A Mikado on the Gotthard line

Er, how can Italy be part of Switzerland?  I thought both were independent countries?

Its called Switzwerpizza

They are still independent..we have not taking over Italy , even so lots wish so (Italy side)..even more lately (but that's a discussion for a totally different forum).

By referring to the canton (state) Tessin as the Italian part of Switzerland, I was referring to the sole official language spoken in this southernmost canton of Switzerland (yes we have 4 officials languages).

What can I say? That is exceptional railroading. Have to love those tunnels.

Trains in Switzerland always put on a show.

Really appreciate your sharing this quality video.

Floyd

@ FloydS..you're welcome and thanks

Sincerely,

I love that USA type Baggage car. The europeans did it right by adding glass in the clearstory and not sealing it up as they do back in the states!

Look Ma! No diesel

Thanks for the great video!  I wish I could have been there.  I can really see her North American origin in the lines of her boiler and tender.  Nice whistle too (most of the time)!

John

Thank you for posting this Lafondue.  It was lovely to see her steaming through the Alps. I've driven most of that route in the past, but have never seen a steam locomotive operating on it before. 

At one point though, I realised that I have been spending too much time in this forum. For I found myself watching the wheels, and counting the chuffs to see if they were correct! 

It's nice that SBB allows steam to operate on their lines.  I wonder how the tractive effort of the 141's compared with the Swiss "elephants" (their largest steam locos).

John

Well the Mikado has about twice the power output as the Ce 5/6 (elefants), dunno how this relate into tractive effort. (about 1200 kw for the ce 5/6 to almost 2400 kw for the 141)...the "elefant" was able to pull a 320 tons train on the Gothard line at a stunning 22 km/h (about 14 mph..)...good, the ce 5/6 were built over 30 years (1st engine in 1913..) earlier than the 141, so steam technology was more advanced for the later. The elefant were also much smaller than the 141 by about 5 meters ( 16 ft). On a side note, basically all Ce 5/6 were rented to the DR (Deutsche Reichsbahn) during WWII and after the war some were rented to the SNCF.

Out of the 28 built, 3 still standing and 1 in operation by the SBB Historic division.

About a month ago she was stretching her wheels in my hometown Fribourg (Freiburg) to celebrate the 150 years of the Lausanne-Fribourg line.

Very nice video. I've ridden the St. Gotthard line on regular trains but the steam really makes it better. One of those whistles sounds a lot like an Illinois Central RR whistle. Any idea what it's actual history is?

the history of the whistle ? ....that I have no idea and that's why I try to find more infos regarding the build process of these engines..mean 1300+ engines must leave a trace somehow even if it was more than 60 years ago.

Perhaps those chime whistles were original equipment from the builders.  They certainly sound like North American ones.

John

I doubt that these locomotives came with American chime whistles, especially two of them. I have a hunch that they came from someone with Wasatch Railroad Contractors who were in Swizterland last year working on 141R 568 which is the one in the video above.. Here's a link to a video by Wasatch and it has the whistle I think came from the ICRR. 

http://wrrc.us/2011/03/video-04/

thanks for the link to that video..some great infos there...no answer for the whistle though...

Would be interesting to know too, if during the build process of these engine, if the builder were also making engine for the US-Canada at the same time, and if, which one...may lead to some parts sharing there.