Prologue
In 1970 I received my bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon
University. As a graduation present my Mom suggested a rail tour of Switzerland
and handed me a brochure. I had no one to travel with so I declined the offer,
much to my subsequent regret. In February and March 1986
Trains Magazine published a two part article by George Drury about a
week long trip that he took to Switzerland in 1983. This further whetted my
interest in a rail trip to Switzerland, but circumstances kept me from pursing
that interest for years.
In summer of 2010 I was contacted by a potential client about
some consulting in Lausanne. I quickly worked up a schedule that would allow me
to ride the Glacier Express from
Zermatt to St. Moritz before heading to Zurich and home. Unfortunately, the consulting
did not materialize. But I became determined to eventually make the trip, with or
without a client. I asked my friend Rick Moser if he’d be interested in such a
trip but for various reasons he declined.
In October 2014 Rick and his wife took a European cruise and
enroute rode the Bernina Express.
This whetted Rick’s appetite for more and early in 2015 he suggested that we
plan an extended Swiss rail visit. We
picked early March 2016 for our trip because we wanted to see Switzerland in
the snow, and we wanted to go before the opening of the new Gotthard Base
Tunnel began to divert traffic from the current route. Soon Rick’s brother Phil
decided that he would join us. Shortly thereafter our friend Neil Lang from
Oakland, California also signed on.
Planning the Trip
They say that getting there is half the fun. For me,
planning the trip is half the fun, getting there and back is (usually) a chore,
and the trip itself is the other half of the fun. We decided to start with the
1983 George Drury trip as a base. However, there were many scenic lines that we
wanted to cover that George’s trip had not covered. We eventually decided on a nine-day
itinerary starting in Munich and ending in Geneva. We picked Munich as the
starting point because of the very scenic line between there and Innsbruck via
Klais (the route used in filming Frank Sinatra’s Von Ryan’s Express) and the
Arlberg Pass between Innsbruck and Switzerland.
The major lines in Switzerland to be included covered
included the routes of the:
- Glacier Express from Zermatt to Chur
- Bernina Express from Chur to Tirano
- William Tell Express from Lucerne to Locarno
- Golden Pass Line from Montreux to Lucerne
- Voralpen Express from Lucerne to St. Gallens
- Jungfraujoch Railway from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch
Other lines to be covered included the Centovalli Railway from Locarno to Domodossola, a bunch of secondary lines, and more.
Planning the exact route within the time constraints took a
lot of work and we had help from friends Hubert Horan (who had lived in Zurich
as part of his job), and Nigel Eacock from the United Kingdom. A schematic map of
our final route (as taken) is shown below.
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| Schematic map of our trip |
As shown on the map, overnights were scheduled in Munich,
Zurich, Interlaken, Locarno, Montreux, Brig, Chur, Lucerne, and finally Geneva.
Getting to and from Europe
We picked February 28 as departure date from Munich and so
when it became possible I booked my flights to and from Europe. A few years ago
a friend of mine taught me a trick that helps minimize (as much as possible)
jet lag when traveling to Europe. Instead of flying overnight to Munich, I
booked my trip so that I would take a day flight from New York to London on
February 26th, and after a night in a hotel at Heathrow I’d continue
onto Munich to meet up with the rest of the group. That way I never have to
spend an (awful) night on an airplane and then spend days recovering. It’s
possible to do this out of Pittsburgh with a 6am flight but I decided instead
to leave a day early and spend a night in New York City enroute. (A fortuitous
decision as it turns out…see elsewhere in this report.)
Staying in New York also meant that I wasn’t limited to a US
airline to London and since I had a large number of Delta miles (due to an
aborted family trip to Japan after the Tsunami) I elected to fly Virgin
Atlantic. As soon as it was possible I booked a Premium Economy ticket on their
morning flight out of JFK (27,500 Virgin Atlantic miles plus $234.60 in fees). I
then had to figure out how to get home. At first blush I had thought I’d just
train from Geneva to London and fly home the way I came, but then I realized I
could save a day on what already was scheduled to be a long trip by flying out
of Geneva. After some looking around I decided to use more points to book a
business class ticket from Geneva through Paris to JFK on Air France (62,500
Delta miles plus $278.99 in fees). As a bonus I’d be flying in an Airbus 380
for the first time. I then booked the appropriate flights in first class on
Delta (not using miles) from Pittsburgh to New York on February 25, returning
home late on March 8 ($392.20), and a Lufthansa ticket from London to Munich ($122.30)
on February 27.
Preparing for the Trip
Once the schedule was set and the flights books, we spent
some time deciding on hotels and made reservations – some directly with the
hotels, some with the online site booking.com and some with other sites. We
also purchased first class eight-day Swiss Rail Passes that would cover
everything except our inbound trip from Munich on the first day. The passes
cost approximately $600 and were (and are) a great value.
My friend Rick Moser has, for many years, produced booklets
of rail locations for various trips we have taken in the US and Canada. These
“Moser Sheets” show railroad locations and their mileposts.
[i] I
decided to do something similar for this trip. I ended up producing an 80-page
coil-bound booklet that covered our daily travels including cities and kilometer
post numbers. I used information from the Swiss Railway system at
http://www.sbb.ch and from the Deutsche Bahn site
at
http://www.bahn.com. Kilometer post
numbers were mostly obtained from the Schweers-Wall Eisenbahnatlases of
Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
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| Sample pages from the booklet |
A Change in Plans
Subsequent to all of the planning an event happened that
made me somewhat change my original plans. This was the opening of the hit
musical Hamilton on Broadway. I had
wanted to see this show almost from the minute I heard about it because I had
recently read the biography of Hamilton by Ron Chernow and several friends had
raved about it (including one who has been to see it well over a dozen times.)
As it happens, I contacted this friend, Kim Scheinberg, when 60 Minutes did a segment on the musical,
and while I was watching she picked up “literally the best seat in the house”
for me, for basically list price. I found out later (from her) that she was not
quite right. The best seat in the house was probably two to my left, but it was
pretty damn good.
Show ticket in hand, I had to worry abut getting there. I
checked my flight times and decided that my Delta flight would arrive too late
for me to feel comfortable about making the 7pm curtain so I called Delta to
change my outbound flight. It cost me an additional $149.50 and a downgrade
from first class to coach but it gave me an extra two hours to ensure that I
was on time for the show.
At this point the arrangements for the whole trip were
intact and remained so.
February 25, 2016 – A Visit to one of our founding fathers
As the date of departure approached I was, of course,
watching the weather carefully – worrying about whether my Delta flight to JFK
would get me there in time for Hamilton,
if at all. The days before JFK had real operational troubles due to storms and
low ceilings. There were tons of air cancellations into all NYC airports on the
24th due to weather.
When I checked flight status the morning of departure, the
flight was showing on time, but the inbound from LGA was showing canceled. I
finally figured out that things were so screwed up that various planes had
overnighted in Pittsburgh including my 12:45 departure. This was mostly
confirmed when a woman on the bus to the airport told me that she had been on a
flight from CLE to LGA that day and they got all the way there and had to
circle before heading to PIT to refuel. The subsequently canceled the flight at
PIT.
Anyway, our plane was sitting at the gate as promised with a
coating of snow on it. That meant deicing. The flight was as smooth as could be
expected given the winds, and we got to JFK at about 2:40, 20 minutes late. The
walk from my gate took a good 20 minutes, but I found AirTrain to Federal
Circle and a shuttle to my hotel (a Courtyard) and was I my room by 3:40.
I got settled and cleaned up and then took the shuttle back
to Federal Circle, AirTrain to Jamaica, and an E train to 50th St and 8th Ave,
and walked four short blocks to the Richard Rodgers Theater where I will soon
be seeing Hamilton. I was early so I
walked next door to the lobby bar of the Marriott Marquis and listened to some
jazz and sipped a drink while waiting.
Hamilton was
terrific – worth every penny. It was very faithful to his life (and death)
story, dramatic, and funny, and full of great music including (and I am going
to surprise myself by saying this) some great rap. (The surprise is because I
generally hate rap.) The performance I saw had very few understudies and none
in key roles so it was the real deal. My only complaint was that the Richard
Rodgers Theater has taken lessons in seat pitch from the airline industry.
Actually they have outdone the airline industry. There was essentially no leg
room at all…and one of my knees started hurting immediately. But I made it.
Would I go again…absolutely…but only with an aisle seat…and I probably can’t
afford one of those.
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| The view from my seat at the Richard Rodgers Theater |
I had such an easy experience with taking the subway into
town that I decided to not try to complete for a cab or Uber and take the
subway out to Jamaica and a taxi or Uber from there. Big mistake. There is a
major difference between an express at rush hour and a local after 10pm. I
figure this easily added 30 minutes to my trip…30 minutes less sleep for me.
Anyway, I was in bed just past 11:30pm.
February 26, 2016 – Hoping the Pond
The alarm woke me in time (but too soon) at 5:00am to get
ready for the 6:00am shuttle to JFK. Check-in was quick and easy (though
security pretty much sucked) and I was at the gate about 6:40 for my 8:15
flight.
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| Prior to boarding |
A few days earlier I had taken advantage of a Virgin
Atlantic sale and upgraded myself to Upper Class (their business class) for an
additional 12,500 miles and $185. This gave me access to the Virgin Atlantic
lounge prior to my flight. The lounge was quite nice with table service so I
had a quick bagel with smoked salmon (my first real meal since Wednesday!)
before boarding at 7:20. I settled into my seat (which was actually more like a
pod) and learned all (well most) of its tricks. We pushed back about 5 minutes
early and spent a good 35 minutes on the ground before getting to a runway, but
the pilot said we’d be early regardless.
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| My Virgin Atlantic aircraft in flight |
The flight was fine, but I didn’t feel that Upper Class was
all that special. Clearly the food was better than that in Premium Economy
(based on what Rick and Phil said about their flight a week ahead of mine. For
my real breakfast I had some nicely scrambled eggs and a bowl of muesli. I then
watched two movies and by then it was time for lunch. For lunch I had the snow
crab appetizer and the filet (which was too well done for me). The whole thing was
topped off with some cheese and crackers and before long my lactose intolerance
kicked in. :)
In any event, we landed at about 7:55pm and the plane pulled
to the gate at 8:05pm (8:10pm was the carded time.) They had given me a “fast
track” card to go to a special customs line, so after walking what seemed like
2 miles, I did…only to see people going through the regular line at least as
fast! From there it was another longish walk to the Heathrow Express connector
to terminal 4 and yet another long walk to my hotel (a Hilton) the only one
connected to the airport by a walkway. This is misleading. It is connected to
Terminal 4 only in the sense that the Palmer House in Chicago is connected to
Union Station by a sidewalk. It was a good ten-minute hike from terminal 4 to
the hotel. At least I got some exercise.
After checking in, going to my room, and cleaning up a bit,
I went down to the lobby bar for a beer before going back up to bed where I
slept soundly.
February 27, 2016 – Meeting up with friends
I awoke in my Hilton hotel room at 6:30am – about 30 minutes
ahead of the alarm I had set. I showered and dressed and went down for the
complimentary breakfast before finishing packing and checking out of the room
about 8:30am for my 11:10am flight. I could have stayed at the hotel for an
extra 30 minutes at least, but had been advised not to. The walk back to
Terminal 4 seemed a lot shorter…perhaps because I was fully rested. A Heathrow
Express terminal shuttle was right there and I was at Terminal 2 shortly
thereafter…but Heathrow really knows how to make its passengers walk. Security
was fairly simple and I went from there to the Plaza Premium Lounge (a benefit
from one of my credit cards) to wait for them to post a gate announcement for
my flight to Munich. There, if I had liked, I could have had my second full
breakfast of the day!
One of the bad things about Heathrow airport is that they
don’t list gates until about 45 minutes before the flight. And then, if they
are behind, you are stuck watching the sign waiting for the announcement. In
this case they announced our gate about 10 minutes after they had promised to.
The good news was that it was a shortish walk to the gate. The bad news was
that the boarding ramp was about a mile long (ok, I exaggerate a bit.) The
other bad news was that they arbitrarily decided that my bag was too big and
needed to check it at the gate. The flight was not full – I had a row to myself
– and we arrived at Munich about 2:15 instead of the advertised 2:00pm. Oh, and
this was a simple inter-Europe flight – nothing fancy – yet they served
sandwiches and drinks (including wine I believe) as if it were routine. (I
guess it is in the civilized world of flying – if that isn’t an oxymoron?)
Aside: While I was getting to Munich
Before continuing, it is probably worthwhile here to talk
about my traveling companions who I was meeting at Munich to start the actual
Switzerland Railroad Tour. Rick and Phil Moser are brothers from the Chicago
area. I’ve known and been friends with Rick since late 1983 and with Phil for
only a slightly shorter time. They elected to do additional train riding in
Europe for a week prior to arriving in Munich. They flew to London a week ahead
of me and from there took trains to Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, and other
places. They were arriving in Munich from Hannover around the same time that I
did.
The fourth member of our group was Neil Lang from Oakland,
California. I’ve known him since about 1978 when I also lived in Northern
California. He was spending a month in Venice and decided (as he puts it) to
take a vacation from his vacation to join us for most of the tour. He took the
overnight train from Venice to Munich arriving in the morning shortly before we
were scheduled to depart for Switzerland.
My friend and colleague Neeraj Suri and his wife Elisabeth
Suri-Payer had planned to join us from their home in Hannover for the first leg
of our trip out of Zurich but other plans got in the way, so they came down
(Neeraj from a meeting in Naples, Elisabeth by train from Hannover) to spend
the night in Munich and have dinner with us instead.
Back to February 27 in Munich
Immigration was trivial but a bit of a walk (so what else is
new?) and my bag was one of the first off the plane. Neeraj had arrived a few
minutes earlier and he met me at the baggage claim before I could even look for
him. We then caught an S-Bahn train to the Hauptbahnhof in Munich where we met
up with Elisabeth, Rick and Phil.
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| Elisabeth and Neeraj on a tram |
After introductions all around we headed to our hotel, the
InterCity, which was right next to the station and we were soon all checked in,
and shortly thereafter went for a walk down the Marienplatz. At some point Rick
and Phil left to go back to the Hauptbahnhof to take some pictures, and
Elisabeth, Neeraj and I walked some more to see some of the sights before
catching a tram back to the station and the hotel. At 6:15 we all met in the
lobby and walked several long blocks to the Augustiner-Keller restaurant where
we all had great German beer and Bavarian food. The restaurant has been around
since 1487 and since I’ve been to Munich at least twice before I’m sorry it took
me this long to discover it.
February 28, 2016 – The tour begins, on to Zurich
When we were starting to talk about this trip I suggested
that we pick Munich as a starting place. In March of 1997 I attended a
technical meeting and workshop in Eibsee, Germany, near
Garmisch-Partenkirschen, site of the 1936 Winter (Nazi) Olympics – I remember
them as if they happened only yesterday. The meeting was excellent but during
the one off day between the meeting and the workshop, while others were skiing,
I elected to travel by train to Innsbruck, Austria just for the fun of it. I
encountered a breathtaking route that hugged mountainsides, had many tunnels,
and was one of the most beautiful trips I’d ever taken. Later I learned that
the line had been used to film Frank Sinatra’s Von Ryan’s Express. I had a nice
time walking around Innsbruck and stopped in a bar and had a real bottle of
Budweiser (the Czech brand, not the St. Louis swill.)
Anyway, everyone agreed and so the morning found us at a
crowded Munich Hauptbahnhof boarding our train to Innsbruck. The train itself
was just a run-of-the-mill German train (that is to say, miles above Amtrak,
crowded, clean, with huge clear windows, quiet, smooth ride, but otherwise
nothing special.) We quickly found seats in 2nd class as the price difference
to 1st class was too great and there was not a lot of added value. The train
left on time, arrived on time, and provided all the scenery we could ask for.
It did a great on and off business enroute, but it never felt overly crowded.
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| Our RailJet at Zurich |
We had about 20 minutes in Innsbruck before we boarded our
RailJet to Zurich. This train was fancier than the one down from Munich and we
had a table for four in 1st class. There was a restaurant car, but we elected
to be served a light lunch at our seats instead.
As we headed up through Alberg pass, through
the Arlberg tunnel (6.62 miles long) and down the other side we enjoyed the
spectacular scenery and watched skiers lug their huge bags of equipment through
the train. At one point a gentleman from Lake Tahoe sat across from us and we
had a nice conversation about our trip and his trip (he was spending two
disconnected weeks at Club Med in St. Moritz where they were praying for snow.)
Mid-afternoon found us gliding along the rails alongside of Zurich See and into
Zurich itself.
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| “Dining” aboard the RailJet somewhere in Austria |
Our hotel was a 10-minute walk from the Zurich Hauptbahnhof
and we quickly checked in and then went back to the station to 1) get some
francs from an ATM, 2) buy tickets for the Jungfrau trip the next day, and the
Gonergrat trip on Thursday, 3) get a Swisscom SIM for my iPad, 4) pick up some
Swiss power adapters (somehow I thought that standard European adapters would
work), and 5) take some pictures of trains and the station. Then it was back to
the hotel to rest and clean up before dinner.
Dinner was at a simple Swiss-style restaurant in the old
town area of Zurich. It was delicious and relatively inexpensive given that we
are in Switzerland. We got back to the hotel around 8 and were amazed to see
how alive the whole area was, with tram after tram going by in multiple
directions, and people actually using them.
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| A tram in Zurich |
February 29, 2016 – Leaping our way into the clouds
After a fairly restless Sunday night, we began our Swiss
Pass travel. For those who don’t know, the Swiss Pass allows unlimited travel
within Switzerland and covers almost every form of transportation and almost
every railroad line. In our case we had chosen the 8-day First Class Swiss Pass
and according to people who live in Europe the price was a bargain.
Bright and early we headed down to the Zurich Hauptbahnhof for
our train which was to leave at 8:02a for Bern. We got there in time to pick up
a few breakfast items at a stand in the station and then headed down to Track
32 to await our train. The prior day we had been advised not to bother getting
seat reservations as a lot of folks get off the train at Zurich. It was no
problem getting seats, but mostly we were unable to sit together. The train was
a double decker InterCity train and it was not much fun lugging luggage up to
the top floor, but the view from there was great…or would have been if it
wasn’t so cloudy/misty outside. We pulled into Bern on time and had a 6-minute
connection to a train on a different platform. That worked out fine, though
again with the stairs. No ADA in Europe!
We had planned to stay at the top for an hour+ but the
weather was so uncooperative (that is, we couldn’t see much due to the clouds)
that we just turned around on the same train and headed back to Kleine
Scheidegg. At that point we took the alternate route down through Grindelwald
instead of Lauterbrunnen. At Grindelwald we boarded a train that would take us
back to Zweilutschinen where it would be joined with a similar train coming
from Lauterbrunnen and then onto Interlaken Ost. Oh, the Swiss Pass only took
us up as far as a place called Wangen (just below Kleine Schiedegg) and back
from Grund (also just below Kleine Schiedegg). We had to pay an exorbitant
extra fare (133 CHF at a discount because of our pass) to go to the top.
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| At Grindelwald |
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| A train departs Grindelwald on a very steep grade |
From the station we made a short walk in the rain to our
hotel, the Interlaken Hotel which was very nice. We rested in our rooms until
dinner time at which point we walked (in the rain) to a restaurant named Des
Alps about four minutes from our hotel and had a very nice dinner together.
March 1, 2016 – Sailing to Locarno
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| The train taking us to Lucerne arrives at Interlaken |
I woke just ahead of my alarm which had been set for 6:30am.
Our train today left at 8:02am from the Interlaken Ost station. We had reserved
seats in first class car #7 but the train pulled in and there was no car #7—so
we just took seats in a mostly empty first class car and that was fine. (A bit
later the conductor asked if we were the four with the reserved seats and
explained that there had been an equipment substitution.) The route to Lucerne
is on the only meter gauge railroad on the Swiss Federal system. It uses both
adhesion (normal steel wheel on steel rail), and rack (where the grade is too
steep for adhesion.) The first roughly one third of the trip is pure adhesion,
but then it reverses and climbs a hill and an impossible angle before
eventually descending to a valley on the other side of the mountains. As the
train rose the snow covered trees were a beautiful sight.
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| The view through the window as we crossed the pass |
The train arrived in Lucerne right on time at 9:54am and we
quickly found our way to the appropriate pier (after a short misstep) to board
our ship, the
Schwyz, on which we
would begin our trip on the
William Tell
Express. We took seats in the first class dining room and watched as the
ship ferried us (making stops along the way) to Fluelen on Lake Lucerne as we
ate an excellent meal.
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| The Schwyz starting its return to Lucerne |
Once reaching Fluelen, we waited a few minutes for our train
that would take us the rest of the way to Locarno, our overnight stop. Again,
we had first class seats in a not-very-crowded panorama car that afforded us
spectacular views of the mountains and the valleys, and the incredible Swiss
infrastructure which puts anything in North America to shame. This is the
famous Gotthard Pass route and it included a 9+ mile trip through the Gotthard
tunnel. Trains ran on this line as if they were street cars in most American
cities that have them. If you missed seeing one as it went by, you’d only have
to wait a few minutes until the next one came along.
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| Our train to Locarno arrives at Fluelen |
Interestingly enough all announcements aboard this train
were in German until after we went through the tunnel, at which point they were
all made in Italian. We arrived right on time at 15:13 and were very soon
checked in to our hotel the Hotel Garni Du Lac, each with a room overlooking
the lake and the mountains, complete with balcony. The weather was in the 60s
and for the first time on the entire trip the sun was out. We spent time
walking around the area near the lake, and relaxing in our rooms before heading
off to dinner at a very good local pizzeria.
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| The view from my room in Locarno |
March 2, 2016 – From Italian to French with a little German in between
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| Sunrise view from my Locarno room |
We awoke to a sunny and relatively warm day in Locarno, and
ended with a cool and damp one in Montreux. I went from a room with a lake view
with mountains all around to a room with a lake view with clouds and mist all
around. I went from an area of Switzerland where Italian predominates to an
area where German predominates before eventually ending up in an area where
French predominates. It was a great day.
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| The sign for the Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi atop the Locarno station |
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| The FART we rode |
We left Locarno by taking a big FART train (well not so big,
but how could I resist a line like that?) from Locarno to Domodossola. The
former is in Switzerland and the latter is in Italy. FART is the name of the
rail company that runs the Centovalli Railroad between those two points. It is
a spectacular route with lots of impossible climbs and incredible scenery. We
had been aware for some time that the section between Integra and Camedo (about
8 km) was out of service necessitating a fairly brief bus transfer. We were
worried about our 12 minute connection in Domodossola but in the event the
connection was fine.
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| A view through our window enroute to Domodossola |
We were not worried about the connections elsewhere, but in
fact we should have been. Shortly before reaching the famous Simplon tunnel on
our train out of Domodossola (12+ miles long) our train was stopped while we
waited for two freights and a passenger train to pass us. Shades of Amtrak!
This delayed us something like 26 minutes and we were unable to make enough
time to make our 20-minute connection in Brig. In fact, the train we wanted to
catch probably left one minute before we arrived.
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| Our train from Camedo to Domodossola (after the bus transfer) |
The delay was disappointing, but unlike in the good old USA
it we could recover from it without waiting up to three days for the next train.
There was a train leaving on the route that we wanted to take (there were
others we could have taken) an hour later. It left right on time at 12:36 and
began another impossible climb up from Brig towards Goppenstein, the Lotschberg
Tunnel (also 9+ miles) and on to Spiez. As we left Brig we could look down on
the whole valley beneath us and see all of the fantastic rail (and other)
infrastructure in the area. It was almost as awe inspiring as the mountains
around us.
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| Our train from Brig to Spiez at Brig |
We reached Spiez in time and made a quick connection to a
train to Zweissman where we transferred to a Golden Pass Panoramic train to Montreux.
Besides delaying us over an hour, the only real problem with our delay enroute is
that we were unable to partake of the special Golden Pass Panorama car that we
had reserved. About halfway into this last train I realized that my iPhone was
missing. I knew I had it when I boarded the train and guessed that it had
fallen out of my pocket into the seat cushion but we could not find it. Then I
remembered to pull out my iPad and do a “Find my iPhone” which allowed me to
start the phone alarming – and we shortly found it. Thanks Apple!
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| Our train from Zweissman to Montreux at Zweissman |
Our hotel, the Hotel Suisse Majestic was literally across
the street from the Gare. We all ended up in nice rooms, some of which faced
the lake. We got somewhat lost on the way to dinner, but eventually found our
way to a restaurant which was less expensive than we’ve been used to (but still
expensive by US standards) and had great food.
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| This view from my Montreux window bookends the day |
March 3 – Once more into the clouds
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| Montreux in the morning |
This day was the highlight of the trip – err wait I can’t
say that because there have been one or more candidates for highlight of the
trip every day of the trip. We started with a train from Montreux to Brig. We
were supposed to be on an IC (intercity) train, but atypically ours was running
10 minutes late so we hoped on a regional train instead. It was a bit slower,
but we still got to Brig in plenty of time for our connection to Zermatt.
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| Brig in the morning |
Before boarding our narrow gauge
Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn train to Zermatt we checked our luggage in
lockers at the Brig station (anyone remember when you could routinely do that
at a station in the US?) We then boarded a comfortable train which left right
on time at the Kalmbach hour.
[ii] The
run to Zermatt was full of twist and turns and incredible up and down grades. A
combination of adhesion and rack are used to traverse the line. The scenery was
incredible. I must have shot 100 pictures.
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| A view from our train to Zermatt |
We arrived in Zermatt in time to catch the noon train to
Gonergrat on the
Matterhorn Gonergrat
rack railway. This line was also amazing, with even steeper grades.
Unfortunately, snow obscured much of the scenery but it also made the trip
magical. The line exists mainly to server skiers and it was full of such people
and all of their paraphernalia. The seats were wooden benches (essentially),
but it was an incredible ride.
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| At Gornergrat |
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| A meet as seen through the front window |
Up at the top it was either 10 degrees F, or colder
depending on which weather app you looked at. It was plenty cold for us. We
took an elevator up to the hotel on site and had a nice lunch in their casual
restaurant. Then, after taking a few more pictures, we reversed course down to
Zermatt, and back to Brig. We got to ride in the front seat of the train down
to Zermatt, and the engineer was kind enough to raise his curtain so we had a
clear view out the front. The lines were somehow just as scenic returning as
they had been going.
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| The view of Zermatt as we descended from Gornergrat |
When we got to Zermatt we could either wait for a train that
went clear through to Brig, or take one about 30 minutes earlier that only took
us to Visp (just down the tracks from Brig). We did the latter and connected at
Visp almost to the second (as in I barely made it aboard on time…being the slow
poke of the group…before the doors shut.) Our hotel was only a few blocks from
the station and had a good restaurant in it so that’s how we ended the day.
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| In Zermatt Station, our train to Visp |
March 4, 2016 – In
which the Glacier Express is not the
highlight
As I’ve said before, and I am sure I will say again in this
report, this day was a highlight of the trip…for at least three reasons:
- The weatherman lied…we had sun most of the day.
- The Glacier
Express was an awesome experience
- The train to Arosa and return – which we just
threw in because we could – turned out to be at least as awesome as the Glacier Express…a great surprise.
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| The Glacier Express in Brig |
Our train out of Brig did not leave until 10:18am which
meant that we could sleep in a bit (relative to other days). I woke about 7 on
my own schedule, took my time getting ready, went down for breakfast where I
met the others, and still had a goodly amount of time before we had to leave
for the station at 9:30 or so. Our train, the
Glacier Express, pulled in from Zermatt at about 10:11 and we,
along with a mostly-Japanese tour group, boarded car 21 and took our seats. The
four of us were seated at a table for four at the rear of the train. Across the
aisle from us was a friendly Australian fan who was traveling by himself.
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| A view from the Glacier Express |
Almost immediately after leaving Brig the train, operated by
the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn as far as Disentis began to climb – and climb a
lot. We went from an altitude of 2,270 feet to an altitude of 6,706 feet (at
Oberalps)
in 48.3 miles (as the train
travels). This is accomplished by both adhesion and rack running. There was
snow everywhere and lots of incredible scenery. Our table was set for the three
course lunch we had purchased in advance. As we boarded our waitress took drink
orders. Just before noon they served us Cream of Asparagus soup, Hungarian
Goulash with rice and carrots, and tiramisu all of which was delicious.
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| After lunch bunch...Phil, Chuck, Rick, Neil |
At Disentis the train is taken over by the Rhätische Bahn
for the rest of the journey into Chur, where we were stopping for the night
(actually two nights). Though mostly downhill, the line is nearly as scenic as
the line going up hill. Amazingly, although they changed crews and power at
Disentis, all of this was accomplished in mere minutes. Our new engine was
striking in that it was wrapped with a salute to a Japanese partner of the RhB,
the Hakone Tozan Railway.
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| One engine comes off... |
 |
| ... and another comes on |
We arrived in Chur on time and in plenty of time to store
our bags in a station locker and catch what we thought would be a “throw away”
trip to Arosa. Instead we found a line that was incredibly scenic…easily the
equal of the
Glacier Express without
all the trimmings. We had a first class car to ourselves (more or less) in both
directions…on the way back in the cab car so we could watch out front over the
engineer’s head. We had street running in Chur. We had fast climbs and equally
fast descents all using adhesion. There was an incredible bridge used only by
the railroad that spans a wide valley. It was a terrific ride that took about 3
hours with a 30+ minute layover in Arosa. Highly recommended.
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| Our train to Arosa |
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| A meet on the Arosa line |
We arrived back at Chur a bit late, at least partially due
to street traffic as we approached Chur where the train shares the streets with
the automobiles. It was a fairly easy walk of less than 10 minutes to our hotel
where we spent the next two nights.
March 5, 2016 – The
Return of Snowmageddon
While this day should have been memorable for the scenery,
it actually was memorable for the weather. Excerpt from the Swiss Railway
System’s rail traffic information posted on their website sometime this
afternoon:
Between Pontresina and
Poschiavo on the St. Moritz - Poschiavo line, no train services are operating.Regional trains St.
Moritz - Poschiavo are cancelled between Pontresina and Poschiavo.Between Pontresina and
Poschiavo there is no replacement service possible.Reason: Risk of an
avalanche
 |
| Near Tiffencastle |
We traveled between those two stations in the morning
between roughly 10:30am and noon, and again in the afternoon between roughly
1:30pm and 3pm. In other words, we nearly got stranded somewhere (probably
Tirano, Italy) or actually caught in an avalanche.
But to begin the day…
The day’s journey started with Phil, Neil and I aboard the Bernina Express a deluxe train with
special sightseeing cars that runs daily between Chur and Tirano. (Rick had
ridden this line a few years earlier and had some personal business to take
care of, so he elected to meet us later.)
We awoke to the threat of significant snow and shortly after
leaving Chur to the reality of that snow…and I mean a lot of snow. It was
snowing so hard that our luxury sightseeing train was a joke…all we could see
what white stuff everywhere…I’m talking about whiteout conditions sometimes.
 |
| We met this snow plow at Alps Grum |
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| Neil chats with our conductor at Poschiavo |
In spite of this, and in a situation that would have US railroads
closing down lines much earlier than the Swiss did, the train ran only
marginally late down to Tirano. Late enough that we were sweating our
connection back north, but not so late that it was impossible to imagine making
it. Finally, the conductor told us that there would be no problem – but this
was after we waited for 20 minutes for a massive snow plow to come through
after clearing the line ahead of us. As we approached Tirano we were able to
see better – it was merely drizzling there – and in particular saw and filmed
the train going across and through the famous Brusio spiral viaduct.
 |
| At the Brusio Spiral |
 |
| At the Brusio Spiral |
We made it to Tirano, as promised, with time to spare. Neil
Lang left us here to catch a train to Milan and eventually Venice to resume his
real vacation. Phil and I headed north over tracks that we could not see. On
this ride we had a private car to ourselves…not really, but we sat in the front
of the cab car with a clear view of the snow ahead (but not the tracks.) At
Poschiavo they attached a snow plowing machine to the head of our train. The
conductor explained that it’s purpose was to clear the area between the rails.
It certainly did that, and provided a dazzling show of winter railroading with
snow blowing everywhere. I grew increasingly nervous that we would not make it
through to our destination, St. Moritz (where Rick would join us), and as you
can see from the item above my concerns were not totally unfounded, but we made
it in plenty of time to catch our next train which went from St. Moritz to
Landquart.
 |
| Enroute to St. Moritz pushing a snow plow |
This line was in somewhat better condition than the line
over which we’d just traveled. In fact, as we approached one town (I forget
which) there was actually a steam train excursion waiting for us to pass so
that it could head the other way. We had no clue to expect it. As we got nearer
to the 12-mile long Vereina Tunnel we saw a massive, single lane traffic jam
stretching for kilometer after kilometer on the road that paralleled us. We
entered the tunnel and were passed in the other direction by several auto
ferries which I imagine eventually disgorged their contents and added to the
jam at the other end.
 |
| Our train from Tirano upon arrival in St. Moritz |
We were running late and I checked our connection from
Landquart back to Chur and discovered that only limited service was being
offered due to problems with the overhead wires. By the time we got to
Landquart, about 45 minutes late, apparently the problem had been resolved and
we quickly got on another train to take us back to Chur.
In spite of the horrendous operating conditions and
unbelievable amounts of snow, the Swiss railway system managed to get us back
to Chur in one piece less than one hour late.
March 6, 2016 – A
somewhat truncated trip back to Lucerne
 |
| Chur, the day after the big snow |
As we neared the end of our tour, we went from Chur to
Lucerne. We had intended to start the day by retracing our steps from Chur to
Filisur on the
Bernina Express line
and then from there to Landquart (about 12km from Chur) via Davos Platz – all
narrow gauge mileage. However, the previous evening we were all so exhausted
that Rick proposed that we eliminate that leg of the trip and get both a later
start out of Chur, and and earlier arrival in Lucerne. So instead of leaving
from Chur at 7:58am and arriving at Lucerne at 5:20pm we left Chur at 10:12am
and arrived at Lucerne at 4:20pm.
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| Our Appenzell Bahn train at St. Gallen |
 |
| At Appenzell |
The trip to St. Gallen from Chur was via a single train that
took under 2 hours. To me it wasn’t very remarkable, but that’s probably
because I’e become jaded (we’d left Munich exactly one week prior.) When we got
to St. Gallen we had to hunt for the station for the Appenzell Bahn and our train
to Appenzell and ultimately Wasserauen. This is another independent narrow
gauge line and we rode in a “private” first class compartment for much of it.
The train uses a combination of rack and adhesion. As it left St. Gallen it
immediately climbed at an incredible slope. According to George Drury’s book
the grade out of town is at 9.2% which I find unbelievable except that now I’ve
done it. Really great scenery to Appenzell and ok scenery to Wasserauen. We
were in the latter for only a few minutes before the train took us back through
Appenzell and onto Herisau (not too far from St. Gallen, and site of a famous
and beautiful stone arch bridge) where we were picked up by a
Voralpen Express train for Lucerne. We
settled into a mostly empty first class car and found the scenery to be ho hum
(jaded much?) until we got to Pfäffikonwhere there was an incredible number of
trains headed every which way—up to Zurich, down through the Gotthard pass,
etc. From there all the way to Lucerne the scenery was incredible with massive
grade shifts, lakes, and believe it or not (after the day before) sun.
 |
| The Voralpen Express arriving at Herisau |
We arrived at Lucerne right on time and it was a very quick
walk to our hotel, the Hotel Astoria, which may have been the nicest room of
the trip and was certainly the best value Later that evening we had dinner at
an English Pub before calling it a night.
 |
| The Chapel Bridge in Lucerne |
 |
| The Opera House in Lucerne |
March 7, 2016 – To
Geneva and the end of the tour
Lucerne was a fantastic city that I want to visit again. At
the station I picked up some water and soon we boarded our first train of the
day. It was the 9:35am to Zurich. It was a double decker regional train that
left on time and arrived on time and was quite comfortable (though I personally
prefer the single level cars as the windows are usually great on those.) As has
been the experience for most of our trip, first class was nearly empty.
 |
| Our train to Olten arrives at Zurich |
When I planned the routing for our trip I had a fairly short
connection at Zurich – one that we probably couldn’t make. Rick pointed this
out way back when and so we had a 40-minute layover until our next train. We
used that time to pick up some sandwiches for lunch later (though we really
didn’t have to.) Our next train went to Olten via Baden which was a quick trip
that let us see a lot of the (lot of) activity around Zurich and elsewhere. It
was really a train every minute for a while. At Olten we got on to another
double decker but rode in the lower level since we were only going to be on
board for about 12 minutes to Langenthal. There were more direct and faster
routings from Zurich to Langenthal, but we chose this one because less time was
spent in tunnels.
 |
| Our RVO train at Oensingen |
At Langenthal we transferred to what is basically a modern
looking old fashioned meter gauge interurban line operated by the Regionalverkehr
Oberaargau (RVO). Its topological profile is similar to many for the
interurbans of yesteryear – a lot of up and down and left and right over non-mountainous
country. It was a fun ride that took us from Langenthal to Niederbipp to
Oensingen back to Niederbipp and on to Solothurn. We could have taken a
mainline train from Niederbipp to Solothurn but this was a lot more fun.
 |
| Our RVO train at Solothurn |
At Solothurn we had a lengthy layover until our high-speed
intercity train to Geneva arrived (on time). While we waited Phil went across
the street to grab a Mickey D’s fish special. Rick and I waited in the not very
comfortable two seat area in the ticket office. The train to Geneva was our
only tilting train on the trip. I had worried that I would become nauseated as
I had many years ago on a Swedish train that used tilt technology, but instead
the tilting rocked me to sleep for the last 20km or so (Rick says more) of the
trip.
We rode the train beyond Geneva to its terminus at the
Geneva Airport and then another train back to Geneva (about 7 minutes each
way).
March 8, 2016 – A
long day’s journey onto Pittsburgh
For my return to Pittsburgh, I slept fitfully and awoke in
Geneva before 6:00am ahead my alarm which I had set for 6:15 figuring that I
would catch either the 7:02 or 7:20 train to the airport (covered by a transit
pass that the hotel gave me when I checked in.) As a result, I found myself on
the 6:47 to the airport. Since Switzerland is in the Schengen Area there was no
passport control prior to my flight to Paris, and I was in the Air France
Lounge before 7:15 for my 9:10 flight.
I should explain my routing. The quick routing would have
been GVA to EWR and then onto PIT on United. I elected not to do that because:
1) I had some Delta points that I needed to use, and 2) I wanted to experience
a non-US carrier (when I travel for business I am required to use a US
carrier.) There are no one stop routings on DL to PIT and all of two stop
choices were more or less equivalent in terms of elapsed time, so I chose one
that would let me experience flying in an aircraft that I had not flown on
before—the A380. The result was a fairly lengthy layover in both CDG and JFK
but luckily I was able to use the Air France and Delta lounges there as well.
While I am thinking about it, I’d like to report that the Delta lounge at JFK
was miles above the Air France lounges at either GVA or CDG…a fact that
surprised me.
Anyway, the flight to CDG was in an A318 I believe and was
fairly comfortable. They served a cold breakfast in business class for the one-hour
flight. We arrived at CDG on time – but my connection wasn’t tight as already
mentioned, so I took my time getting from Terminal 2F to Terminal 2E. I did not
see any signs for transportation between the terminal and it was about a 30-minute
walk, but I needed the exercise.
At 2E I checked in at the lounge and then went in search of
some Foie Gras to bring home with me. Then I settled into the lounge for the
longish wait (my flight was at 1:55pm.) At the appropriate time I walked over
to the two gates assigned to the A380 and marveled at the huge aircraft that
awaited. We loaded a bit later than planned but left right on schedule. My seat
was in business class which on the AF A380 is at the front of the second story
of this two story airplane. Unlike the last time I flew on the second story of
an airplane (a UA 747) one does not need to climb stairs on the aircraft to
reach the second story seats…there are boarding ramps for both levels.
 |
| My Air France flight to JFK |
My seat was a traditional, non-lay-flat, non-pod, business
class seat. It was reasonably comfortable for the 8.5-hour flight. The
entertainment system was great. I spent the first few minutes going through the
list of movies, marking some that I might want to see, and then started working
my way through them during the flight. As we approached JFK, I switched the
system to the nose camera on the plane which gave me a great view of the mostly
white cloud layer in front of us. (As we landed I switched to the tail camera
which provided a great view of the landing process.)
 |
| My Air France plane in flight |
As expected the main meal on this flight was great. It
included a salad with a goat cheese/foie gras combination, a wonderfully
prepared cod on saffron infused rice, some cheeses, and some very nice desserts.
I elected to not take the light snack that was offered just before landing, but
it looked very good.
By the way, it was International Women’s Day and in honor of
that the entire crew from pilots to cabin attendants were women. I understand
that several other airlines did that as well.
We landed early, but by the time we actually got to the gate
and they got the jet way set up, we were essentially right on time. (The
official AF site says we left one minute late, and arrived 2 minutes early.) At
immigration I took advantage of my Global Entry but for some reason my
fingerprints would not scan properly so I had to go through one of the kiosks.
A CBP person took me to the front of the line so it was not a big deal. Then
the luggage (I had checked my bag for the GVA to JFK segment of the trip) took
forever to arrive. As a business class traveler they had put a “priority” label
on my bag – along with apparently half the others on the flight. I’d say I
waited a good 30 minutes for my bag to finally show up. Customs was quick – I just explained that the “food” I was bringing
in was chocolate and foie gras – and I soon caught an AirTrain to terminal 4.
My fight to PIT was in a single class airplane. I was able
to wait for it in the Delta lounge. The Delta lounge was roomy and had a very
good selection of food and beverage. I was’ t terribly hungry but had some
celery and carrots and a hard boiled egg and a snickerdoodle (the dinner of
champions!) I worked really hard to stay awake until the 8:15pm boarding time
of my flight to PIT – but just in case I set an alarm on my phone. :) As it
happens I was able to stay awake. The flight boarded fine and left the gate
fine and waited as is usual at JFK, but we arrived in Pittsburgh early. I
called an Uber and was home by 11:15pm. (To recap, I had awakened just before
midnight EST the previous day.)
After talking with Barb and Lizzy (who had waited up) and
playing with the dogs I went to bed and slept soundly for nearly 8 hours before
I woke.
It was a great week+ of riding some fantastic
trains with some good friends in a fascinating country. I had a ball and while
I won't do it exactly this way when I return, I definitely hope to return to
Switzerland.
[i] A
milepost is number visible from the train that indicates the distance from some
other point on the railroad. For example, if you are riding on the ATSF line
from Chicago to Aurora and you spot the milepost “27” you are 27 miles along
that line from Chicago.
