Switzerland's Frauenfeld-Wil Bahn

Above Frauenfeld and (bottom) Frauenfeld Stadt

Wil

(All pics copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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A fairly typical Swiss light railway which connects two towns and two SBB stations is the unpretentious Frauenfeld-Wil Bahn. It runs through flat scenery with nowhere spectacular en route, but the section of street running through Frauenfeld is nice! In 1987 the station at Frauenfeld Stadt was a nice substantial building  hopefully it's still there!

The line is metre gauge.

Further information (from Wikipedia)

The Frauenfeld–Wil railway (German: Frauenfeld–Wil-Bahn, FW) is a metre gauge (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in gauge) railway line^[1] in Switzerland, which connects the town of Frauenfeld in the canton of Thurgau, to the town of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen, following the valley of the Murg river. The line is owned and operated by the Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn AG, forms part of the Tarifverbund Ostwind, and operates as service S15 of the St. Gallen S-Bahn.

Plans to build a tramway between Frauenfeld and Wil were first made in the early 1850s. The rail line opened in 1887, and was electrified in 1921. Around 1.25 million passengers use the line every year.

Locals call the train "Wilerbähnli" or "Wiler Bähnli".

Operation

Trains run every 30 minutes, requiring 3 trains in operation at once, with trains crossing at the stations of Matzingen and Schweizerhof.

In 2011 the railway company ordered five new ABe4/8 low floor trains from Stadler Rail, to replace the old trains. However, there are plans for a 15 minutes interval in future and therefore some of the old trains will be retained. The first train was delivered in March 2013 and was tested for 3 months. It went into regular service on 26 June 2013.

Stations

15 stations are served by the line.

Station	km	Altitude
Frauenfeld	17.44	404.6
From Frauenfeld there are trains to Winterthur and Weinfelden.
Frauenfeld Marktplatz	16.85	417	since 1996
Lüdem	15.13	423
Murkart	13.92	431
Weberei Matzingen	12.62	440
Matzingen	11.49	447
Jakobstal	9.81	460
Wiesengrund	9.01	465
Wängi	8.27	470
Wängi GB (Service Station)	7.95	474
Rosental	6.5	487
Münchwilen Pflegeheim	4.66	509
Münchwilen TG	3.89	516
Schweizerhof (Service Station)	2.66	530
Wil	0.00	570.8
From Wil there are trains to Winterthur, Weinfelden, St. Gallen and Wattwil.

Freight Traffic

Freight trains ran on the line from 1907 until the early 2000s. This included transporter wagons from 1977 onwards.

The line's own Facebook page (German)

Waldenburgerbahn

Liestal 25.5.1987

Altmarkt 25.5.1987

Waldenburg 25.5.1987

Oberdorf 25.5.1987 

(All pics copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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The Waldenburgerbahn runs on the very narrow gauge (for Sswitzerland) of 750mm (2'5½") and is situated in Canton Basel-Landschaft. The line is 13.1km (8.1 miles) long, running from Liestal (junction with the SBB) to Waldenburg. There are intermediate stops at Bubendorf, Hölstein, Niederdorf and Oberdorf.

The line is operated by the Waldenburgerbahn AG and is the only normal passenger line of this gauge in Switzerland (though some industrial and funicular lines use it). It was steam operated until 1953.

The original concession for the route was granted on 18 June 1871. The original plans included an extension from Waldenburg to Langenbruck, but this section was not built. The railway opened throughout on 30 October 1880.

In 1909 plans for a longer extension from Waldenburg via Langenbruck to Balsthal, plus a connection from St Wolfgang to Mümliswil, were applied for but World War I intervened and this extension also didn't make it (together with plans for conversion to metre gauge).

Electric operation of the line started on 26 October 1953, using 1500v DC. The original 1953 stock has since been replaced by seven railcars and ten control cars acquired between 1986 and 1993.

The line operates mainly on a roadside reservation with street running in places, There are now eleven intermediate stops and six passing places, allowing a fairly intensive half hourly service to be operated, with additional trains in peak periods.

Tourist steam trains are operated from spring to autumn using 1902 built locomotive number 5, Gedeon Thommen. This loco had previously been plinthed at Liestal station between 1961 and 1980.

Source

2010 visit

how the future will look

(© 23.5.1987 The Rail Thing)

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Switzerland is spot on with public transport. A superb national rail network links to dozens of private lines, many narrow gauge, as well as numerous funicular railways, cablecars and urban tramways. Where there isn't rail there is trolleybus or even old fashioned diesel buses. Basically you can get anywhere you want in the country, quickly, cleanly and cheaply. Nobody needs to own a car.

 

This is the Forchbahn, a suburban light railway which links several small towns and villages to Zurich. It's a single track line but has a very intensive service. The last mile or so is on Zurich city tram tracks, the trains get right into the city centre.

 

Yet back in the late 1950s this line was under threat of closure. Back then it was a rickety rural tramway, but the Swiss saw sense and rather than close the line modernised it. It's now an absolute showpiece and should become the model for rural and suburban transport throughout Europe,

 

When the oil runs out the Forchbahn will keep running. House prices will remain the same, people will still be able to get to work, to the shops and indeed anywhere else they need to be by changing to the rail network at Zurich.

 

This is a roadside route so the land footprint is tiny. The line is electrified using hydro power so is sustainable. The vehicles looked modern even back in 1987, they will almost certainly be running for many decades yet.

 

This is the future, 1987 style, and we should all be doing everything we can to bring this to the towns and villages of Britain.

 

 

 


 


 

Centovalli

 

Back in May 1987 I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours in Locarno, which back then had the big attraction of street running along the lake. I'd come over on the spectacular Centovalli Railway from Domodosolla in Italy, the line is international, about half in Switzerland and half in Italian, though the whole area is Italian speaking.

 

Italian Switzerland is very laid back and quite unlike the German speaking section, it also tends to have a more Mediterranean climate, so May in Locarno is very pleasant - usually!

 

The Centovalli always accessed Locarno over the remaining section of the Locarno Tramway system, the rest of this urban network closing in 1933. About a mile of the line was street-running, followed by a very attractive roadside section. I took some very nice photos!

 

Unfortunately all this has now gone, not because the line has closed of course, but because this section has been put into tunnel. To me that's a shame - the tunnel will add a lot of costs to running the line and what's better than a line that penetrates the heart of a city in the most visible way? This is one of the few things I don't like about Switzerland - the caving in to car drivers which is really what this was all about. The line is more expensive to run, less attractive and less visible than it was, hardly progress! Perhaps as Peak Oil hits the roads will empty, the tunnel expense will become too much and Locarno may reopen the old lakeside route and perhaps the whole Locarno tram system as well!

trains down the village street!

The Gruyeres-Fribourg-Morat system is a network of narrow and standard gauge lines in the west of Switzerland. To me the best bit is at Montbovon, junction with the Montreux-Oberland-Bernoise route, where the first half mile or so of the route runs down the village street. Although not that unusual in Switzerland it's still always a bit of a surprise to see the trains running down the middle of the road!

These shots are all June 1987, but the line is still running of course, though the trains may be a little more modern these days!

murren

(All 22.5.1987)

The small village of Murren lies on a ridge in the heart of the Bernese Oberland and is only reachable by train, there's no road. Until a few years ago you made the journey in two stages, by funicular from Lauterbrunnen on the BOB up to Grutschalp, and then by tram from Grutschalp to Murren. Unfortunately the funicular had to close recently due to the land becoming unstable (an early victim of climate change) and this section is now done by cable car, but the rest of the journey carries on as always, via the spectacular tramway.

This was all far in the future in 1987 of course, and I did ride on the funicular one more time in about 2004.

The tramway, like most minor lines in Switzerland, is metre gauge, and is well worth a visit. Be warned, the weather can be wintry well into May, as it was here on 22 May 1987, with quite heavy snow falling for a time.

 

wynenthal suhrenthal bahnen

ALL Muhen 20.5.1987 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing

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Back in 1987 I spent a wonderful month travelling round Switzerland visiting most of its narrow gauge railways. First stop was the Wynenthal Suhrenthal Bahnen in Canton Aargau in eastern Switzerland. This was a busy two line system, much of it being roadside or street running, and metre gauge. There have always been plans to extend the Schoftland line to the SBB route via the Sursee-Triengen Bahn, a standard gauge line that would be reduced to metre gauge, but this still hasn't happened.

Part of this line has relocated since these pictures were taken, the former route between Suhr and Aarau being moved to the former standard gauge line that (in 1987) still ran between these two places, so there has been some expansion of the metre gauge.

Some of the street running on this line has been moved to private right of way since 1987, but plenty remains. Part of the metre gauge route between Menziken and Reinach was moved from the street to the trackbed of the former Seetalbahn which formerly ran between these places, and which I was lucky enough to travel on.

Expect much more on Switzerland over the next few weeks as I have reached this point in my photo albums!

first generation DMUs in yorkshire

 

Micklefield is a busy little station in Yorkshire, the junction for lines from Leeds to York and Hull. Back on 6 April 1987 there was a constant dream of first generation DMUs running through, as well as some HSTs, class 45s, class 47s and one or two newer DMUs. Of course at the time I didn't appreciate any of this, but luckily snapped away anyway!

 

My favourite shot from this location was one of those really lucky ones. I was walking back to my lorry when I glimpsed this scene in the mist. I probably heard a train horn so knew one was approaching - result a lovely composition of soft afternoon light, straight lines, a first generation DMU and the gentle arch of the bridge dead centre! I've posted this on a general photographic group and people love the composition! A lot more pics of Micklefield are on the Rail Thing Facebook group Rails of Yorkshire.