LNER4479

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.

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.

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(?)

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.

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.

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.

I have one of my own to do. I'll tackle it at the weekend, take some pix and report back.

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?

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.

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.

Thanks - that's a great photo for detailing. It's so long ago I can't be certain but I'm trying to convince myself that I saw a photo of the loco actually on the 'Bonniface' working; that's what would have put me on to it as a loco choice in the first place. That's my usual modus operandi when choosing loco identities. But I'm blowed if I can find it just at the moment? I think I'll stick with 42093 as an identity and hope the photo resurfaces!

Even though it was some 35 years ago, I do seem to recall that it would be based on a Brighton built example. From what I understand, they were originally allocated to the Southern region but subsequently got transferred to NE Region (displaced by electrification?). The two survivors (42073 & 42085) are both such examples. I have a note somewhere that it was going to be 42093, which was allocated to Manningham from 1957 and hence feasible that it would be used on the Hawes working. I must have based the choice on a photo ... but I can't put my hands on it just at the moment? Meanwhile, the controversial screw heads have been flooded with solder and filed back. Chassis stripped down and cleaned - now drying off in the paint shop ...

Easy enough, Tony (for a man of your calibre). Simply remove the return crank and big end of the conn. rod to expose the main crank pin. There's a couple of notches that engage with pips on the inside of the crank pin. With a piercing saw (suggested), carefully saw a new set of notches on the end of the main crank pin - if necessary, dress / deepen with suitable needle file. I've not done it on an A1 per se but have now done quite a few LMS 4-6-0s and it's exactly the same procedure. If the above is unclear, I'll strip one of mine down and take some photos.

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?

Well, tried to switch to a bit of detail this evening but it was a bit laboured. This is the boiler unit, being turned into a pin cushion with various pilot holes for the correspondingly various fittings. Now, I wonder if I can find a suitable chimney / dome (etc) in this lot? Trouble is, I couldn't ... really! Spent too long trying to find something suitable. In the end, turned down the chimney supplied in a Jamieson Std 2-6-4T kit I happened to have at hand(!) It all took ages but here's the 'draw stumps' picture, with chimney, dome and top feed in place. As last year, I'll keep plugging away over the coming days and weeks and see if we can't get the bally thing finished at last. 'Night ...

Well, I don't think I'd use them these days, that's for sure. There's plenty of subsequent soldered connections added which more or less renders them obsolete - the rear one will be hidden by the side tanks in any case. The only problem with removing them now would be the holes left behind; I might file them down a bit before painting. Meanwhile: Let's see if we can make use of the remains of this MRJ LMS valve gear fret (last used in anger for last year's Patriot project). Fairburn connecting rods are a bit shorter than 4-6-0s so a bit of cutting and shutting is required. Crosshead / piston rod assemblies already made so a fairly simple job to fit the newly made up conn. rods. And now a first trial fit. All seems to go round OK. Right - time for tea 😉

PXL_20240101_135816570.TS.mp4 It goes! (sorry it's a bit short. Circa 4 seconds uploaded at 9.8MB so just scraped in under the limit without having to upload to YouTube!) Connecting rods next, methinks ...

Well, might not look like much, but ... Chassis cleaned and reassembled and, with a few tiny tweaks, passes the roll test with coupling rods on 🙂 And, half an hour later ...

Here's some detail to add: The angled brackets, supporting the front running plate. Very noticeable in front end photos. I must have intended to fit them as there's corresponding slots in the frames. And fitted. You might have already spotted what my last hour or so handling the thing closely has confirmed - my standards have possibly improved a tad over the last 35 years ... hmm ... Perhaps we should cut to the chase and just see if we can get the bally thing to 'go' after all these things (and not to overly fret about the details). Firstly, a strip down/ clean up of the chassis is in order I think, as things have become a little tarnished and congealed over the years. And as some have previously doubted (in jest?) the integrity of these little challenges, then I've included a time check above ...

Well, here's to 2024 everyone 🥃 At least one person has spotted that there hasn't been a Christmas challenge this year. Well, if you haven't already spotted it, then the Grantham parallel thread reveals that we did a festive season escape to the Swiss Alps this year. However, that doesn't mean that we can't have a NYD challenge instead! So what's going on here, you may well ask? A little explanation is called for. I'm sure there may be longer running loco build projects out there but this one has certainly racked up an impressive(?) total. Many years ago, before virtually every loco type was available RTR and many kits were crude approximations at best, I resolved to scratchbuild a Princess Royal for my Dad's 50th birthday. Flushed with the success of that, I thought I'd do another scratchbuild - a Fairburn 2-6-4T. And here it is, some 36 years later!!! Just to show how long the Carlisle candle has been burning, the choice was based on the fact that (apart from there being no RTR version at the time) they saw use on the famous Bradford-Hawes 'Bonni-face' service through Garsdale. So the loco will still has a purpose all these years later. Apart from acquiring one as a Shap banker, I have held off acquiring the present day RTR version, always intending to finish this build ... one day. As you might be able to see, all the main assemblies are built. The remaining work is to motorise and detail. Realistically, it's not going to be anything like finished today but, on the basis of 'I've started so I'll finish', let's see how much progress we can make at least ...

Well spotted! I hope to be tackling something tomorrow, as a New Year's Day challenge instead. Will be on the Hills of the North thread, if so.

You might have thought we'd have gone the whole hog and gone up the Jungfrau on a day like this ... but our timings didn't allow. Instead, we had the train down the other side to ourselves, making good use of the pully-down windows. 20 mins of pure Alpine perfection. They hardly need captions. Ice station Zebra? That's the Junfraujoch, Europe's highest railway station, perfectly silhouetted against the clear blue sky. Looking in the Wengen direction, the mountainside village visible centre left is actually Mürren, on the opposite of the Lauterbrunnen valley. Presiding over it, towards the centre is the 007 Schilthorn summit. Last went up there in 2018. Also no time for that today - but perfectly happy just to have been in such fab conditions. My fave Swiss destination is actually canton Graübunden and the incomparable Rhätischebahn. But when conditions in the Bernese Oberland are like this, it is pretty special.

Further change at Grindelwald for the Wengeralpbahn and the dramatic hill climbing (and descending!) ahead. You can see the route ahead of this remarkable cog railway, snaking up the hillside in the distance; also the new Jungfrau express cable car run (Grindelwald Terminal to Eiger Glacier). Well above the snow line now, as we skirt the side of the Eiger with ski run beside us. The 'classic' view at Kleine Scheidegg as a Jungfrau train rolls in. We'd kept an eye on the weather forecast and held off going the day before. A good call, as it turned out, being greeted with conditions like this😎

Several posts coming up, as file sizes quite big: Day 2 (23rd) based in Luzern saw us take the also rather excellent Zentralbahn Panoramic Express service on the metre gauge to somewhere you might have heard of ... These 7-car sets include a full-blown restaurant car. Not over expensive and not over patronised - what's not to like? And with tempting views across lake Brienz, anticipating fine conditions for the scenery to come. Change at Interlaken (Ost) for the fab BOB trains. It's looking good.

Yep. Thought it wasn't too difficult. First pic main station, interesting in that it has metre gauge platforms (pictured) and standard platforms, all consecutively numbered. Second pic is the excellent Swiss Transport Museum - with an excellent entrance price to match(!) But an absorbing day's entertainment for a transport enthusiast nonetheless; unfortunately, Mrs4479 was flagging a little by the time we reached the train hall so no pix there. Rather pleasant way to return after our visit, catching the boat across the lake (4th pic). How very Swiss. For completeness, third pic was taken at Schwyz. More coming up ...