Lostentry

Chateau du Chillon

Chateau du Chillon is a fortress from the middle ages with a very interesting history stretching back to the the 11th century. It's located on a small island just off the edge of Lake Geneva and controlled the trade routes through Kanton Waadt. Touring the lowest cellars to the highest tower of this 1000 year-old fortress is very interesting and highly recommended.

The cellars

One of the large formal halls.

The chapel

View of the lake

One of the four courtyards

Montreux

Looking south towards Villeneuve

Montreux - Chateau du Chillon

It's a warm day in Montreux. We get appropriate cooling to enjoy near the lake while we wait for the boat to Chateau du Chillon.

It's a quick 15 minute with the side-wheel paddle steamer to the Chateau.

Approaching Chateau du Chillon.

Chamby - Montreux

The regional train from Zweisimmen arrives in Chamby at 14:43.

Upon arrival in Montreux half an hour later, quite a few passengers walk across the platform to take the cogwheel railway to Rocher de Naye.

We contemplated whether we should join them, but opted for a walk down to the lake shore.

Before we left the station we observed boarding for a Golden Pass Express train where some people riding in First Class get to sit in a row of seats at the very front of the train, while the engineer is in a raised control booth behind the second row of seats. A neat idea, and I'm sure those seats are selling well.

Chamby

I am in Chamby. This time the 1:1 version and not the module I've written about several times on this blog. Chamby is a small station in the hills above Montreux on the MOB line to Gstaad and Zweisimmen. The views from up here are gorgeous.

It's very interesting to see how well the module compares to the actual station and to see the differences to reality.

The station's architecture is quite unique.

And here's the residence next to the railroad crossing.

The museum's steam train is ready to depart and backs down the hill towards the museum grounds.

Blonay - Chamby

Between Blonay and Chamby, a museum railway regularly operates steam trains, a good reason to visit. There's also a museum at the Chamby musee station, but I decided to skip that in favor of other adventures.

B.F.D. 3 was built in 1913 for the Brig - Furka - Disentis railway and is equipped with a set of cog wheels for the Abt rack rail system, though the museum line is adhesion only. The locomotive is coal fired. The stoker is adding some extra coal so there's plenty of steam for the trip to Chamby.

This short but very scenic meter gauge line cuts through villages at first and then continues to climb through pastures and forest. Our train leaves Blonay at 14:05.

After 10 minutes we reach the Viaduc de la Baye the Clarens: 80 meters long in a tight curve. This screams to be built as a module).

There are fine views of Lake Geneva along the line.

Arrival in Chamby. The train will reverse here and back down the hill into the museum grounds.

Chamby is located on the MOB narrow gauge line from Montreux to Gstaad and Zweisimmen. This is the "Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway", in french Chemins de fer Montreux Oberland bernois.

While the train waits for its departure time, I take more photos.

B.F.D. 3 has the wheels inside the frame and the driving rods for adhesion operation outside the frame, while the rods for cog wheel operation are located on the inside, a complicated and maintenance-intensive mechanism.

The two cog wheels are visible behind the side of the inner frame.

A short, but fun run with steam among all electric operation everywhere else.

Vevey - Blonay

The S7 from Palezieux gets us to Vevey at 13:28. The connection to Les Pleiades R14 is already at the station and will leave at 13:40. Enough time to look around Vevey station for a few minutes.

I saw a couple narrow gauge box cars on a side track when S7 pulled into the station that I felt warranted a closer look, so we walked over and wondered what that normal gauge track was doing in the pavement and how it had been used.