Swiss rail journey starts with multiple flights

As readers of this blog are aware, I’ve just returned from a train-chasing trip to Switzerland. The wonderful opportunity came about through an extraordinary birthday gift from my brother Terry who arranged an entire railroad themed tour for the two of us. 

The first day saw us flying from Vancouver to Montreal on Air Canada then transferring to the German airline Lufthansa for the leg to Munich. Having never flown first-class before, I’ve often wondered what goes on behind that tactfully drawn curtain at the front of the aircraft. I now know, thanks to brother Terry who had gone all out and booked us first-class. Yes folks, it’s a different world beyond economy. Not only the food and the service levels are a leap above, but you also get a bed to sleep in.

Landing in Munich we transferred to our third flight of the day, this one bound for Zurich. After proceeding through immigration in Zurich we picked up our baggage. Considering the numerous flight changes, I was impressed (and relieved) when our luggage came tumbling onto the carousel. Finding an escalator we landed in the train station situated in the basement level of the airport. Here we picked up our 15-day Swiss Rail Pass allowing us to ride the country’s entire train system and tram/bus system around-the-clock.  The passes also allowed for first class travel. To locate the 1^st class rail wagons (coaches) all we had to do was look for a car marked with a big yellow #1 on the side. Boarding a train headed for Lucerne, we arrived at our destination one hour later. Grabbing a cab to the Montana Art Deco Hotel we took a little time to deal with jet lag.

(Above)We had a glorious view from our hotel room looking over Lake Lucerne and the central Swiss Alps. 

I found Lucerne to be an unhurried and charming city. The cobbled streets bordered by houses, shops and hotels painted in medieval style and decorated with displays of flowers enhanced the city’s beautiful location. 

(Above)One of the main attractions in downtown Lucerne is the famous Chapel Bridge built in 1333 across the Reuss River. The covered bridge is unique since it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17^th century. Sadly many of them were destroyed in a 1993 fire that was allegedly caused by a discarded cigarette. Subsequently restored, the Kapellbrücke is the world’s oldest surviving truss bridge.

We’d come to Switzerland to ride a quantity of trains. Our first venture involved passage via this sleek lake boat (above) to the town of Vitznau where we boarded a cogwheel train (Red Train) to Rigi-Kulm. The historic railway was constructed in 1871 to access the mountain overlooking Vitanau and Lake Lucerne. This was my first encounter with cog railway technology, which uses a toothed rack rail between the normal running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cogwheels or pinions that mesh with this middle rail (above). The system allows for the trains to tackle extremely steep grades. During the summer my wife Pat and I are volunteer conductors on the Alberni Pacific Railway in Port Alberni. Our steepest grade is 3.8%. This Swiss railway had grades on some sections topping 40%, making ours on the Alberni Pacific seem pretty tame.  At times I could barely keep my balance when standing.  After lunch at the summit we boarded a second cog railway called the Blue Train (below), descending the opposite side of the mountain to the community of Arth Goldau.  Here we caught the fast inter-city Voralpen Express (below) back to Lucerne, detraining on the edge of town at the Swiss Transportation Museum.

(Below) Outside the museum entrance a huge crane was lifting the drilling head for a modern tunnel-boring machine onto a pedestal to be bolted down for permanent display. Soup Campbell, our crane-master in the Industrial Heritage Society in Port Alberni would have loved watching this operation in progress.  

Promoted as one of the best of its kind in the world, the Schweizerisches Verkehrsmuseum Luzern I found absolutely fascinating. Examples of steam and electric locomotives and railroad cars from different parts of Switzerland over the last 150 years are displayed on more than a kilometer of track. A model railroad shows trains working the Gotthard Pass through the Alps. The photo at left shows a novel way of displaying automobiles. The cars are stacked on racks of steel shelving. When a museum visitor wants to look at a particular automobile, the rack number is punched into a computer and the yellow machine on tracks picks up the car and lowers it to a stage area for close up viewing. The museum even has an actual Swiss airliner on display.

(Below) Walking the Lucerne waterfront that evening we passed the city’s arts centre for the performing arts. The unique looking building was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel with American architect and acoustics engineer Russell Johnson designing the acoustics. The concert hall (lower photo at left) has been acclaimed by leading conductors and soloists as one of the best in the world.

Looking at the lobby entrance I noticed a poster promoting a jazz pianist the following evening. Attempting to order tickets online from my laptop I couldn’t cope with the German language website so I had the desk clerk at our hotel talk me through it. The artist was Dominican Republic born pianist Michel Camilo. I confess I’d not heard his playing before on recordings. However, Camilo listed his main influences as Chick Corea, Keith Jarett, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, which was a tailor made concert for my ears.  The only downer was Camilo playing without his regular bass player and the sub from Los Angeles didn’t have the trio’s repertoire under control. Still it was a stunning display of straight ahead jazz piano trio performance coupled with the latin percussion playing of added sideman Giovanni Hidalgo.

Looking at the lobby entrance I noticed a poster promoting a jazz pianist the following evening. Attempting to order tickets online from my laptop I couldn’t cope with the German language website so I had the desk clerk at our hotel talk me through it. The artist was Dominican Republic born pianist Michel Camilo. I confess I’d not heard his playing before on recordings. However, Camilo listed his main influences as Chick Corea, Keith Jarett, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, which was a tailor made concert for my ears.  The only downer was Camilo playing without his regular bass player and the sub from Los Angeles didn’t have the trio’s repertoire under control. Still it was a stunning display of straight ahead jazz piano trio performance coupled with the latin percussion playing of added sideman Giovanni Hidalgo.

Our second day of railroading in Lucerne included the Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn and is the steepest railway in the world with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne to a terminus near the summit of Mount Pilatus at an altitude of 6,994.8 ft. To my complete surprise brother Terry had arranged for me to drive the locomotive on the ascent. The driver was Nicole Torre (above) who incredibly not only knew where Vancouver Island was, but had stayed in a hostel on Nanaimo’s Protection Island the previous summer.

The Pilatus Railway is laid on solid rock, securing the rails with high-strength iron ties bolted to the rock without using any track ballast. The line still uses original rack rails that are now over 100 years old. While the rails have worn over the years it was decided recently the easiest fix was to simply turn the rails over, exposing a new wearing surface that will be good for another hundred years. Nicole gave me a quick lesson on running the electric locomotive. Unlike a steam engine, driving one is quite simple. What looks like a steering wheel controls the amount of electricity going to the driving motors. In addition to a handbrake there is a dead man’s pedal that must be depressed at all times or the locomotive will stop. It’s a bit like controlling a model toy train using a transformer. The weather was quite misty the day we were there which may have been a blessing in disguise. I’m a bit squeamish about heights and this railway literally hangs from the mountain cliffs. We descended the mountain’s opposite side by cable car. Again the fog gave me a false sense of security. Yes, a clear day would have been preferred. 

Photo above

At mid-station on the Pilatus Railway we met trains returning down the mountain. The weather has turned misty making difficult to appreciate the steepness of the terrain. 

(Photo above)Early one morning just before leaving Lucerne , we walked a few blocks from the hotel to see the Lion of Lucerne. Carved into a sandstone cliff face in1820, the carving is a memorial to the Swiss soldiers who died attempting to save Marie Antoinette in 1792. The Swiss have a long tradition of supplying mercenaries to foreign governments. Because the country has been politically neutral for centuries, the Swiss  have long enjoyed a reputation for honoring their agreements and a pope or emperor could be confident that his Swiss Guards wouldn’t turn on him when the political winds shifted direction.

The Swiss Guards’ honor was put to the test in 1792, when, after trying to escape the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children were hauled back to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. A mob of working-class Parisians stormed the palace in search of aristocratic blood. More than 700 Swiss officers and soldiers died while defending the palace, without knowing that their royal employers had left.

In the early 1800s, the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen was hired to sculpt the Lion monument to the fallen Swiss Guards. The sculpture has attracted countless visitors since its dedication in 1821. 

As so many others have done over the decades, I had my photo taken in front of the huge sculpture.

OK. I’ve checked everything out in Lucerne. 

Next blog – The William Tell Express to Lugano