Grantham - the Streamliner years

[LNER4479]

After the Lord Mayor's show?

 

The following day (24th), we took the metre gauge up the (long) branch line to Engelberg.

 

And the cable cars up to the 10,000ft summit of Mount Titlis. It should have been spectacular - it WAS spectacular - but somehow just didn't 'hit the heights' for us?

Not helped by some of the summit attractions being roped off due to strong winds. Nice goulash soup in the restaurant, mind.

 

Later on, we went to find Luzern's famous lion statue. I say 'famous' but I hadn't actually heard of it before; someone pointed it out to me immediately prior to the trip. Certainly an impressive piece of stonework.

 

And so what did we do on the 'big' day?

[lezz01]

When I was a coach tour manager back in the day, late 80's, the lion was the first place I took my tour to when we got to Luzern. It's one of the three things Luzern's most famous for, it was bridge, tower and lion. It is an outstanding carving of a lion after all.

Regards Lez. 

[LNER4479]

Indeed. Now I know about the lion and seen what a remarkable thing it is I'm somewhat ashamed that I didn't previously know about it. You live and learn, I guess?

 

Now then, one of the many great things about Switzerland is that the trains run as normal on Christmas Day. Not even a reduced / limited bank hol timetable, just the everyday timetable. Marvellous.

 

Taking full advantage, we boarded this standard gauge train and headed south, towards the heart of the Alps.

 

Those in the know will readily recognise this place. We're on the Gotthard pass and these are the famous reverse curves that take the railway up and around the village of Wassen and it's distinctive church.

Of course, the service is a bit up the wall at the mo following the freight train derailment in the new base tunnel but that didn't seem to affect our schedule too much.

 

A change at Göschenen for the short connecting link brings us to Andermatt, the cross roads of the Alps.

 

We were rather taken with Andermatt when we last stayed here in 2016. The clear blue skies point invitingly to the Furka pass - impassable this time of the year.

 

[LNER4479]

A Disentis bound train snakes up the zig-zags overlooking the town from the east.

 

We experience a parallel departure, heading back the way we came.

 

Sun at it's highest at this time of year to partially illuminate the famous bridges in the Schöllenen gorge.

 

Back in Göschenen.

Well, OK - that's the shuttle train heading back out.

Edited January 6 by LNER4479

[LNER4479]

Our train back emerges out of the tunnel to pick us up.

Well OK - that's a Lugano-bound train heading out of the station.

 

On the way back, we broke our journey at Flüelen for a look around.

 

Not a bad way to spend 25th Dec?

[LNER4479]

Boxing Day and a dramatic sky effect shortly after dawn

 

Taken from outside our hotel. Right of centre, our mountain awaits!

 

Just to prove that we were on a boat this morning.

 

Heading across the lake to Vitznau.

 

How's this for a trackwork challenge?(!) This is a giant turntable; the shed building, in part roundhouse form, is behind me.

 

And so here we go, up the famous Rigi Railway.

[LNER4479]

More interesting trackwork!

 

At the penultimate station, we're joined by the other line, up from Art Goldau

 

Both lines head up towards the summit, above the snow line.

 

The view from a rather windy summit.

[LNER4479]

To complete our 'required track', we travelled back down on the Arth Goldau line

 

 

Two trains, one following the other (as is often the case on mountain railways)

 

Lovely end to the day, up by the city walls

 

Tomorrow - a most remarkable railway to conclude our trip.

[Erichill16]

Great pictures and certainly brings back memories. We regularly holiday in Interlaken/Wilderswil (for the Schynige  Platte Bahn) and have visited most of the places on your itinerary and have had stayed twice in Andermatt. We walked  down from Andermatt all the way to Wassen and spent a couple of hours taking pictures and watching the trains go by and got talking to an enthusiast from the Czech Republic whilst in the church yard there.

 

[LNER4479]

Nice to hear. I'd love to spend some time at Wassen; someone said that the station there has now been closed? Seems odd, although there may be a bus service.

 

And so to our last excursion of the visit.

 

Did I say 'railway'? Well, it does run on rails. Is it a funicular or a cable way?

 

This is the remarkable Stoosbahn. We'd heard of it and I'd sussed out that it was nearby, a short bus ride from Schwyz station. Opened just seven years, to replace a venerable, conventional funicular, it launches itself at this dramatic cliff face, the four circular gondolas rotating to compensate for the gradient, London eye style.

 

Boarding via platform doors. We let this one go so as to be in pole position for the next one.

 

And off we go. It attains an angle of 47.7deg - that's steeper than 1-in-1. That's a World Record for a funicular ... when it's not being a cable way(?)

[LNER4479]

Once out of the tunnels at the top of the cliff, the whole thing levels out.

 

Arriving at the top station. You can see the tunnel in the background. It's not actually a particularly long run.

 

It does of course serve the mountain village of Stoos, doing what it sez on the tin. But that's not important right now.

(nice sunshine again 😎)

 

Last view on the way back. You can see just how steep that initial climb is.

 

[John76]

Some great photos and some great places to think about visiting.

 

You didn't fancy skiing back down??

[Erichill16]

When we went the station at Wassen was closed because their timetable was so intense there were no paths for local stopping train. There was a parallel bus service up to Goschenen which we used for our return. I’m not sure if the station is open or is due to reopen due to more paths being available due to most trains now taking the base tunnel route.

Robert

 

[lezz01]

That railway was featured in a doco about extreme railways. It's a wonderful bit of engineering. 

I'd love a trip on it that's for sure.

Regards Lez. 

[30368]

On 04/01/2024 at 22:17, LNER4479 said:

Lovely end to the day, up by the city walls

 

A really enjoyable travelog. It really is a joy to use the trains in Switzerland (and the boats and buses) it all interconnects so well and is more affordable than you might think. We had many an enjoyable walking holiday there, facilitated by the fab public transport. Great pictures, thanks.

 

Kind regards,

 

30368

[LNER4479]

On 05/01/2024 at 23:36, John76 said:

Some great photos and some great places to think about visiting.

 

 

On 06/01/2024 at 09:27, 30368 said:

A really enjoyable travelog. It really is a joy to use the trains in Switzerland (and the boats and buses) it all interconnects so well and is more affordable than you might think. We had many an enjoyable walking holiday there, facilitated by the fab public transport. Great pictures, thanks.

 

Glad it was of interest to some. And you took the words right out of my mouth there in terms of the properly integrated transport system. It really is a joy. Anyone thinking of going, don't even consider taking your car. Fly to Geneva (if you must) and just use the public transport from there.

 

We were provided with a TELL pass (https://www.tellpass.ch/en) - this covered ALL public transport in the central Switz area (roughly south of Luzern as far as Interlaken (via Meiringen) and Andermatt (via the Gotthard)). 240CHF for 10 days (we were only there six days). When you consider that ALL transport includes the cable cars / funiculars as well, its outstanding value for a transport enthusiast. Titlis, Rigi, Stoosbahn plus boats on the lake - all included. I've just checked the Titlis cable car price as a one-off - 72CHF!!

 

The trip we were on was marketted (via the hotel) as the White Pass Snow Train Adventure (Golden Pass, Voralpen Express, Glacier Express*, Engelberg Express (Titlis) and Rigi)

*Stretching a point a bit with this one - it actually covers Andermatt-Oberalp as a 20 min taster only!

 

In the summer, they do the Steam Dream Adventure, which includes:

 

Furka steam railway (2016) - should be on every steam lover's bucket list

 

Brienz-Rothorn mountain railway (2015). Think Snowdon on steroids. And 'new' steam, too.

 

Lake Brienz paddle-steamer (2015). We didn't book this at all - it just 'turned up' as part of the ordinary BLS schedule. No special fare applied. Marvellous.

(Steam Dream Adventure also includes Rigi steam and paddle steamers on lakes Luzern and Zurich)

 

For what it's worth, in case anyone is musing?

 

 

Meanwhile ... be back on again  before too long with some more Grantham-specific news, in advance of York show appearance.

Edited January 7 by LNER4479

[DaveF]

Just to say how much I've enjoyed the photos and to thank you for posting them, I've been to almost all then places - it is interesting to see what they look like now compared to the 80s and 90s. 

 

David

[5BarVT]

Super envious of your trip!  Thank you for posting and thanks for the hotel link.  One of my favourite rides in Switzerland is Giswil to Meiringen.

Paul.

[60027Merlin]

When you think of the shambles here in the 90s when the trains and bus services were "thrown open to competition" it did not take too long for transport time tables becoming a nonsense with integration being an unknown mystery.

 

My wife has relatives on the Swiss/German border and on one of our earlier visits decades ago I spoke with an ex/B.R. employee who was working with the Swiss National Railways. He remarked that all forms of Swiss transport must have their timetables integrated, no exceptions, and should a business in one of the Cantons decide to run buses/lake steamers etc. their timetables must align with all of the other transport timetables. If not, they can forget it!

  

All common sense.

 

Great photos on these last few pages.

[Fishplate]

10 hours ago, 60027Merlin said:

When you think of the shambles here in the 90s when the trains and bus services were "thrown open to competition" it did not take too long for transport time tables becoming a nonsense with integration being an unknown mystery.

 

Same in Engineering. All split up to suit the prevailing political dogma of the time. 30 years on it gives me no pleasure to point out to the younger generation that they are witnessing another example of the white heat of innovation in the sunny hills of the promised land. 

 

For 'white heat' read 'arson'.

 

BR was far from perfect, but having been realigned into business units under Organising for Quality' it didn't need to be destroyed by privatising in the way it was.

 

I've witnessed some fine examples of not integrating or innovating because 'we aren't paid to do that'. What is really meant is: 'You are employed to create the best return for our shareholders, not the best outcome for the railway'.

 

Don't get me started. 

 

Oh, you did 🤣

[St Enodoc]

4 minutes ago, Fishplate said:

BR was far from perfect, but having been realigned into business units under Organising for Quality' it didn't need to be destroyed by privatising in the way it was.

That was probably Sir Bob Reid's biggest mistake. OfQ was an excellent organisation and could have been privatised with few problems. The trouble was, it was invented in-house so that would never do. No government would have admitted that someone else's idea was better than theirs.

[EHertsGER]

22 hours ago, Fishplate said:

 

Same in Engineering. All split up to suit the prevailing political dogma of the time. 30 years on it gives me no pleasure to point out to the younger generation that they are witnessing another example of the white heat of innovation in the sunny hills of the promised land. 

 

For 'white heat' read 'arson'.

 

BR was far from perfect, but having been realigned into business units under Organising for Quality' it didn't need to be destroyed by privatising in the way it was.

 

I've witnessed some fine examples of not integrating or innovating because 'we aren't paid to do that'. What is really meant is: 'You are employed to create the best return for our shareholders, not the best outcome for the railway'.

 

Don't get me started. 

 

Oh, you did 🤣

Paraphrasing a recent remark by a Healthcare Corporation (of course) to the effect that they are in business to make money, not cure people…

[LNER4479]

Well, the layout is shortly to awake from its winter slumbers - with a little bit of additional excitement thrown in. Before that - and by way of a 'wake up' - been on my travels again. Just a quick few days, with fellow group of GRJ Tour Managers (ie we paid our own way on this occasion). Getting to be a bit of a tradition - a get-together trip out-of-season. Otherwise, we tend to pass like ships in the night.

 

To get the most out of our time together, we agreed to fly out (Mon 19th) and meet up at our designated rendez-vous point. The Alps looking particularly enticing from seat 22A of my flight out from MIA (Ringway) to ...

 

... the fair city of Milano. They have trams here. There were some REALLY old ones running around but didn't have my wits about me to capture one on the old camfone, so you'll have to take my word for it (I'm not really very clued up when it comes to trams).

 

 

The weather was set fair for the Tues (20th) so we headed out to lake Como for a bit of leisurely familiarisation. Here are my travelling companions, freshly decanted from Trenord's finest. If you book on a GRJ tour and get one of these as your Tour Manager then run for the hills (ha!)

 

For those unfamiliar with your Italian lakes geography, Como is three legged and lovely lakeside town of Varenna is at the apex of the lake, served by the train. From there, ferries take you across the lake to Bellagio (the main tourist hotspot) and ...

 

... Mennagio. Just look at these conditions. This is mid-February and it was shirt sleeves weather. No-one about (but enough bars / cafes open). Absolutely gorgeous. I'd been here before but none of my colleagues had; they left with a favourable impression.

 

Back in Milan, enough daylight left to take in the spectacle of the Duomo square.

 

They even have gondolos in Milan. Who knew?

 

Next - my favourite European train journey bar none. And a special stop en route. All we need is the weather.

[St Enodoc]

11 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

my favourite European train journey bar none

Gottardo?

[LNER4479]

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Gottardo?

Close, but no cigar.

 

No, my favourite introduction to the railways of Switzerland is the amazing* Bernina pass route, north from Tirano, in Italy (*not just me saying that - UNESCO agree with me 😆)

 

The plan for our little trip revolved around this journey and it was a relief to see the forecast gradually improve until we had a largely sunny day😎 We retraced our steps out to lake Como but then carried out along the remainder of this extensive branchline to its terminus at Tirano. After over two and a half hours on the train, it was time for a coffee stop in station square.

 

What makes this way into Switzerland so memorable, is that the trip out of Italy - whilst very attractive - is on a nondescript, graffiti-ridden (usually) train, with unmanned stations, dilapidated buildings. You exit this world on the left (cream coloured building) and then step across the square into the station building on the right. An enclave of Swiss swishness and an extremity of the iconic red trains of the Rhätische Bahn (Rhaetian Railways) RhB. The contrast could not be more complete and just serves to accentuate the remarkable journey that is about to unfold.

 

The trip starts in Italy but within 10 minutes, we're into canton Graubünden (the Grisons) and soon encounter the first of the remarkable pieces of railway engineering - the Brusio spiral. We were on that railway below less than 60 seconds previously.

 

Beyond Brusio, we're running alongside Miralago, a beautiful Alpine lake. The snow-topped mountains ahead are where we're going.

 

Above Poschiavo (a major RhB depot) - centre of the picture - the railway starts its climb into the mountains via two long, snaking S-bends. Look carefully and you can see bits of the railway lower down the slopes. The scenery changes from side-to-side as the railway does a sequence of U-turns. That's the Miralago lake we passed earlier in the distance.

 

We're now above the snow line and undertaking further zig-zags as the railway travels further vertically than it does horizontally.

 

The final 180deg curve of this remarkable stretch of line, brings us into the amazing mountaintop station of Alp Grüm, only accessible by train.

 

On a day like this, you simply HAVE to break your journey here, just to take it all in, overlooked by the Palü glacier. I know of no finer (railway) restaurant balcony to enjoy your goulash soup and beer. Many of my fellow TMs have done the Bernina Express in the last couple of years, but none had broken their journey here. It was a magical hour - nice when it all works out as planned.

Edited March 2 by LNER4479