Narrow gauge News 1/1995 (April)

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In December 94 the wellknown engineer Rudolf Amberg died. He has the leader of construction at the Vereinatunnel in the Engadin. In the beginning of the eighties he managed the completition of the Furka-Basis-Tunnel.
Amberg has developed a lot of gauges. They were used for example at the construction of the Eurotunnel between France and England.

BLM - Lauterbrunnen-Mürren Mountain Railway

On Dec, 3rd a new uphill station for goods transport was opened. Noew goods can be brought from the funicular to the adhesive railway in just four minutes. The costs were payed by the BLM itself.

BVZ - Zermatt Railway

In November a Diesel loco and a rotary snowplug for the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (GFC) were tested at the BVZ line. Both machines were built by ABB, SLM and Stadler for the Ribes-Nuria line in Catalonia/Spain. After the successful tests the machines were brought in spring to the GFC.

FO - Furka-Oberalp Railway

On Feb, 4th the Oberalp line was interrupted by the damaged class HGe 4/4 II 108 loco. After four hours the line could be cleared. The operation was organized by the internal railway radio system.

RhB - Rhaetian Railway

In front of the Bergün station you can find now a new monument. It is the loco Ge 6/6 I 407 (known as "Rhaetian crocodile"). The machine was buitl in 1922 and was put out of order in 1984.

The financial situation of the Swiss state is very tight. So the RhB has to make a very small budget this year. Money will be saved be reducing costs for personal and social issues. Nevertheless, also old rolling stock is repainted with the new color scheme (e.g. Bernina railcar Xe 4/4 9922).

In November tha last of the new locos Ge 4/4 III (number 649) was supplied to the RhB. All machines are used for heavy fast trains at the Albula line. Only the 641 is still needed for testing the new techniques.

The old Ge 6/6 I "Crocodile" were drived out by the new Ge 4/4 III. Sometime they are in use with a baggage train in the Engadine. The RhB was decided to use them more often than in the last months because the bearingsd could be damaged by standstill.

On the line Samedan-Pontresina you can find in the afternoons trains with two ABe 4/4 railcars. Sometimes they pull the famous Bernina-Express with the new coaches EW IV.

The RhB doesn't want to order more then the buyed nine Ge 4/4 III. The RhB needs now some mid power railcars for the Chur-Arosa line. It seems that they want to order railcars like the type of the Bernina ABe 4/4 III 51-56.

The timetable, valid from May 28th, will show a new train called "Heidiland/ Bernina- Express". It starts from Landquart and will lead via Davos and Filisur to St. Moritz. Some coaches will run directly with the normal Bernina-Express from Samedan to Tirano. The train is a special is thought for the usage by tourists.

SBB - Brunig Railway

The Brunig mountain line between Meiringen and Giswil was out of order from Nov 2nd to Dec 16th. In this time there were done a lot of maintainance works. The traffic was done by busses for 44 days.
Some of the interesting rolling stock stayed at the Lucerne- Stans- Engelberg Railway in this time, so the panoramic coach As 102, the Bar coach WR 421 and the Jass coach B 736 (Jass is a Swiss card game).

Sources: Eisenbahn-Magazin (Germany), Schweizer Eisenbahn-Revue (Switzerland)

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