esngblog

Just 7 members at last night’s meeting, with a good number on holiday.  We worked on a ‘lay your own track’ basis, and initially only joined up the inside and outside lines, as only two people had trains to run.  Then Peter arrived, so we added a third circuit.  But it was a sociable evening at the end of a lovely sunny day.

Meanwhile, back in Switzerland…..

Started off cool but got hotter as we travelled but on returning to hotel we alighted into rain.

Today we travelled via Interlaken to Olten where we took a Geneva train to Yverdon-les-Bains passing Lakes Biel and Neuchatel. From Yverdon-les-Bains we used local trains to Payerne, Kerzers and on to Bern. We had hoped to catch the German ICE train back to Interlaken but found the service showing as an Ersatzzug and it turned out to be a Swiss Inter City train.

Lauterbrunnen, looking up from ramp to station

Lake Thun

Lake Biel

Lake Neuchatel

Station forecourt Yverdon Les Bains

Outside Interlaken Ost station. First picture is of the infinity pool.

Today’s weather forecast…..

After another heavy thunderstorm yesterday evening it has been cooler today. We wnt to Gstaad via Inteerlaken and Zweisimmer. At Gstaad we took the post bus over Col de Pillon to Les Diablerets. From there it was train all the way back changing at Aigle, Laussanne, Berne and Interlaken. When we got back to Lauterbrunnen it was raining so took post bus one stop up the hill. Writing this on our balcony while another thunderstorm takes place.

Tourism…..

Zweisimmen. Allan must have got a bit peckish….

Gstaad

Les Diablerets

Le Sepey

Aigle

And trains….

Third evening running thunder, lightning and rain. Luckily just got back to the hotel tonight before it started.

To railway photos – it could have been a lot better if I was not eating a salad while waiting for a train at Aigle.  Missed photos of a shunting loco towing one of SBB new double deck sets. As they are not fully available to work at the moment they’re parked up all over the place. Also missed a freight and a light loco. To make things worse the SBB self propelled track coach caught me out at Lusanne.

Photos taken at Zweisimmen. Note the two of the gauge changer they have installed, to get from metre to standard gauge.  Try that in Nm!!!

And more rain. Switzerland is obviously too hot or too wet….

The tourism….

Another hot day. Travelled via Interlaken, Spiez and Brig to Oberwald where we spent just over an hour in the station buffet before catching Post Bus over the Grimsel Pass to Meoringer. From there we took train to Brienz for boat trip to Interlaken for train back to hotel.

Between Brig and Oberwald

View from Oberwalđ Station Buffet

Grimsel Pass

Brienz

Giessbach Falls

Iseltwald

Bonigen

And the transport….

Oberalp Pass

Meiringen, Spiez and Brig Stations

More transport from Allan….

The BLS Metze train is at Interlaken Ost. Bus is in Lauterbrunnen. Rest taken at Montreux.

Might as well keep on posting these instalments as they come in!

A very hot day. Took train changing in Interlaken and Berne to Lausanne where we took the metro down to Lake Geneva at Ouchy. We spent 45 mins by the lake before boarding a paddle boat for a tour of the east end of the lake. We came ashore and came back via Brig. Just outside Visp Ron thought he saw an outside thermometer showing 40°!

Boats….

On descent to Lausanne

Views from metro going down to Ouchy

Lausanne from paddleship

St Gingolph

Chateau de Chillon

And trains (plus a bus and trailer).

The BLS Metze train is at Interlaken Ost. Bus is in Lauterbrunnen. Rest taken at Montreux

Further to earlier emails weather has now broken. We are now in middle of thunderstorm with lots of wind and hail stones the size of pennies. Expect the storm to last for some time as they get stuck in the valley.

It’s been a very lazy June that seems to have just drifted by. Not many exhibitions to visit, and no real incentive to get on and do some modelling. On a personal note, it was an auspicious month for the Bartlett’s, though – eldest daughter Ruth got engaged in Berlin (I’d better start saving), and Maxine and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Not entirely sure what the secret of our success is, though – model trains probably have something to do with it!

But July usually brings relief to this poor blogger, as Allan and Ron head for Switzerland (you could set your watch by them) and send back some holiday snaps – hopefully with some trains in some of them, and not just Ron’s exotic meals!

We caught the late running 0842 from Purley direct to Gatwick Airport. We dropped our bags off two and a half hours before our flight and was told by the machine that the flight was delayed 30 mins.

Our scheduled 1155 flight eventually took off around 1250. Instead of scheduled arrival of 1430 we touched down in Basle at 1500 and were told by flight crew that the temperature was 38°. We bussed in but had a tour of the airport before reaching terminal.  Having cleared passport control we found our cases already going round on the carousel.

We walked outside the terminal to find a bus into town waiting. We managed to get to the station in time to catch the 1559 Interlaken train and thus reached Lauterbrunnen at 1825. Only pictures today are those taken from our balcony.