Hôtel Royal-St. Georges, Interlaken
Brienzer Rothorn and Brienzersee
DAY 3
BRIENZ ROTHORN RAILWAY
Since the final years of the 19th century, travellers have been transported to the summit of the Switzerland’s peaks by some of the world’s most amazing feats of railway engineering. The lines are so steep that they have to be assisted by toothed “rack” rails between conventional tracks. Many of the original steam locomotives have long since been replaced by electric traction but today though, you have the chance to experience one of the few routes still operated primarily by steam.
After a short regular train journey to the lakeside resort of Brienz, we join the remarkable Brienz Rothorn railway for the breathtaking ride to the Rothorn. This is a dizzying peak with superb panoramic views across lakes and valleys to the surrounding summits. Although many of the locomotives are modern diesels, a few of the original coal-burning engines from the 1891 line opening are still
used.[i] The sight and sound of these “old ladies” huffing and puffing their way up the mountain just as they did over a century ago is truly wonderful. It brings out the child in all of us. There’s time for lunch at the summit and a leisurely wander around Brienz itself following the return ride. If you’re feeling energetic, you can choose instead to take the steep but enjoyable hike down the mountain. After that, we return by lake steamer to Interlaken.
[i] We didn’t see any diesel locomotives, nor any original steam engines from 1891; all the steam engines that we saw (including the one pictured here) dated from 1992 and 1996.
I woke to the sounds of swifts screeching as they were flying by.
Janet reported that she slept well, after only getting a couple of hours’ sleep the previous night.… She got up
ca.7.50am. I copied the folders “20190712” and “20190713” from the
WD Elements HDD
to the MicroSD card that’s plugged into the
Asus netbook/tablet computer (08:02–08:03). Checked my Gmail account (08:05).… Shaved then showered after
Janet vacated the bathroom. We went down for breakfast a bit before 9am, and, unlike yesterday, found plenty of tables available at which to sit.
Janet was displeased to witness a couple from the Riviera party taking bananas from the breakfast room for consumption later.
Many people do this sort of thing without a scruple or a qualm; but we
don’t steal from hotels.… We went back to the room to get ready to go out, and left the hotel a little before 9.30am to proceed to the railway station. We visited the
Coop convenience store, where Janet bought a banana and a bread bun, and we bought a little St. Bernard plush toy with a plush brandy-barrel emblazoned with a Swiss flag hanging from his collar (at 09:41, according to the till receipt). “…And we bought ‘Albert Einstein’,”
Janet wrote. “I’d spotted him yesterday and showed [John], saying, ‘He’s cute!’”
Coop receipt, issued at “09:41”
Wednesday 7 August 2019 — 09:41:00
Einstein, back at home with his “national teddy” pals: (from left:) Anton (Austria), Kingston (Hull), Einstein (Switzerland), Arne (Iceland). Behind Arne is Panga (China).
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 09:47:14
Assembling outside Interlaken Ost railway station
Note the abundance of Coop retail outlets: a convenience store on the corner of the station building, and a
Coop supermarket on the far side of Untere Bönigstrasse. Note also the iconic Swiss Federal Railways clock, with the red baton-like second-hand.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 09:47:14 (detail)
Swiss railway clock
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 09:50:50
Proceeding to Platform 4 for the 10:04 “InterRegio”[ii] Luzern train
[ii] InterRegio trains (abbreviation “IR”) are ones that span more than one canton, in this case Bern and Luzern (though we stayed in the Canton of Bern today — unless on the ridge of the Brienzer Rothorn, I stepped over the boundary marginally into Luzern!).
We caught the 10:04 Zentralbahn train, which was headed on the metre-gauge Brünig railway line to Luzern. We, however, got off at the first stop, Brienz.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 09:53:56
Arrival of the 10:04 Zentralbahn “InterRegio” Luzern train, first stop “Brienz”
At Brienz, Jan gathered us all together, before leading the way across the street to the
Brienz Rothorn Bahn station. (She pronounced it briˈɛnts, which I guess might follow the Swiss pronunciation, though my inclination, knowing how “ie” is pronounced in German, would be to pronounce it briːnts.) She told us that the train back from the Rothorn would leave at “13:28”, and that the ship to Interlaken would leave Brienz at “15:40”.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:24:44
Jan has a “huddle” before we proceed to the Brienz Rothorn Bahn station.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:27:10
Crossing the road to the Brienz Rothorn Bahn station
Brienz Rothorn Bahn information leaflet
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:28:34 Brienz Rothorn Bahn steam locomotive №12, manufactured by Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik in 1992
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:29:48 Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
We boarded the next-to-last compartment of the last car of the 800mm-gauge rack-railway train. I felt a slight unease — I felt similarly yesterday — that the train was to be pushed, not pulled, up 1-in-4 inclines, because when I had an OO-scale model railway, pushing often resulted in a disastrous derailing and piling up of the coaches and/or trucks.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:33:00
Aboard the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train…
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:34:26
Information posted on the nearby wall
We set out, with the chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug chug-chugging of the little steam engine behind us, at 10:45, with a stop at Planalp Intermediate Station, and arrived at the “Kulm” station at 11:43. As we got higher and higher, the view below was somewhat masked by clouds. “There was mist,”
Janet commented, “but it was still spectacular.”
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:50:02
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 10:55:32
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:00:46
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:02:36
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:03:32
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:05:12
Emerging from one of the lower tunnels
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:15:38
Planalp Intermediate Station
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:16:04
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:23:18
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:24:04
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:25:06
Kuhmad Tunnel
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:27:00
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:27:40
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:28:04
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:29:50
Oberstafel Crossing Brienz Rothorn Bahn steam locomotive №16, manufactured by Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik in 1992
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:33:56
Schonegg Gallery
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:41:04
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:41:14
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:41:30
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:45:28
Rothorn Kulm Station
“It was a bit cool when we got off the train,” Janet
wrote, “so I put my cagoule over my denim jacket. I was [initially] fine. (I’d worried about the [after-effects of the recent] chest infection and altitudes.) However, once I started up the slope to the restaurant, I started gasping for breath, and by the time I reached it, I was in real distress. I was also very shaken because I didn’t expect still to be affected — I’ve been higher.”
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:47:52
Looking east towards the summit
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:48:54
Looking down towards Brienzersee
“I staggered down to the loo [at the railway station],” she continued, “then sat in the foyer [of the restaurant] on a high stool overlooking the ‘panoramic view’ and I eventually felt OK. So I tried once more to go outside. As soon as I stepped out of the door it started again, so I had no choice but to go back inside. So I bought a
Coke Zero then sat down again on the high stool and enjoyed my lunch.”
Meanwhile, I took myself off up to the Rothorn “Gipfel”. I had to breathe somewhat more deeply than usual as I strode forth, but otherwise was unaffected by the altitude.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 11:59:40
Proceeding to the Rothorn summit
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:05:46
Proceeding to the Rothorn summit
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:08:06
Cairns
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:09:38
Rothorn summit
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:10:50 Fear God
and give him
the glory!
Revelation 14:7
Oh, Father, let Your world
a little longer stay
and Your beautiful creation
not pass away.
Instead of spoiling
we would be praising.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:11:06
Panorama of views from the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:11:44
Panorama of views from the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:12:04
Panorama of views from the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:13:26
Panorama of views from the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:15:00
Panorama of views from the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:16:48
On the Brienzer Rothorn
Again, as yesterday, I wondered about the turquoise colour of the
waters.[iii] On my return from the summit, I found Jan near the railway station looking down, and we both agreed that little trains had held fascination from childhood. I mentioned as an example the Ffestiniog Railway, with which she agreed. (She lives in Anglesey.)
[iii] Yesterday’s diary entry states: “I wondered about the turquoise colour of the Aare and Brienzersee; reflection of the blueness of the sky couldn’t fully account for it. Perhaps it was due to suspended minerals washed out of the mountains, though I suspected algal bloom as well.”
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:32:48
A Brienz Rothorn Bahn train far below
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 12:32:48 (detail)
A Brienz Rothorn Bahn train far below
I found and joined Janet, and bought myself a zero-alcohol bottled lager. Beneath the wide window on the shelf that served as a table there were thin, large-format illustrated books about the
Brienz Rothorn Bahn, through which I leafed. I couldn’t understand why
Janet would be all right indoors and not outdoors, when the composition of the atmosphere, and in particular the partial pressure of the oxygen, was identical in both locations. It was later that our dinnertime companion Clive suggested that it might be the cold air that was to blame more than the altitude. We decided, though, to forego any plans to travel the
Jungfraubahn to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch (3,466 metres), and that we wouldn’t be taking the cable cars up to the 2,970-metre Schilthorn summit, either.
When we expressed to Jan Janet’s difficulties and its scuppering of our plans, she suggested (and wrote down) “Schynige Platte”. It was only a bit higher than Kleine Scheidegg, which had not been a problem for
Janet yesterday. We’d get the same train from Interlaken Ost as we had yesterday, and get off at “Wilderswil” (which she also wrote down).
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:15:16
Back to Rothorn Kulm Station
The returning train set off at 13:28 (according to the timetable), and very quickly descended below the level of the mist and murk that just then was surrounding us.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:31:10
Aboard the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:34:22
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:38:42
Oberstafel Crossing in the distance (right)
We had to pause on the way because of goats on the railway line. Some of our party were being silly and calling out the animals that were either on or near the railway line: “Goats!” — “Cows!” — “Donkeys!” (I couldn’t get a photo of the donkeys.)
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:39:58
Goats on the line at Oberstafel Crossing
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:43:12
Cows at Oberstafel
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:44:42
Schonegg Gallery, seen from Oberstafel
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:45:44
Cows at Oberstafel
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:52:00
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:55:58
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:59:52
Evidence of old terraces
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 13:59:58
Views from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn train
I didn’t mention it yesterday, but there were times, then and today, when we were on inclines, when the trees seemed to be leaning, and no effort of adjusting one’s perception would make them appear upright.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 14:02:46
Trees seeming to lean into the hillside
The phenomenon reminded us of the similar experience on the escalators of the St. Petersburg
Metro.
Wednesday 12 September 2012 — 16:29:08
Ascending to Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg, we couldn’t resist the notion that all the people going the other way were leaning backwards at some 30º!
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 14:02:46 (revised)
Correctly rotated view of “14:02:46”
The train arrived (according to the timetable) at 14:32. It was hot and sunny down there.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 14:34:18 Brienz Rothorn Bahn steam locomotive №14, manufactured by Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik in 1996
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 14:49:38
The Brienzersee at Brienz
We had a drink at a café near the “Schifffahrtsstation”.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 14:56:18
Refreshments at Brienz
We boarded the paddle-steamer DS Lötschberg (very reminiscent of the former Humber ferry PS
Lincoln Castle), departing at 15:40 and calling at Giessbach See, Iseltwald, Ringgenberg, Bönigen, and Interlaken Ost.
Janet recalls: “I was grossed out by a bloke with a ‘builder’s bum’ — hellfire! What a sight! — one that I’ll take a while to forget.” I got one glimpse of him — seated sideways on a bench and leaning over, with his trousers slung so low on his hips as to reveal a great, long arse-crack — and hurriedly looked away.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:25:32
Boarding the paddle-steamer DS Lötschberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:26:42
Boarding the paddle-steamer DS Lötschberg
Detail from a map issued by BLS, which I’ve placed here especially to show the calling points from Brienz to Interlaken Ost (solid red line)
[click to enlarge]
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:29:44
Aboard the DS Lötschberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:43:34
Aboard the DS Lötschberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:44:34
DS Lötschberg: engine room
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:45:34
DS Lötschberg: engine room
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:47:00
DS Lötschberg: engine room
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 15:51:54
Calling at Giessbach See
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:10:44
Calling at Iseltwald
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:23:02
Aboard the DS Lötschberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:24:28
Aboard the DS Lötschberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:26:56
Approaching Ringgenberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:28:18
Calling at Ringgenberg
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:34:28
Approaching Bönigen
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:35:32
Approaching Bönigen
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:35:46
Calling at Bönigen
The ship reversed out of Bönigen, and continued astern all along the River Aare till it docked at Interlaken Ost.
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:45:48
Entering the River Aare
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:46:32
River Aare
Sunday 14 July 2019 — 16:53:44
Disembarking at Interlaken Ost
We walked the less-than-a-half-mile’s distance along Höheweg back to the hotel. It started raining very heavily after we got back, and continued doing so till after we went to bed. That suited us, because we had no plans to go anywhere.
Janet washed her hair, and did this and that. I transferred 83 items (81 images and two videos) from the camera’s
SD card to the WD Elements HDD (17:22–17:23). I opened them in
Windows Photo Viewer, and rotated three that needed it (17:28–17:32). I also copied today’s folder to the
MicroSD card in the Asus computer for safety’s sake (17:51).… At 6.30pm we went downstairs for dinner. Again, there were a number of our party in the bar having a pre-dinner drink, when I went there for a Grimbergen
Blanche.
But I didn’t stay there; I went to the dining room. Afterwards, Jan gave us leaflets about places of interest to visit tomorrow, including one on the aforementioned Schynige Platte. We also picked up two A4-sized maps of Interlaken from the hotel reception.
I looked up again in “John Edward Cooper’s Notes” the 1971 holiday in Austria and Switzerland
(20:20–20:35).[iv]… The link to “swisssouvenir.ch”,
i.e. Albert Schild, still worked (20:30, 20:35),[v] so I knew it was still a going concern, for us to visit tomorrow
morning.[vi] Janet showered before going to bed,
ca.9.40pm. I was already there.
[iv] Holiday in Austria
(1); Holiday in Austria (2)
[v] This was the last internet access that I had till I got back home.
If I’d looked in my e-mail inbox I’d have seen a message from Chris
Woodhead (sent 16:23 CEST), telling me that Fido had died early this
morning. But I didn’t see it till 20 July 2019.
[vi] Tomorrow’s diary entry tells the story of my interest in Albert Schild.
