Sunday: Goppenstein - Zurich

[ Three Tunnels and Winter ]

15:54. Back in Goppenstein at the south portal of the Loetschberg tunnel. It takes 15 minutes to get here from Kandersteg. RegionalExpress RE 4275 continues to Brig and I walk over to the platform at track 1.

The car loading facilities in Goppenstein are much more cramped than in Kandersteg.

I did not expect that the northbound platform would be crowded with skiers.  The platform is quite narrow, so I was a bit concerned for safety, but everybody behaved really orderly and paid attention.

16:02. RE 4276 arrives in Goppenstein on time. The engineer approaches the platform slower than normal. He's just as careful as the skiers outside.

Getting on the train in Goppenstein was a great idea. I got to traverse the Loetschberg tunnel three times within the same day, ... and I got a seat for the trip to Bern. Everyone getting on in Kandersteg ended up standing or sitting on the floor. There were a lot of people on this train.

I thought the advertisement was really funny.

After Kandersteg we loose elevation quickly. The snow is gone. I watch the country side on the way to Frutigen, Spietz, and on to Bern.

17:20.  Arrival in Bern. Crowds everywhere.

Intercity IC 1 727 to Zurich and St. Gallen is ready, but of course also crowded.

17:32. I walk to the end of the train, take this excellent photo, and find a seat.

18:32. Arrival in Zurich HB.

18:37. I take S8 to Bahnhof Enge.

18:43. Back where I started, 11 hours later. This was an amazing day. I should do something like this again.

Sunday: Kandersteg

[ Three Tunnels and Winter ]

Kandersteg station has the control tower right on the platform at track 1. However, it appears the big control table is no longer in use. Instead, everything's controlled via computers in a back room. Here's the line diagram schedule. This photo was taken through two windows and blinds, so unfortunately it's hard to make out train indications. However, I believe the rather tight column of red lines in the middle of the screen represents the auto transport trains traversing through the Loetschberg tunnel.

As soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains, it gets cold. I didn't want to stand here for another 30 minutes until the RegioExpress to Bern was due, so I decided to take the RE 4275 through the Loetschberg tunnel to Goppenstein, where I'd have about 5 minutes to get to the other platform for the return trip and on to Bern.

While waiting for the RegioExpress, this KLV train with double-header DB class 185 barrels through the station at speed.

One Re 4/4 was parked on track 4 for the whole time I was hanging out in Kandersteg.

A few minutes before my train was due a crew walked up to the locomotive, fired it up, and started to assemble yet another auto transport train. Note the cool arrangement of the cab door.

Sunday: Brig - Kandersteg

[ Three tunnels and winter ]

13:37. The city walk in Brig took much longer than I expected, and I barely made it back to my train in time.
To the left are the tracks to Montreux and Geneva, as well as the new Loetschberg base tunnel. My train is taking the old Loetschberg line.

The old Loetschberg route climbs steadily on the north slope of the the Rhone valley, quickly gaining elevation. It doesn't take long and the view turns into a real life model railroad.

I know that Kandersteg is on the north side of the Loetschberg tunnel. I ask the conductor from which side I can see the tunnel portals of the Loetschberg tunnel. 

"Only on the north side, from Kandersteg. You can't see anything on the other side."

Ok. It's still early in the afternoon, so I'm planning to get off in Kandersteg and explore the area a bit. We're getting close.

The view is great, but the low sun is causing lots of reflections on the glass, confusing the auto-focus on my SLR camera for any angle that isn't straight out of the window.

I experiment a little bit with the smart phone, with mixed success.

Suddenly, we veer away from the Rhone valley and follow a narrow valley in northern direction. Can't be much longer until Goppenstein.

In Goppenstein I peek out of the window and , ... WHAT THE HECK? THERE'S THE TUNNEL!!!

I grab my things, and get off the train. It turns out the conductor was wrong. The tunnel portals are visible easily only from Goppenstein, while the north portal is several kilometers away from Kandersteg.

The train had to wait for an auto train to clear the track ahead, so I took a few more photos and then hopped back on to see what the other side looked like.

Oh yeah, quite agreeable in Kandersteg. Sunshine and better scenery.

A while later I photographed a south-bound Regio to Domodossola (Italy).

Sunday: Kandersteg Autoverladung

[ Three tunnels and winter ]

The BLS is operating a car loading facility at Kandersteg station to take cars through the Loetschbergtunnel. I walked over to the other side of the station and approached the attendants.

Me: "Excuse me, would you mind if I take photos of you when loading and unloading cars on the train?"
Attendant: "Huh? What do you want?"
Other Attendant: "[rolls eyes] He wants to take photos."
Attendant: "You can't go on the tracks. We'd get into trouble, if you do that."
Me: "I'd get into trouble, too, if I did that."
Attendant: "Stay on the ramp, and don't get in the way of the cars."

I walked over to the end of the ramp, enjoyed the sunshine and took photos. It was quiet, no activity at the ramp.

A few minutes later, a loaded train arrived from Goppenstein.

These BLS Re 4/4 locomotives don't look that impressive, but are very strong and already 50 years old. Numbers 170 - 190 are even equipped with ETCS.

At the ramp, the trains pull all the way forward to the bumper.

The side board of the first car can be lowered onto the ramp, and the cars drive off to the side.

The train is quite long. All cars drive forward until they reach the flat car behind the locomotive and leave the train.

When all cars are off the train, the train is loaded for the opposite direction.

Hello, Ludwigsburg!

I'm apparently not the only one interested in documenting the experience...

I really like these locomotives. They have a somewhat odd-ball personality.

The last couple cars for a departing train always enter the ramp at higher speed, obviously worried they'd miss the departure and would have to wait 20-30 minutes for the next train. There are three loading tracks here. I can imagine that it might have gotten very busy during the peak travel seasons before the Loetschberg base tunnel was built.

After hanging out at the ramp for a while, I decided to hike up a nearby hill and look at the operation from a higher vantage point.

There's even a bench here.

The shadows were getting longer, and it didn't take long until the sun started to hide behind mountains.

One last photo.

Hiking over old snow back down to Kandersteg station.