Too much jelly makes you sick!

Locomotives shown on a yellow background are those which I have scored for haulage.

Introduction:
This trip had been planned since February last year when we had previously stayed in Alan Spencer's "holiday home" in Switzerland. We liked the place so much we decided to rent it for a whole week, initially for 4 of us but this later developed into 8! Accompanying me for the majority of the bash were Richard Lea, Blackwater, Sutty and Wez; at various stages we were also joined by John Chapman, Richard Morrison and Gary Thornton.

FRIDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2002
An early start to catch the first "Up London", Wez was the most knackered though as he'd been on late turn the night before and not finished until midnight! Entertainment for the trip was me arguing with a p**sed up Irish bloke smoking in the vestibule - his collar was later felt by a plain-clothed BTP officer who'd got on at Milton Keynes! Arrival at Euston and a 168 bus to Waterloo - I avoid using the Underground during peak time with my big bags if at all possible - then into the staff canteen for breakfast.

As ever Eurostar was a complete farce due to the inadequate security provision after the events of September 11th 2001. Basically there was a huge queue for ckeck-in followed by the now obligatory X-Ray of bags and then I got hossed by a HM Customs bert for my passport etc!!

The actual Eurostar journey was however punctual and relatively uneventful, despite Blackwater stinking out the whole coach at regular intervals, he must have had double portions of beans in the canteen! Needless to say the Eurostar set was dud as ever!

A right time arrival at Gare du Nord meant there was the possibility of making the +20 onto the 1316 out of Gare d'Est to Mulhouse. We made with ease, however the train was a complete wedge-out which meant we had to stand about 45 minutes to the first shack where loads of people got off. 72043 made loads of thrash at stations, but on the move was the usual French trash. The whole coach was bellowing at some old bloke who couldn't stop belching!!

Wez and a rather appropriate destination label!!!  (Picture by R.Lea)

Arrival at Mulhouse and we checked into the pre-booked Ibis Hotel and went out for a spin on a few Sybic electrics, before finding a restaurant where Sutty and Wez tried the Kangaroo!! 

SATURDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2002
The train to Basel turned out to be a rancid cart - oops - still it had to be done. I hate France, so why did we come this way - simple EasyJet wanted a fortune to fly out but had reasonable fares on the way back, it was cheaper to travel overland so we went via France enabling us to keep our more valuable SNCB and CFL free passes until later in the year!

Obligatory customs checks at Basel then it was onto our first Swiss train which we did all the way to Interlaken Ost for a "Supermarket Sweep" at the Co-op across the road.

Chappy gets presented with a tin of namesake dog food at Interlaken Ost!

We then travelled on the narrow gauge line to Brienz and back to Ringgenberg which was to be our base for the week.

Left, view from just up the road from our base. Right, view of the village of Ringgenberg.

Sutty and Richard Lea struggle up one of the hills walking to the station!

110.005 at Brienz station.

After we'd got settled at base we went out for an afternoon's spinning on the main line between Spiez and Thun. Dinner was in a Pizzeria we'd eaten in before in Interlaken town centre.

BLS "Brown Bomber" 190 at Interlaken Ost.

Oh dear! Blackwater seems to want to be a spaceman....when he grows up!!!

* = SBB loco on hire to BLS.

SUNDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2002
This morning we wanted to cover the MOB narrow gauge line so it was a bit of a lie-in before getting down to the station for the 0916 into Interlaken. However there were some problems and the 0916 was cancelled - unheard of in Switzerland! Never mind as the semi-fast was stopping all stations!

The MOB was hellfire as it had been snowing the previous night and the snow was still thick. The trains were all pretty quiet too which was a bonus!

8003 arrives at Rossinière.

We found some ski goggles in the waiting room st Saanenmöser, here Blackwater tries them on in an Ali G pose!

Sutty relaxes in the MOB panorama car!

6002 arrives at Rougemont.

After the delights of the MOB we went for some serious loco scratching in the Bern area with several Re 4/4s and the inevitable 460's. Sutty nicknamed 460's "Jelly Molds" - hence the title for the story as we had loads of them during the week!

MONDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2002
Today's plan was to head over the scenic Gotthard line and maybe back via Italy and Domodossola. However the timetable is unkind to this sort of move and to get any length of time in Italy you have to travel either out or back on a rancid Cisalpino unit - yuk! During the night I'd had two SMS messages from Ferenc and Neil Aitken informing me that there may be diesel dragging due to a crash at Chiasso.

We had an early start and made our way via Bern and Luzern to Arth-Goldau where we picked up a Zürich-Milano IC train with Re6/6 power in the shape of 11658. This train was non-stop via the Gotthard route to Bellinzona - some impressive scenery being noted en route. All the trains seemed to be running to time so we asked the traincrew if there were still disruptions, to which they replied there were 2 tracks open - no dragging for us then!

Due to the lack of dragging and the Cisalpino scenario we decided to bale at Bellinzona and retrace our steps back to Arth-Goldau. The afternoon was then spent spinning on the "Voralpen Express" which runs from Luzern to Romanshorn via Arth-Goldau, Rapperswill and St. Gallen. This is a joint service with a couple of engines provided by SBB and the others provided by private operator Südostbahn (SOB) - the latter having recently merged with the Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn (BT). For good measure we also covered the peak hour train operated by the SOB using one of their Class 477 locomotives which are ex-DR Class 142's primarily used for freight traffic.

11658 at Locarno in the sunshine.

SOB 456.096 powers away from Sattel-Aegeri with the "Voralpen Express"

SOB 446.448 arrives at Biberbrugg. (Picture by R.Lea)

450.005 on a Zürich S-Bahn rake at Pfäffikon SZ.

477.912 belonging to the Südostbahn is an ex-DR Class 142 electric. 

Back at Luzern later on myself and Blackwater managed to pick up a new Brünig line 110 and 101 while Sutty and Richard spun around on the LSE.

TUESDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2002
A leisurely start this morning saw us catch the 09.16 out of Ringgenberg. Main aim of the day was head over to the Appenzeller Bahn (AB) to cane in their one and only loco, strangely enough numbered 1! We made our way via Thun and Bern to Zürich then via the Flughafen to the start of the AB line at Gössau. One of the conductors on IC919 was a dead ringer for Euston train manager Tommy Cheah and he was a right bellower, he even more-or-less invited us to take the p**s out of his real name - Chokchompa!!!!

Loads of cranks mill around on the platform at Thun waiting for EC108.

Thanks to the nice people at AB whom I'd emailed at home we had the diagrams for no.1, however it could be doing one of 2 diagrams depending on whether they had to run a freight train that day or not! We chose to play it safe and get there in plenty of time, which was lucky as some of the others had to put up with a rancid ICN unit on the train behind!

Unique AB loco no.1 having arrived at Herisau station.

Having accomplished our task earlier than planned we took a required SOB loco down to Rapperswill to see if the SOB 477 turn had swapped. It hadn't but we'd noticed a unit with a Lokoop DB Class 145 lookalike attatched to the rear. We assumed it was some sort of ECS movement but Mr. Lea went to investigate. 

The brand new loco was in out-of-the-box condition and was had been on some sort of a proving run; they had attatched the loco to the rear of the unit as a positioning move to get it back to the depot at Samstagern - but there was a driver still in it...hmmm! Mr. Lea used his best German to whip the driver up into powering on departure, the result one very rare Lokoop freight engine in the book!

Lokoop 486.656 on the rear of the unit at Pfäffikon SZ!

As if an already productive day could get any better it did, the freight Re4/4 turn produced required 11316 and then Ae4/4 11435 was out on hire to BLS and was duly caned in on EC105. 

* - On hire to BLS.

WEDNESDAY 27TH FEBRUARY 2002
Today Sutty wanted a ride over the Brünig during daylight whereas Blackwater and I were now down to our last 101 (963) so it made sense to start off locally. 963 had been seen several times so far but where was it this morning? To make life simple we caught the stopper down to Meiringen, passing 120.012 on a freight on the way, and interrogated the redcap. Result - not only did he tell us where to find 963 but he told us that 120.012 would be piloting the 09.35 ex Interlaken as a positioning move to get it back to Meiringen.

A quick leap on 101.966 back to Brienz put us in position for a brief haulage behind this freight only veteran!

101.966 departs from Brienz with train 2452.

120.012 piloting 101.964 arrives at Brienz with train 2461.

We carried on with train 2461 over to the the other end of the Brünig line to intercept 101.963. On passing a train in the other direction we received some curious looks from a Chinese looking guy who took out his digital camera and photted us! Were we that weird?!!! Anyway the obligatory phot had to be taken of "Digital Dong" bellowing out of the window - hellfire!!

Digital Dong!   (Left hand picture by R.Lea)

Class Cleared! 101.963 at Sachseln.

Richard and Sutty had a few more winners out on the LSE (Luzern-Stans-Engelberg) line and Brünig but there was nothing for Blackwater and I so we parted company and took ourselves off over to Arth-Goldau where we managed to pick up a couple of Re4/4s and the two SOB 456's that had eluded us so far!

11213 at Arth-Goldau in the company of a "Jelly Mold"!

A pair of SOB 477's on a freight train.

456.094 at Pfäffikon working train IR2927.

Back to base via Zürich (where some Re4/4 spinning filled a small time gap) and the cargo Re4/4 turn produced winning 11278. Met back up with Sutty and Richard at Olten and we all bailed off at Thun for a hellfire pizza and a beer in the station brewpub.

THURSDAY 28TH FEBRUARY 2002
RhB day today! It's quite a jaunt from Interlaken round to Landquart where the RhB can be intercepted but it's well worth it. The objective really was to have as many engines as possible, so the moves are short and we didn't really go far from Landquart or Chur, but all of us apart from Sutty had already done most of the system on a previous visit.

615 arrives at Landquart.

A mixed train, with a Coop wagon tagged on the rear!

628 arrives at Igis, photted off the station goods shed!

704 waits at Landquart with a freight.

642 waits to depart from Landquart with train no.44.

624 and 618 await their next duties on the Arosa line outside Chur station.

627 approaches Chur Stadt "station" on the street running section of the RhB.

FRIDAY 1ST MARCH 2002
Our attention had been drawn to an unusual loco-hauled line as a result of a visit earlier in the week by Chappy. Today we had allocated ourselves to cover it! After a very long day yesterday we had a well deserved lie-in and came out for the 09.16 off Ringgenberg. We travelled via Bern to Lausanne. The train from Bern to Lausanne was formed of IC2000 Double Deck stock and we were sat in the DVT at the front of the train. The conductor came through and asked if we wanted to take turns at sitting up front with the driver! Excellent views of Lake Geneva were seen!

101.968 at Intelaken Ost.

Seminar!! Myself, Blackwater, Richard and Sutty at Lausanne.

At Lausanne we travelled on the LO (Lausanne-Orly) Métro which amazingly is loco-hauled! There are three rack fitted electric locos, numbers 121-123 of which two are in traffic at any one time. We sampled 121 and 122.

LO locos 121 and 122 respectively.

All this excitement was proving too much for Blackwater!

Having spun around on Re4/4's between Lausanne and Montreux we headed back over to Bern for some more "oldies" between Herzogenbuchsee and Langenthal. In the process we managed to sample a train with the Coop shop on board. This is a coach converted into a supermarket complete with a small coffee bar and bakery! 

We spun up and down between the two shacks for a couple of hours. On our last move however we were in for a bit of a shock, just before arrival at Herzogenbuchsee Blackwater and I were standing in the vestibule (the train was wedged) and a bloke opposite produced a Police warrant card and attempted to arrest us!! On the platform he tried to drag us away but all 4 of us protested as we knew we'd done nothing wrong. 

We managed to find the "redcap" who spoke English and asked him to help us. The plain-clothed Police officer got him to call for back up and within minutes 4 other officers appeared!! A simple explanation resolved the whole situation, it seems that there have been many thefts (pickpocketing, luggage theft etc.) on that line in recent months and the officer was suspicious of us because we'd been riding up and down - arrested for bashing what next!!!

We departed after shaking hands with the Railway Police and thanked the "redcap" for helping us. Amazing really that we've been to some of the most dubious European countries, Croatia, Bosnia etc., but in the most neutral country of them all we nearly get arrested!!!

BLS 176 waits departure time at Interlaken Ost with IC996.

Back at Interlaken BLS kindly produced a winning "brown bomber" on IC996 so this was duly sampled to the West station for a quick visit to McDonalds (first of the week!).

* - On hire to BLS.

SATURDAY 2ND MARCH 2002
Back home today and thanks to BLS again we went out on style with another new "brown bomber" in the shape of 165. There was a major luggage farce at Zürich Flughafen as it seems either the conveyors had packed up or the handlers were on strike! However EasyJet provided a new plane back from Zürich to Luton and an on-time arrival too.

BLS 165 at Bern having arrived with IC711.

Matthew Reeves    26th March 2002.