So today we travelled on the golden pass line from Montreux to Zweisimmen, travelling in the restored 1930s era coaches.
Switzerland operates many different rail gauges on its railway network.The gauge of a railway refers to the distance between the rails. Narrow gauge railways are usually found in mountainous regions because the narrow distance between the rails enables the track to twist and turn more effectively. Passengers used to have to disembark at Zweisimmen and change to a completely different train to continue on the different gauge. That process has very recently been automated and the train will now change the distance between the wheels all on its own. For railway enthusiasts, the point where this happens, and the bogies can be seen below.
In Zweisimmen we transferred to a private charter train, a blue arrow electric rail car which took us to Lausanne. Since the train was private, we were able to sit with the driver and enjoy the scenery.
I took a time-lapse video of part of the journey, so here you can see it, at a speed of about 200 miles an hour.
Vevey is a very attractive town on Lake Geneva. One of my clients is a photographer and took these beautiful photos at sunrise and sunset over the lake. There is a sculpture of a giant fork in the lake. (no… me neither) and Charlie Chaplin lived here for a while. Many thanks to Ian Franey.
TimOnTheTrain 