Sun 07 Oct 2012
Sun 07 Oct 2012
20/10/12 20:43
It was one of those totally grotty days when you don’t even consider where you might stand a chance of getting the sun. Instead I whiled away the hours until my flight home by clocking up some km on my InterRail, looking for spots that might be worth visiting on a future trip.
The first target was the Neuchâtel - Bern line. The southbound ICNs just miss the connection at Neuchâtel so instead of sitting around for an hour I carried on to Yverdon-les-Bains and then returned on a northbound ICN. All seemed well when I got off the train but, just as the second northbound ICN departed, it was announced that the Bern train was cancelled and passengers should travel via Biel. Thanks a bunch! Two fast trains to Biel had just left so I had to take a stopper, effectively losing an hour. It turned out that the line was closed all day for engineering work but that wasn’t apparent until I got to Bern, where there were prominent notices with full details. I was surprised to see an ICN unit covering a Biel - Bern turn, which I’d assumed were solid 460s.
From Bern I travelled over the original main line to Olten to check for locations. This line sees a fair amount of freight, mostly heading for the Lötschberg but good photo positions look few and far between. Although we took the new line through the Grauholz Tunnel between Bern and Burgdorf, we still used the old route via Aarburg at the Olten end of the line.
Then it was on to Basel to check out the Basel - Frick - Brugg route, part of the principal freight route from Germany to the Gotthard, another difficult line for spots, apart from a few around Frick and Ziehen I already knew about. There were eight Ae6/6s stabled or stored at Muttenz. They looked operational but it was difficult to be sure. Two more were seen during the day, one at Biel RB and the other at Langenthal, both undoubtedly operational. Although the service I travelled on was loco hauled, a Zürich Flughafen - Basel SBB train was seen formed of two class 522 units.
After getting off at Baden, I retraced my steps to Brugg then followed the freight route south to Rotkreuz, changing trains at Lenzburg. Most of the line looked devoid of potential but there appeared to be some very nice photo positions at the south end of the line, from Benzenschwil onwards. From Rotkreuz it was onwards to Luzern and then on the Voralpen Express to Pfäffikon before finally taking the S-Bahn to Zürich Flughafen. A couple of ÖBB RailJets were seen at Pfäffikon, both covered in grime and looking really unattractive. I remember thinking how smart they looked when they were new and clean.
Another trip over. Good weather on Friday and Saturday rescued what was in danger of becoming a trip to forget. As with the previous trip, the results were more than acceptable in every respect bar one - not enough pics of Ae6/6s in good light.
The first target was the Neuchâtel - Bern line. The southbound ICNs just miss the connection at Neuchâtel so instead of sitting around for an hour I carried on to Yverdon-les-Bains and then returned on a northbound ICN. All seemed well when I got off the train but, just as the second northbound ICN departed, it was announced that the Bern train was cancelled and passengers should travel via Biel. Thanks a bunch! Two fast trains to Biel had just left so I had to take a stopper, effectively losing an hour. It turned out that the line was closed all day for engineering work but that wasn’t apparent until I got to Bern, where there were prominent notices with full details. I was surprised to see an ICN unit covering a Biel - Bern turn, which I’d assumed were solid 460s.
From Bern I travelled over the original main line to Olten to check for locations. This line sees a fair amount of freight, mostly heading for the Lötschberg but good photo positions look few and far between. Although we took the new line through the Grauholz Tunnel between Bern and Burgdorf, we still used the old route via Aarburg at the Olten end of the line.
Then it was on to Basel to check out the Basel - Frick - Brugg route, part of the principal freight route from Germany to the Gotthard, another difficult line for spots, apart from a few around Frick and Ziehen I already knew about. There were eight Ae6/6s stabled or stored at Muttenz. They looked operational but it was difficult to be sure. Two more were seen during the day, one at Biel RB and the other at Langenthal, both undoubtedly operational. Although the service I travelled on was loco hauled, a Zürich Flughafen - Basel SBB train was seen formed of two class 522 units.
After getting off at Baden, I retraced my steps to Brugg then followed the freight route south to Rotkreuz, changing trains at Lenzburg. Most of the line looked devoid of potential but there appeared to be some very nice photo positions at the south end of the line, from Benzenschwil onwards. From Rotkreuz it was onwards to Luzern and then on the Voralpen Express to Pfäffikon before finally taking the S-Bahn to Zürich Flughafen. A couple of ÖBB RailJets were seen at Pfäffikon, both covered in grime and looking really unattractive. I remember thinking how smart they looked when they were new and clean.
Another trip over. Good weather on Friday and Saturday rescued what was in danger of becoming a trip to forget. As with the previous trip, the results were more than acceptable in every respect bar one - not enough pics of Ae6/6s in good light.
Solothurn
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
500.004 | ICN1510 | 05:44 St.Gallen - Lausanne | 07:59 (travelled Solothurn - Yverdon-les-Bains) |
Biel RB
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Ae6/6 | Stabled | 08:10 |
Biel/Bienne
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
460.080 | IR2115 | 08:15 Biel/Bienne - Konstanz | 08:14 |
460.055 propelling |
RE2928 | 08:22 Biel/Bienne - Bern | 08:16 |
Yverdon-les-Bains
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
500.021 | ICN610 | 07:03 Basel SBB - Genève-Aéroport | 08:55 |
500.003 | ICN519 | 08:05 Genève-Aéroport - St.Gallen | 09:04 (travelled Yverdon-les-Bains - Neuchâtel) |
Neuchatel
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
560.216 | 5125 | 09:37 (travelled Neuchâtel - Biel/Bienne) |
Biel/Bienne
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
460.068 propelling |
RE2936 | 10:22 Biel/ Bienne - Bern | 10:22 (travelled Biel/Bienne - Bern) |
Lyss
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
500.040 | RE2937 | 10:13 Bern - Biel/Bienne | 10:30 |
Bern
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
11108 | NB (Football?) Special | 10:53 | |
460.068 | RE3221 | 11:07 Bern - Olten | 11:07 (travelled Bern - Olten) |
Langenthal
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
610.420 | Stabled | 11:42 |
Olten
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
460.059 propelling |
IR1920 | 11:06 Zürich HB - Bern | 11:58 |
460.066 propelling |
IC1070 | 10:30 Interlaken Ost - Basel SBB | 12:05 (travelled Olten - Basel SBB) |
Muttenz
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Ae6/6 x8 | Stabled / Stored | 12:21 |
Basel SBB
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
460.030 | IR1775 | 12:47 Basel SBB - Chur | 12:35 |
460.005 | IR2075 | 12:40 Basel SBB - Zürich Flughafen | 12:40 (travelled Basel SBB - Baden) |
Baden
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
522.xxx 522.xxx |
IR2024 | 13:04 Zürich Flughafen - Basel SBB | 13:33 |
500.038 | IR1925 | 12:36 Bern - Zürich HB | 13:38 |
11228 | IR1974 | 13:36 Zürich HB - Basel SBB | 13:51 |
560.263 | 6754 | 14:04 Baden - Langenthal | 14:04 (travelled Baden - Lenzburg) |
Lenzburg
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
523.004 | 7357 | 14:37 Lenzburg - Rotkreuz | 14:37 (travelled Lenzburg - Rotkreuz) |
Rotkreuz
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
11685 11349 |
NB Intermodal | 15:10 | |
460.115 propelling |
IR2345 | 14:35 Zürich HB - Luzern | 15:10 (travelled Rotkreuz - Luzern) |
Luzern
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
456.094-SOB | IR2425 | 15:40 Luzern - Romanshorn | 15:40 (travelled Luzern - Pfäffikon) |
Küssnacht am Rigi
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
456.095-SOB propelling |
IR2422 | 13:34 Romanshorn - Luzern | 16:00 |
Arth-Goldau
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
540.036 | Stabled | 16:16 |
Altmatt
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
456.091-SOB propelling |
IR2424 | 14:34 Romanshorn - Luzern | 16:31 |
Pfäffikon
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
460.104 propelling |
IC579 | 15:33 Basel SBB - Chur | 17:00 |
1116.208-ÖBB | RJ363 | 16:40 Zürich HB - Wien West | 17:03 |
460.050 | IC582 | 16:09 Chur - Basel SBB | 17:04 |
446.015-SOB mid train |
IR2426 | 15:34 Romanshorn - Luzern | 17:06 |
1116.xxx-ÖBB mid train 1116.221-ÖBB propelling |
RJ162 | 06:05 Budapest - Zürich HB | 17:08 |
450.000 | 18565 | 15:47 Rafz - Pfäffikon | 17:09 |
450.012 propelling |
18265 | 16:11 Effretikon - Ziegelbrücke | 17:12 |
450.064 | 18272 | 16:50 Ziegelbrücke - Effretikon | 17:17 (travelled Pfäffikon - (Zürich HB)) |
Zürich HB
Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
450.064 propelling |
18272 | 16:50 Ziegelbrücke - Effretikon | 17:55 (travelled (Zürich HB) - Zürich Flughafen ) |