The
buffet added at Burgdorf was a lovely vehicle once part of the Wagons-Lits
fleet. May 31 2003
'The
Lake Neuchâtel Express'
May 31 2003
Naturally the departure from Neuchâtel for the return leg was punctual. A lovely section of running out through the town, which gave us a good view of it, took us alongside Lake Neuchâtel and past the Castle at Grandson. This section of line had clearly had a lot of money spent on it recently with new tunnels and bridges as part of a doubling programme. We continued along this line until we reached Yverdon-les-Bains. Here we took a left hand turn. This took slowly through 180° to run up the otherside of the lake and back in the direction of Burgdorf.
Following a couple of pathing stops we arrived in Payerne for a forty minute water stop.
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The
buffet added at Burgdorf was a lovely vehicle once part of the Wagons-Lits
fleet. May 31 2003 |
01 202 during the water stop at Payerne. May 31 2003
01 202 gets some attention at Payerne. May 31 2003
Again hardly anyone is around - 01 202 at Payerne. May 31 2003
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In
the yard at Payerne was Ae 4/4 11395. Note the spoked wheels ! May 31
2003 |
After the stop at Payerne the train ran a short distance on to Avenches where we were scheduled a second runpast. Photographically this was worse than the first and again pretty much a free for all. As before it was more of a walkpast than a runpast.
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01
202 crosses the level crossing at Avenches during the second runpast of
the day. May 31 2003 |
More nice running followed from Avenches. Running on fairly level track we came to Kerzers for the second time. However we were now on SBB metals and not BLS ones. At Kerzers there is a flat crossing with the BLS line.
The next junction was Lyss where we joined the line to Zollikofen. This double track line climbs most of the way and gave us perhaps the best performance of the day from 01 202. A nice high speed, very smoky and fairly noisy climb was had. However the arrival at Zollikofen was in effect the end of the steam running. Here 01 202 had to run round the train and run tender first the 15km (9 miles) back to Burgdorf over the same route we had run out along earlier in the day.
01 202 runs round the train at Zollikofen.This manoeuvre was completed without fuss and very quickly. May 31 2003
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Another
excellent loco. Former DR/DB pacific 01 202 is about to buffer up to the
train at Zollikofen. Ready to run tender first back to Burgdorf. May 31
2003 |
Running alongside a tram system back towards Burgdorf saw us also get to overtake a tram running in the same direction but it disappeared in to a tunnel just before we could !
The disappointment at not being hauled by 241A65 was partly offset by the excellent run behind 01 202 and also by the fact the 241A had been pulled out of the shed on our return. Special arrangements had been made for us to access the shed from the station, and this was done in total safety with no fuss. I couldn't see this ever happening in the UK today. Whilst we inspected 241A65 01 202 busied herself with removing the buffet car from the set before handing it back to Ae 4/7 11026 for the run back to Basle.
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| Etat (later SNCF) 241A65 outside her home shed at Burgdorf. May 31 2003 |
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| 241A65 and support coach at Burgdorf. May 31 2003 |
Also in the shed were a number of other locomotives used on mainline trips from Burgdorf.
Ae 4/7 11026, seen from the side with the traction motors, waits to haul the train back to Basle. May 31 2003
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01
202 has just removed the buffet car and returned the other carriages to
the platform at Burgdorf ready for 11026 to take over. May 31 2003 |
We were slightly late getting away from Burgdorf but the light train and 3120 horsepower of 11026 meant we were soon running at line speed. By now the sun was getting low and a good number of lineside photographers were seen, probably getting some lovely shots. Again we ran non-stop to Olten where some passengers were dropped off. From here we took the new route through the Hauenstein Base tunnel directly back to Basle.
A few delays on the final approach to the station prevented a right time arrival but with almost an hour to wait for our train back to Mulhouse this didn't matter. Once we had got rid of our last few Swiss Francs we headed back to the French side of the station. Once again border control was nonexistent.
We travelled back to Mulhouse on the 20:17 departure, train RE 96240. Arrival back at Mulhouse, with one stop en route, was a little after twenty to nine. The organisers now had the timings for the final leg of 'The Alsace Lorraine Express' and asked us to be at Mulhouse station no later than 07:30 ! So after two very full and enjoyable days on Switzerland's excellent railways it was time to get some rest and wonder what tricks SNCF would pull the next day. We also all had our fingers crossed that the new coal delivered for 231G558 was actually going to burn !