Holiday by Train in Europe - assorted gauges (long)

As there are issues with flying (currently) and I'm not the greatest fan of flying I decided to see how far I could get in one day from home by train...
Starting with the 07:55 Eurostar from London (St Pancras) I next had to transfer from Paris - Gare du Nord - to Paris - Gare du Lyon - using the RER as it's only 2 stops rather than the Metro which isn't so simple, so I was able to catch the TGV to Geneva (Switzerland) so after a journey travelling at up to 300 kph I then changed platform to catch the train to Montreux where I arrived at about 17:00 - not bad for 650 miles... No pictures currently as they all need resizing... In Montreux I purchased a Swiss Pass - I had to go back to my hotel to collect my Passport to be able to do this - and would recommend this to anyone spending time in Switzerland - and spent most of the week using trains to get around... First target - Swiss Vapour Park - which is a miniature railway near Le Bouveret which I reached via SBB and a bus - they hadn't told me there was a long wait for the bus back - so I caught a ferry. Next day I visited Rochers-de-naye (I'd assumed it was metre gauge but it's 800mm) as my first rack railway - and, as a bonus saw my first Marmot since I'd seen since Pikes Peak 12 years ago. Montreux stations is, therefore, triple gauge - Standard, metre, and 800 mm.. Next on my list of things to do was the Jungfrau Express - i.e. the Eiger (by train) which meant a very early departure from Montreux - change trains at Wisp, Spiez, Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen and Grindlewald (no wonder it took the best part of 4 hours to get there) and the same route back. Next day I did the
Furka Steam Railway (I'd had to book a first class ticket - all that was available - over the internet and wait for the confirmation email - luckily I'd taken my laptop with me to do so...) before another early start - I had to be in Realp by 10:15... this time I changed in Wisp again, to the metre gauge MOB for Realp. Arrived in Realp and got off the train - no idea of where to go so headed towards the column of smoke a short distance away -to be directed to ticket office to pay for my first class return ticket (200 swiss francs) proof that I was who I claimed to be was proved by showing the confirmation email on my mobile phone. Never having travelled on a steam rack railway before I didn't know exactly what to expect, having experienced to MOB line from Wisp where the Electric loco had not slowed down each time it went onto the rack - this transition was more noticable behind steam but the sound and smell was impressive - we stopped for water once on the way to the summit and water was again taken during the 1/2 hour 'lunch stop' at the summit before passing through the summit tunnel and descending towards Gletsch where water was again taken and the final descent towards Oberwald through a spiral tunnel. there was than 75 minute break before returning to Realp 'over the top' and a journey back to Wisp back through the new tunnel. Counter pressure bakes used on all descents.My next trip was to the SCHBB (Schinznacher Baumschulbahn) - which is a narrow gauge railway around a garden centre near Brugg in Northern Switzerland - not such an early start but I had to change in Lausanne and Bern and get a 371 bus from Brugg station. It lead to my most bizarre footplate ride ever - through a Greenhouse! before catching the bus back to Brugg and retracing the route to Montreux. On my final full day I visited the Blonay - Chamby Museum above Montreux (travel to this was courtesy of local buses and the free local travel pass from the hotel) - trolley bus along the lake shore (instructions where to get off and back round the corner to catch another bus from the local tourist iformation office - and it was raining) - using the instructions I arrived at Blonay Gare and caught the train to the museum at Chamby were I saw a self propelled rotary snow plough (two, at least, were built - one other is still, occasionally, operative - search youtube) and there was an amazing collection of artefacts (a full list are on their wikipedia page in English - everything there was either in German or French). having exhausted the site and totally fed up with the rain I caught the next train back to Blonay (steam this time - similar loco to that used at Furka, I think this was also originally a Furka Pass loco) before returning to Montreux via the Golden Pass Railway (metre gauge) to Vevey and the SBB standard gauge and a few cold beers to celebrate. I'd also done an afternoon's cruise on a Lake Geneva Paddle steamer earlier in the week so I'd managed to either see or do something different each day. I was glad I didn't have to drive 650 miles home after this but travelled all the way home - which I reached at 01:00 Tuesday morning via a taxi up the hill from Leighton Buzzard station as I didn't fancy walking up the hill There was one failure from this trip - I hadn't seen a 'crocodile' anywhere where it was photographable - I'd seen a SG one in Brugg and thought I'd glimpsed an NG example in Brig but it wasn't there when I returned...

Gavin

Linslade
Bedfordshire
UK

Garratt Locomotives
[www.beyergarrattlocos.co.uk]



Edited 14 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2014 04:24PM by Gavin Hamilton.