railfreight/2023/03/10/switzerland-start-testing-dac-digital-freight-train/ https://www.railjournal.com/freight/switzerland-approves-automatic-brake-testing-system/ At the same time vast sums (by private investors, not SBB) are being put into a proposal for a freight system based in deep underground tunnels to move goods between the main cities. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/futuristic-underground-cargo-project-moves-a-step-closer-to-reality/46674218 Edited January 15 by ruggedpeak typo 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 Broc how it used to be - links to some of my Flickr albums... (there are a few other TPF/MOB views too) Mol 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted January 14 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 14 (edited) Excellent photos of Broc, thanks Mol. Which reminds me, the Chocolat Express was in the maintenance depot in Geneva last weekend for servicing. Others may know why it had to travel all the way to Gva for work, most be big depots nearer to Broc and Bern? Edited January 14 by ruggedpeak Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chb2488 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 @ruggedpeak: The nearest maintenance depots for Dominos are either Geneva or Bienne. I‘m not sure how much work on the class is being done by TPF itself. @Mol_PMB: The few pictures on flickr look brilliant! Any chance that you present your models in a thread? Best regards Christian 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now