Sun 07 Oct 2012

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.

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 )