Swiss Alpine Steam - Glacier Express Route - Rack Railway - Dampfbahn Furka Bergstrecke
Ойын-сауық
The Furka Steam Railway runs along the original route of the Glacier Express through some of the most pristine landscapes in the Swiss Alps.
The high altitude Furka summit line line opened in 1925 and closed in 1982, after the new Furka base tunnel opened, making year-round operation possible. Previously, the trains could only run from late spring to early autumn and even once the route was electrified, the wires had to be taken down each year ahead of avalanches. Originally the whole 17.8 km long summit route between Realp, Gletsch and Oberwald should have stayed shuttered, but railway enthusiats refused to accept this and reopened it in stages between 1992 and 2010.
The motive power is provided by 0-4-2, 2-6-0 and 0-8-0 rack and adhesion locomotives, all built by SLM in Winterthur in the early 20th Century. Some of these locomotives are native to the line and have always stayed in Switzerland, like the black loco Nr. 4 as it is seen in this short film. Other engines were sold to French-Indochina (later Vietnam) after World War II and where then repatriated to Switzerland amidst much celebration in 1990. In the film, the blue Nr. 1 is one such example! The largest of them all, the massive 0-8-0 rack tanks with external System Winterthur rack gear were built in the early 1920s in Switzerland and exported directly to French-Indochina. The black and olive green giant Nr. 704 is one of two such locos that were brought back to Switzerland. Since 2018, 704 has been in steam on the Furka line, while its sister engine Nr. 708 is undergoing long-term restoration to running order.
These images were taped in late September 2020, on a warm late summer day when quite unusually three steam locomotives were in regular service. Normally, two steam locos are complemented by one diesel for the first train of the day. These clips show the service on the westernmost part of the line between Gletsch and Oberwald.
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Der Bahnbetrieb auf der Dampfbahn Furka Bergstrecke (DFB) im späten September 2020 mit den drei Dampfloks 1, 4 und 704 im Wochenendbetrieb.
Пікірлер: 40
Great Video my friend Big like from Romania
Very nice video! 👍👍📹🚂🚃🚃🚃
Beautiful train in a perfect landscape! Perfect, well done! Best Regards Railherbie
Awesome video ! Like 1 from Madrid Trains and Trams
Amazing video and landscape!! Like!
Great stuff, must visit again, there is nowhere else quite like it.
@grahamcroucher5251
Жыл бұрын
Was it you that was coming on the last RTC CZECH trip but didn't for some reason?
@Timsvideochannel1
Жыл бұрын
@@grahamcroucher5251 Hello Graham, I was on the 2019 RTC Snow and Steam in Bohemia Trip and I recently did the trip to the Furka Oberalp Steam Railway, my first for three years, all other tours were cancelled due to Covid. I am also booked on trips to Germany and Poland with RTC, sadly both of these have been cancelled and rescheduled for next year, my next trip is with Rail Discoveries on one of their Little Trains of the Pyrenees holiday breaks with my wife. I am tempted by the Cuba tour, but the price is more than I'd usually spend. I'll wait to see how my tour to Germany goes before making a decision on the Cuba trip. I love visiting Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, if work picks up and the money starts to roll in again, I'll be tempted to book another tour to Bohemia. I was going to book a tour this year, but with my tours being cancelled and rescheduled I lost confidence a bit and as I still work full time, arranging time off isn’t always easy. Have you recently done or are you booked on one of the RTC tours to the Czech Republic? It makes life difficult when trips are rescheduled to clash with a tour I’d like to do, I know things aren’t easy for RTC at the moment and I’m glad that they are still brave enough to keep arranging tours in these difficult times, I’m looking forward to the day when once again tours go ahead as advertised.
Wow, such a place! Beautiful locomotives and amazing scenery... Big thumbs up!
@trainsandtrams2020
3 жыл бұрын
Hi, yes this is a high altitude line with really exposed conditions. I managed to visit on the last summer weekend in September when they had 3 steam locos in service. Just a week later on the last weekend of Sept the line was already covered in light snow! :) In October, they got drenched with heavy rain and mud. One of the train bridges along the way they fold up during the winter, as it would otherwise get torn apart by heavy snow or potential avalanches. From the steam locos, the green No. 704 is the one everyone is chasing after, though built in Switzerland in the 1920s, it never operated in Europe before 2018 and it has the rack drive gear visible above the cylinders, a bit like the Slovak rack and adhesion steam loco in Tisovec.
@BlanCamCZ
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 It looks like a railfan´s heaven, I must visit the place some day :) I love especially the blue locomotive, it looks royal somehow. It is all so very neat and picturesque. I was only a little sorry that there were not more shots from the train window - you know, the Czech republic is very flat, so these mountains with deep valleys look magical to me.
@trainsandtrams2020
3 жыл бұрын
@@BlanCamCZ Yes of course, a visit is worth it and for the avid Czech outdoor spirit the Furka area offers nice ways to combine railways with hiking or camping! :) The blue loco Nr. 1 will probably get overhauled in 2022 or 2023 and is then scheduled to go back to its original black color, just like loco Nr. 4 in the film. This is not to everyone's liking, although black is original and the cobalt blue livery (which has a lot of fans) was only created in the 1990s, when the locos were brought back from Vietnam and the first part of the Furka pass line re-opened. Most of the volunteers at the Furka railway and the people that run the show are traditionalists, hence the drive to have all the locos back in their original colors. Still, the matching blue coaches will stay blue. So 2021 or possibly 2022 will be a "last chance saloon" to see Nr. 1 in blue. Nr. 9 was also in blue, but is already out of traffic for overhaul. All other locos are either black or black-olive green.
@BlanCamCZ
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 Sounds good, is it possible to hike along the track? Steam is like gravity to me and I usually don´t want anything else when it is near :D Sorry to hear it won´t keep its majestic blue color :( I wish we had more blue locomotives in the Czech Republic :)
Absolutely stunning! This is amazing! I wish I did Glacier Express on that train.
Great video!
Grand. Opening. Ceremony of Thai-canal.
Very nice video !
Beautiful train train and super video. Greetings
Beautiful video
wonderful video
Wow, such a beautiful engine etc. When planning of locos began in Finland, Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (during the years 1885-98) made 15 G1 locos e t c In your country & this high Quality company.
@trainsandtrams2020
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, during its 125 year history, SLM was involved in a lot of international projects and produced a lot of locomotives for export. Of course a good example is the VR Class Sr2 in Finland.
@SteveStardust7
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 Yes, indeed and not to mention of Sm5 (Stadler Bussnang AG).
Gongratulation grand opening Thai-canal. Ceremony.
@15:24 ist das der Werni (Werner)
that DFB 704 @4:51 reminds me a lot with E10 class locomotive in Indonesia (built by Esslingen, SLM and Nippon Sharyo I believe) id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotif_E10, cog railway locomotives always fascinate me :D
Are these Coal powered or Oil Powered ??
@trainsandtrams2020
3 жыл бұрын
All Furka steam locomotives are coal powered, as the volunteer-based crews are keen to keep all locomotives in their historic, original condition. The Furka Railway is something more of a museum railway than just a tourist operation and all trains are run by volunteer staff, who enjoy shoveling coal.
@JishyFishy4106
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 our NMR is focusing on Modernisation. They have retrofitted almost all Coal Fired X-Class engines 2 Oil/Gas mode. They also have been retrofitted with new cockpit controls.
Looks similar 2 Nilgiri Mountain Railway X-class Locomotive. Only difference here is that in Our Nilgiri Mountain Railway, the wheels of the loco are 0-8-2, with 2 Back Wheels. In Your Furka, the wheel arrangement is 0-8-0, with No Back Wheels.
@trainsandtrams2020
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, these design similarities between the Nilgiri and Furka steam locomotives are not coincidental, since they were all built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) in Winterthur.
@JishyFishy4106
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 I know. Nilgiri is in India. Goldenrock, located at Tamilnadu, India makes these beautiful locos, by the TOT given by Winterthur SLM
@trainsandtrams2020
3 жыл бұрын
Yes that's right, the newest Nilgiri locos numbered 18-21 have been domestically built by Golden Rock and Central Workshop in India. The original Nilgiri X Class locomotives (produced from 1914 to 1952) were Swiss-built by SLM. These are numbered 1-17 at the NMR.
@JishyFishy4106
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 yes. And 4 new locomotives were built from 2011 to 2014 by Goldenrock. The famous film song "Chayya-Chayya" from Dil Se was shot on the X-class engine. The numbers of the loco got changed in2 X-37xxx, slowly after the British Departed India
@JishyFishy4106
3 жыл бұрын
@@trainsandtrams2020 btw, which configuration is longer ? 0-6-2T or 0-8-0T ??