Foggy Leysin Village station.
Past vineyards on the outskirts of Aigle.
Starting on the street track past Aigle Depot station.
Aigle Place du Marche halt.
Tight squeeze!
Station approach.
Entering the station forecourt area.
All pics copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing 14.9.2011
You never really get used to it, and I must have done this trip 40 times! The Aigle-Leysin line starts from a brand new station adjacent to the main SBB station in Aigle and immediately runs on street to Aigle Depot station, just over a mile, before reversing and taking the rack up the mountainside to eventually reach, via a couple of wayside halts, the four stations in Leysin.
The street running includes a stretch along a narrow one way street which always delights! Whether from the train or from the pavement it's always entertaining.
The line is busier than ever and replacement of the street running section is not even on the radar so you can safely wait a little longer before visiting. The line itself is absolutely essential, taking just 20 minutes to link Aigle and Leysin, a much longer journey both in miles and time if you're unfortunate enough to have to drive!
There are two other metre gauge lines at Aigle, the long Aigle-Ollon-Monthey, Champery line which has lost its street running stretch in Aigle - it was a simple job to lay a new line along the SBB route and regain the original route just outside town. There is however street track remaining on this line in Collombey, plus a decent amount of roadside running. The other line is the Aigle-Sepey-Diablerets route which still uses street running to exit Aigle, and also has a very rural roadside stretch (traversed twice on every journey) into Le Sepey.
