Inner Swiss light railways
Light railways with gauges between 500 and 750 mm used to play an important role in the internal transport operations of many Swiss factories. Today, however, they have almost completely disappeared. In Central Switzerland, however, two companies have survived to this day and therefore became the destination of an excursion. To reach the two factories in comfort, we travelled in an old Schnauzen-Saurer Postbus. The destination of the first stage was the Holcim cement works in Brunnen. This has a state-of-the-art 750mm gauge light railway which brings raw material for cement production from the nearby quarry. Two shuttle trains are used, with control cars on one side and radio remote control, so that the trains can be operated by one man. At the unloading station, the self-unloading wagons are unloaded on an automatic device without the train having to be dismantled. In a second stage, we then travelled to the Körbligen brickworks. Today, a 600mm light railway runs several times a week between the clay pit and the factory. We were able to travel the entire route on a special visitor train and see how the clay is loaded into the self-unloading wagons in the clay pit. The facilities here are also very modern and functional. We were then able to capture the train’s return journey on foot. In the warehouses we were also able to see the older vehicles from the earlier 500mm light railway era.
Click on the picture to open it in large, you can browse through the gallery.
Back to: