"The Cargo Hunt"
Cargo sector Re4/4 420.186 on short term hire to the passenger sector on Monday 26/01/2009, pictured at Olten while working IR2170, the 07:11 from Chiasso to Basel SBB (fwd from Luzern).
When I discovered that Daffy & Denzil were planning a few days in Switzerland, it would have been rude not to join them for a social weekend, especially as I’d had suchagood time in November. As I was booked to work on the Friday night, I played safe and booked BMI Baby flights Birmingham /Genève, out on Saturday afternoon and back on Tuesday afternoon for less that £60 so typically my job was caped meaning that I could have headed out a bit earlier. Julian Noble also joined the trip making it a foursome and therefore easier on the wallet when it came to booking hotels.
Saturday24/01/2009
Having had an extra day to chill out, I still seemed to run out of time on Saturday morning so June and I only had a few minutes spare to catch the train to Worcester. After a quick pint in Wetherspoons, I said cheerio to June (who was off to hit the shops) and headed to Birmingham International via Snow Hill.
I was very surprised to see how quiet terminal 1 was at the airport – no queue at customs and very few people in the departure lounge so the extension that they are building seems a very strange idea. I also noted that the Italian restaurant is being rebuilt as a Wetherspoons and hopefully they might actually have some good beers on unlike the one at Stansted. As I’d not eaten since breakfast, I picked up a Boots meal deal so I also had some water to replace the bottle that I’d had to ditch before boarding the plane on time. As BMI Baby allocate seats (with the option of paying extra to change to a better seat – must have been talking to Mr Ryan) I didn’t get my usual wide emergency exit seat but did drop lucky with an empty row of three. Unfortunately, due to congestion at Genève we were held at Birmingham for 45 minutes but most of that was pulled back en route so I was just in time to buy a half price ticket from a machine and head to Lausanne on a required 460. Cargo 11242 was parked up in the shunt neck so I was hoping that I might be able to track it down on Tuesday if it was still out.
As both of the Bern trains were also required, I decided to break my journey in Fribourg with the added “bonus” of a quick trip to Macs to stock up on calories before continuing to Bern to meet the others. Denzil sent me a text with their location but as I couldn’t find them I tried to ring him and despite my numbers being stored with the international code I got put through to a Swiss miss! After another text, I found the bar and was quite impressed to find that Daffy had managed to stumble on a place with an unfiltered house beer, allegedly brewed in Burgdorf although they had gen about a Zwickel brewed by Felsenau – either way, it was very nice so I stayed for a second and even Mr Noble had one, a rare event indeed!
BMI-BG-TOYD16:55Birmingham International - Genève Aéroport19:50WW110716:55Birmingham Int. - Genève Aéroport
SBB460.03120:27Genève Aéroport - Lausanne21:15IR174520:27Genève Aéroport - Brig
SBB460.02821:20Lausanne - Fribourg22:03IC74520:36Genève Aéroport - Zürich HB
SBB460.00422:34Fribourg - Bern22:56IR254720:47Genève Aéroport - Luzern
Sunday 25/01/2009
Despite the late finish, we were all up for the start of breakfast at 07:00 as we hoped to get some gen and plan our move for the day. As the Wi-Fi wasn’t free, I used the computer terminal in the breakfast room but it wasn’t playing ball so we left without the gen but with a plan of covering the one Zürich Re421 turn before heading down to Bellinzona for the Re484 turns. After passing through Olten and viewing Cargo liveried 420.186 heading for Basel, I wasn’t at all surprised to find dud 421.383 sat the sidings for the Lindau train so the back up plan of viewing the Cisalpino came into play.
Daffy and I weren’t disappointed with required 11140 on stock vice tilting rubbish but Denzil and Jools required the 421 so we left them to it and started working out how we could double back to meet them. Unfortunately, I was still in the thick of things at Zug when a northbound rolled in with a pair of Re4/4’s (which I later discovered were both required!) so not wanting to lose most of my possessions in a dash through the subway, we stayed put and headed south into the snow. We worked out our double back move and sat back to enjoy the scenery as neither of us had been south of Göschenen before. At Erstfeld, we viewed 421.391 parked up with a major dent in one corner so I doubt that will be on the Lindau circuit for a while.
After meeting up Denzil and discovering that Jools had headed over to Chur, we did another double back to cover a train that Re6/6 11645 had allegedly worked the previous day and then headed towards Bellinzona where we were greeted by 484.004 waiting with the Milano IR/EC train. As we didn’t know what was available in the way of eating facilities in Chiasso, we were contemplating going through to Como but in the end we baled for a fot of 484.004. We managed to cross the “border” by walking along the platform towards the 484 so got called back but Bert was okay once we explained and I showed my drivers fot. We then discovered that an E464 following the 484 to Milano so decided to do that through to Como for the extra scratch. After attempting to buy tickets to Como from the solitary ticket window and failing due to the slow progress of the queue, we effed it but did buy tickets for the return journey (€1.05 each full fare as it was too low for a priv discount!). After that, it was time for kebab and chips in the station pizzeria kiosk followed by a couple of beers in the station bar (the usual technique of queue at the till to pay then collect the beers at the bar). Just as Daffy was ordering the second beer, Bert from Chiasso arrived after doing a cross border grip and was withered to see us relaxing with a beer. He and his colleagues returned on the same train as us so after fotting the E464 we headed back towards the “border” only to find the official gate closed and Bert just waving us on down the platform.
I headed out of the station at Chiasso to get a fot of an infra 843 in the station car park but thought I had plenty of time as the platform showed 17:03 Bellinzona. Unfortunately, this wasn’t our train so I had a bit of a run to get back in time to fot the 484 arriving on the far platform which amused Denzil & Daffy!
Amazingly, Cargo sector 11348 had stuck to diagram for our train to Luzern and this time it was me having a laugh at Daffy as the rare cargo lok was dud for him. We made an additional stop near Faido to collect the poor unfortunates off a failed ICN who’d been sat waiting for an hour. Of no use to them or us was the use of 11245 from Luzern to Basel on a relief working!The other two baled at Arth Goldau but as I didn’t need any Re456’s or the two SBB Re4/4’s on the circuit, I carried on to Luzern to see if I could pick up a winner forward. Sadly it wasn’t to be so I waited for the others to arrive including Jools from his trip to Chur.
After walking into town and checking into the hotel, we headed to the brewpub where we were just in time for wursts and beer before it closed.
SBB460.07008:02Bern - Zürich HB08:58IC81506:49Brig - Romanshorn
SBB1114009:01Zürich HB - Arth Goldau09:45CIS1509:01Zürich HB - Milano Centrale
SBB1115209:52Arth Goldau - Faido11:18IR216508:03Basel SBB - Locarno
SBB1124911:40Faido - Airolo11:57IR228010:45Locarno - Zürich HB
SBB1119412:01Airolo - Faido12:18IR226710:09Zürich HB - Locarno
SBB1122312:40Faido - Airolo12:57IR217811:45Locarno - Basel SBB
SBB460.04513:01Airolo - Bellinzona13:53IR216910:03Basel SBB - Locarno
SBB484.00414:09Bellinzona - Chiasso14:59IR17114:09Bellinzona - Milano Centrale
FSE464.18915:17Chiasso - Como S.G.15:221086515:17Chiasso - Milano P Garibaldi
FSE464.07916:38Como S.G. - Chiasso16:431086015:38Milano P Garibaldi - Chiasso
SBB484.01317:00Chiasso - Bellinzona17:50IR17216:10Milano Centrale - Bellinzona
SBB1134818:06Bellinzona - Luzern20:41IR219217:45Locarno - Basel SBB
Monday 26/01/2009
After breakfast and a gen update, we headed to the station for an Re4/4 to Olten and a plus three onto cargo liveried 420.186 although Jools again went off separately as he’d had 186 the previous day. Amazingly we missed it by a few secondswhich put us in a quandary as we had nothing else planned so Denzil and I jumped on the first required 460. Daffy turned it down as it was dud and headed back to Luzern instead to cover the SOB turns. After our initial disappointment at missing 420.186, we recovered well by having a pair of Re4/4’s,11114 on a vice unit turn and fotting a quadruple header BLS freight while waiting for 186 to return, followed by another cargo lok into Basel on IR90 which put us in position for the shunt up the platform into the French sector.
Daffy had also turned up for the gronk and we were all pleased to find out that a diesel was performing instead of the more regular electric. After walking back through to the Swiss sector, we celebrated with a bottle of unfiltered beer each from Drinks of the World – or so we thought. After boarding another required Re4/4, we opened the bottles only to find they were cider but it was quite tasty all the same.
At Zürich, we all split up and rejoined a couple of times as I needed to find an internet café to check in for my return flight, Daffy wanted to check out the SZU service and Denzil just wanted to go into spin mode (well, he has got some catching up to do after all). We briefly bumped into Jools on the low level platforms who told us that he was going for 11151 which we’d forgotten about. Unfortunately for him, he’d misread Daffy’s writing as 11131 turned up which was dud for him but required by the rest of us! After a quick beer in the Chinese bar/restaurant at Zug (the food looked hellfire and reasonably priced) we headed back to Luzern and arrived to see cargo 11313 sat on the blocks so that was the next moved planned for us.
After returning to Luzern for a second time, we picked up our original plan by covering the ZB service because by diagram my last 101(also required by Denzil & Daffy) should be out and indeed it was. As we wanted time in the brewpub for a proper meal as well as a reasonably early night, we decided on a short move to the firstshack but we almost came undone as it’s quite a run (or a dodgy leap over the tracks) to get to the other platform. Daffy found it even more difficult as his feet decided at that moment to have a rest so as I set off down the platform, a dull thud could be heard behind me! Amazingly we all made it despite Daffy’s earth fault although he was still catching his breath when we arrived back in Luzern.The food and beer in the brewpub were excellent although a visit to a cash point is probably advisable before a visit.
SBB1115907:54Luzern - Olten08:27IR216406:26Erstfeld - Basel SBB
SBB460.08608:36Olten - Herzogenbuchsee08:54IR201207:58Zürich HB - Bern
SBB460.11409:04Herzogenbuchsee - Olten09:24IR201708:39Bern - Zürich HB
SBB1130309:29Olten - Basel SBB09:53IR216606:06Bellinzona - Basel SBB
SBB1121009:29Olten - Basel SBB09:53IR216606:06Bellinzona - Basel SBB
SBB460.10110:01Basel SBB - Olten10:26IC96710:01Basel SBB - Interlaken Ost
SBB1111410:35Olten - Wangen bei Olten19:39R684010:35Olten - Biel/Bienne
SBBEMU10:43Wangen bei Olten - Olten10:50R683510:11Solothurn - Olten
SBB460.10310:49Olten - Zofingen10:56IR246110:17Basel SBB - Luzern
SBB460.00811:02Zofingen - Olten11:10IR246210:30Luzern - Basel SBB
SBB420.18611:29Olten - Basel SBB11:53IR217007:11Chiasso - Basel SBB
SBB460.03812:14Basel SBB - Rheinfelden12:25IR197312:14Basel SBB - Zürich HB
SBB1129212:34Rheinfelden - Basel SBB12:47IR9011:36Zürich HB - Basel SBB
SBB1882212:52Basel SBB - Basel SNCF12:54EC9011:36Zürich HB - Bruxelles Midi
SBB1113013:07Basel SBB - Zürich HB14:00IC77513:07Basel SBB - Zürich HB
SBB450.04514:18Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Stadelhofen14:20S1213:37Brugg AG - Seuzach
SBB450.03614:18Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Stadelhofen14:20S1213:37Brugg AG - Seuzach
SBB450.04214:23Zürich Stadelhofen - Zürich HB (21-24)14:26S313:49Wetzikon - Dietikon
SBB1122014:36Zürich HB - Brugg AG15:00IR9614:36Zürich HB - Bruxelles Midi
SBB1115615:00Brugg AG - Aarau15:13RE362614:43Wettingen - Olten
SBB450.03815:17Aarau - Lenzburg15:23S315:17Aarau - Wetzikon
SBB450.01815:17Aarau - Lenzburg15:23S315:17Aarau - Wetzikon
SBB1130115:30Lenzburg - Zürich HB15:52IR9114:47Basel SBB - Chur
SBB450.10515:58Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Hardbrücke16:00S315:19Wetzikon - Aarau
SBB450.07515:58Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Hardbrücke16:00S315:19Wetzikon - Aarau
SBB450.07216:04Zürich Hardbrücke - Zürich Oerlikon16:08S615:32Uetikon - Baden
SBB450.11416:04Zürich Hardbrücke - Zürich Oerlikon16:08S615:32Uetikon - Baden
SBB450.02816:24Zürich Oerlikon - Zürich Flughafen16:28S1615:55Herrliberg-Feldmeilen - Zürich Flughafen
SBB421.37416:34Zürich Flughafen - Zürich HB16:44EC19412:34München Hbf - Zürich HB
SBB450.08916:55Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Stadelhofen17:00S916:08Zug - Uster
SBB450.01216:55Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Stadelhofen17:00S916:08Zug - Uster
SBB450.02216:59Zürich Stadelhofen - Zürich HB (21-24)17:02S916:41Uster - Zug
SBB450.03016:59Zürich Stadelhofen - Zürich HB (21-24)17:02S916:41Uster - Zug
SBB450.06316:59Zürich Stadelhofen - Zürich HB (21-24)17:02S916:41Uster - Zug
SBB450.03217:07Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Hardbrücke17:09S516:24Pfäffikon - Niederweningen
SBB450.09617:07Zürich HB (21-24) - Zürich Hardbrücke17:09S516:24Pfäffikon - Niederweningen
SBB1115417:13Zürich Hardbrücke - Zürich Stadelhofen17:231907117:13Zürich Hardbrücke - Frauenfeld
SBB450.10717:27Zürich Stadelhofen - Zürich HB (21-24)17:30S617:02Uetikon - Baden
SBB450.01017:27Zürich Stadelhofen - Zürich HB (21-24)17:30S617:02Uetikon - Baden
SBB460.02117:35Zürich HB - Thalwil17:43IR235917:35Zürich HB - Luzern
SBB1113117:54Thalwil - Zug18:10IR293917:41Zürich HB - Luzern
SBB460.04718:29Zug - Luzern18:49IR236117:47Zürich Flughafen - Luzern
SBB1131319:18Luzern - Arth Goldau19:45IR218718:03Basel SBB - Chiasso
SBB1122720:14Arth Goldau - Luzern20:41IR219217:45Locarno - Basel SBB
ZB101.96621:08Luzern - Kriens Mattenhof21:12IR224421:08Luzern - Meiringen
ZBEMU21:14Kriens Mattenhof - Luzern21:19S420:55Stans - Luzern
Tuesday 27/01/2009
Although Luzern was a good place to stay and it was nice to be able to dump some of the kit in the room, the downside was covering the Bern rush hour, particularly as I had three required BLS Re465’s out and hadn’t yet got hold of the 185’s on the S-Bahn. The result was an 04:45 alarm call – something I suffer at work but don’t normally entertain when on holiday but it was my last day and I was looking forward to a good ten hours doss when I got home!
The move worked as planned and typically as we hadn’t risked it, the plus two at Olten made (cross platform) and was a required Re4/4 – bugger! Daffy wasn’t impressed with 465.005 turning up on the first BLS move as it was dud for him but he and Denzil were happy to go after 465.007 on the S-Bahn while I clawed back 465.004 and the 185’s before meeting back up with Denzil. Daffy headed off to Olten to meet back up with Jools for their planned move back through Franceand their Eurostar home while Denzil and I headed to Lausanne hoping that cargo 11242 had stuck out.
As Denzil wanted to head into France loco hauled, we did separate moves to get to 11242, hisa dud 460 and mine a required Re4/4! We met up again briefly at Lausanne to say goodbye before I headed to Montreux on 11242 and Denzil headed off to France. MOB 6006 was sat at Montreux and was very tempting but I was now running out of time and still had to check in at the airport after my failed attempt in the Zürich internet cafe so I reluctantly turned it down. As compensation, I had a required Re4/4 to Genève for a required Re460 forward to the airport and a hassle free check in. Needless to say, that meant that my flight was delayed so I passed the time by typing up my moves and getting ripped off buying a 75cl bottle of water for £3.50!
We eventually took off about forty late but considering that they’d called in a standby plane following our original aircraft getting stranded at Glasgow, we actually got off quite lightly. We managed to pull back about 30 minutes so I was still in with an outside chance of catching the 15:49 New Street to Hereford. That was of course until I got stuck behind some old boy and his missus in the vestibule of a Voyager. My plus two should have made quite easily but Bert took 90 seconds to get off the train so my dash down the stairs of platform twelve was greeted by a beep, beep, beep of the doors closing. Bollocks, welcome back to the UK!
As I now had an hour too spare, I headed off to Spoons for a pint and some food - £5.10 in total, a very noticeable difference from my meal the previous night!
SBB460.00505:30Luzern - Olten06:10IR245205:30Luzern - Basel SBB
SBB460.07206:29Olten - Bern06:56IC95506:01Basel SBB - Interlaken Ost
BLSEMU07:02Bern - Bern Ausserholligen07:05S306:24Biel/Bienne - Belp
BLS465.00507:08Bern Ausserholligen - Bern07:161502306:49Toffen - Bern
BLSEMU07:20Bern - Bern Wankdorf07:22S406:37Thun - Affoltern-Weier
BLS465.00407:35BernWankdorf -Bern07:401502407:06Signau - Bern
BLSEMU07:46Bern - Niederwangen07:52S107:13Thun - Fribourg
Dispo185.52508:05Niederwangen - Bern Bümpliz Süd1512707:45Fribourg - Thun
Dispo185.52708:05Niederwangen - Bern Bümpliz Süd1512707:45Fribourg - Thun
BLS465.00708:20Bern Bümpliz Süd - Fribourg1512607:43Thun - Fribourg
SBB460.06508:55Fribourg - Lausanne09:40IC71006:11St. Gallen - Genève Aéroport
SBB460.11708:55Fribourg - Lausanne09:40IC71006:11St. Gallen - Genève Aéroport
SBB1120909:48Lausanne - Renens VD09:52RE261209:48Lausanne - Genève
SBB1111210:07Renens VD - Lausanne10:12RE262109:21Genève - Lausanne
SBB1124210:20Lausanne - Montreux10:39IR172109:27Genève Aéroport - Brig
SBB1121310:54Montreux - Genève12:04IR141409:28Brig - Genève Aéroport-
SBB460.08812:18Genève - Genève Aéroport12:24IC71608:11St. Gallen - Genève Aéroport
BMI-BG-BVKB14:05Genève Aéroport - Birmingham International15:00WW110414:05Genève Aéroport - Birmingham Int.
Summary
Having only been to Switzerland two months previously, it wasn’t on the top of my list for planned trips but sometimes the unexpected ones can be more fun. For a fairly last minute trip, things went very well and the company was good. With a bit more notice, we could probably have found cheaper hotels but finding one with Wi-Fi helped us plan our moves.
On the loco front, despite being a long trek I was glad that I headed down to Bellinzona for the 484’s as it was a nice relaxed day with some excellent scenery. I was pleased to pick up three required BLS Re465’s but had to flag three of my last four Re420’s due to lack of time so they kept taunting me at Luzern every time I arrived! The Cargo hunt went extremely well with 11242, 11292, 11313, 11348, 420.186, 421.374, 484.004 & 484.013 successfully captured although dud 421.383 spoilt the party by coming out to play and 11311 disappeared a day too early. I was pleased to pick up my last ZB 101 as it had eluded me on my last visit and I once again noticed former LSE 122 sat on the standby set at Luzern – I wonder if it ever gets used? The Re4/44 diagrams were about 80% accurate as SBB seemed to be swapping quite a few loks in and out of diagram – possibly a result of the cold temperatures taking their toll?
We didn’t have much time for sightseeing on this trip although Daffy was quite impressed with Luzern and we both rated the run along the Gotthard. Probably the best scenery for me though was saved for the end and the departure from Genève on my flight home.
It’s the first time that I’d used BMI for a long time (possibly my first BMI Baby flight). The only major difference from other cheapo airlines is the allocated seats (assuming that I was just unlucky with the poor timekeeping) and the ploy of extracting more cash from you if you want to change your seat. Their online check in is only 48 hours notice so I could only sort the outward flight from home. Despite logging on okay in a Zürich internet café (near the escalators for the SZU platforms at the HB), when I tried to check in for my return flight it said that no records existed! Needless to say this got me flapping a bit in case there was a problem with the flight so I had to allow additional time at the airport for a manual check in. As it was, I didn’t get chung (their website said I might have been) and check in was queue free so I had plenty of time. The flight departed from “Satellite B” and once you go through the final security check there was nothing except for a small shop and toilets so anyone wanting DF’s should get them in the main departure area.
The 16:49 to Hereford was at least on time giving me 13 hours rest before starting work and four days to catch my breath before jetting off to India!
©Neil Aitken 28/01/2009
Hotel & Restaurant Gen
All my accommodation was booked through HRS ( as follows:-
Hotel Continental
Zeughausgasse 27
CH-3011 Bern
Tel: +41 31 3292121, Fax: +41 31 3292199
Fax: , Web:
Nothing special but fairly close to the station. A twin room en suite room with PYB breakfast cost 130,00 CHF. The Wi-Fi wasn’t free but there was a free computer terminal in the breakfast room. Reception was open 24 hour.
Best Western Krone