Furka mountain route steam train

Furka mountain route steam train
Timetable field :	615
Route length:	17.838 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	Adhesion 35  ‰ rack 118  ‰
Rack system :	Dept
Furka mountain route
Legend 0.000 Realp DFB 1546  m above sea level M. Connecting track to the MGB 0.150 Depot Realp Schweigstrasse Wiler Bridge (70 m) Alt Senntumstafel tunnel III (80 m) Alt Senntumstafel Tunnel II (79 m) Alt Senntumstafel tunnel I (36 m) Steffenbach Bridge (36 m) 3,660 Tiefenbach 1849  m above sea level M. Steinstafelviadukt (54 m) Sidelenbach Bridge (26 m) 6,996 Furka 2163  m above sea level M. Furka summit tunnel (1874 m) Canton border Uri / Wallis 9.206 Muttbach Belvedere 2120  m above sea level M. Muttbach level crossing Blue house level crossing 12,891 Glacier 1762  m above sea level M. Rotten level crossing Gletsch spiral tunnel (578 m) Rotten Viaduct (25 m) Lammen Viaduct (86 m) Raeterisbach Bridge (22 m) Railroad crossing arch Connecting track to the MGB 17.838 Oberwald DFB 1366  m above sea level M.

The Furka Mountain Line Steam Railway (DFB) is a licensed mountain railway company in Switzerland . It drives the meter-gauge cogwheel route from Realp in the canton of Uri through a tunnel just below the Furka Pass to Oberwald in the canton of Valais . The operator is a not-for-profit stock corporation (DFB-Dampfbahn-Furka-Bergstrecke AG). The Deutsche Bahn's staff is almost exclusively made up of volunteers (called “ Fronis, Fronarbeiter ”) from several countries, who make their work available free of charge through a development association for construction, maintenance and operation.

geography

Furka mountain route Realp - Gletsch - Oberwald

The Furka mountain line was part of the Furka-Oberalp Railway in Switzerland until 1981 , which ran from Brig over the Furka to Andermatt and from there over the Oberalp Pass to Disentis .

The starting point of the route is today at the DFB train station in Realp ( 1538  m above sea level ) in the canton of Uri , which is connected to the Matterhorn-Gotthard Railway via a siding. It follows the Reuss upstream in a westerly direction. A rack and pinion section climbs over the Tiefenbach station ( 1846  m above sea level ) to the culmination point at the Furka station ( 2160  m above sea level ). Below the top of the pass, the summit tunnel, 1874 m long , leads into the Rhone Valley without a rack. At the west portal of the tunnel is the Muttbach-Belvédère station ( 2118  m above sea level ), from where further rack sections are to Gletsch ( 1757  m above sea level ) and Oberwald ( 1366  m above sea level ) in the canton of Valais , where the mountain line reaches the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn line again. The entire route between Realp and Oberwald is around 18 km in length. The highest gradients in the rack sections are 118 ‰ (only after the Furkastrasse level crossing, otherwise 110 ‰, " System Abt ": 2 lamellas like Furka-Oberalp-Bahn ), in the adhesion sections 35 ‰.

history

Train of the Furka mountain line steam train with HG 3/4 locomotive on the Steinstafel viaduct

The construction of the cogwheel route over the Furka Pass was started in 1911 by the Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD) and stopped in 1915 due to the financial, technical and personnel problems caused by the outbreak of the First World War . After the bankruptcy of the BFD in 1923, the construction work was carried out in 1924 by the newly founded Furka-Oberalp-Bahn (FO) with strong support from the two neighboring railway companies Rhätische Bahn (RhB) and Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ, later Brig-Visp- Zermatt-Bahn BVZ) resumed and the line opened in 1925. In 1942 the line was electrified with an overhead line.

Because of the difficult avalanche situation , the mountain route is not safe for winter. In late autumn, for example, the catenary had to be dismantled and the Steffenbach Bridge collapsed. All tunnel portals were closed with gates. Due to the almost seven-month winter break and the subsequent clean-up and repair work, the operation was very time-consuming and costly. With the start of construction work on the Furka Base Tunnel in 1973, the end of the mountain route was getting closer and closer. During the winter break in 1981, operations on the mountain route were discontinued and the Furka Base Tunnel opened in 1982. The originally planned dismantling of the line, which was required by law in Switzerland, was stopped by railway enthusiasts who founded the Furka-Berglinie association in 1983 and the Furka-Berglinie AG steam railway as the supporting company in 1985 .

Now, starting in Realp , extensive renovation work followed on the old mountain line, which had been neglected in the last few years of operation. The first vehicles were acquired from various Swiss narrow-gauge railways and then restored. This work was mainly financed by donations and by the sale of shares for lovers. The still existing contact line was dismantled.

business

In 1992, public transport was resumed on the Realp - Tiefenbach section , followed a year later by the extension to the Furka station (in front of the Furka summit tunnel ). After the renovation of the summit tunnel , which no longer maintained the necessary profile due to the mountain pressure, and that of the Gletsch train station, as well as the renovation of a road crossing near Muttbach, operations were extended to the Realp – Gletsch line in 2000 . Unlike in the past, the road crossing was no longer allowed to have a rack, so the route had to be slightly relocated and a short section with a higher incline. On August 12, 2010, the last section between Gletsch and Oberwald was put back into operation. In addition, the ongoing maintenance work, the expansion of the depot in Realp and the expansion of the security systems must be managed.

In 2012, for the first time, a continuous train called the Swiss Alps Classic Express ran from St. Moritz to Zermatt. In a classic center-entry car with opening windows, it was possible to travel the classic route that the Glacier Express once took in around twelve hours - without changing via Albula, Oberalp and Furka. Since then, the exclusive special train has been running the famous route between St. Moritz and Zermatt at least once a year in summer.

In August 2014, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the railway connection between Brig, Oberwald and Gletsch, a steam locomotive meeting of all four still operational FO steam locomotives of the type HG 3/4 on the mountain line. For this, locomotive no. 3 was brought to Ulrichen on the road from the Blonay-Chamby museum railway and later returned.

The railway company has a federal license and is therefore under the supervision of the Federal Office of Transport (BAV) . Operation and maintenance of the route and vehicles as well as the accompanying public relations and administrative work are practically exclusively carried out by volunteers who make themselves available free of charge in their free time via the Förderverein (VFB). The association is active throughout Europe and is organized in 23 sections (12 of them in Switzerland, 9 in Germany and one each in Belgium and the Netherlands ) with over 7500 members.

Share capital of DFB AG

The share and participation certificate capital is currently CHF 14,596,850 and 50,000 respectively.

Passenger numbers

According to the 2009 annual report, published in 2010, a total of 27,529 passengers were carried in 2007, 25,630 in 2008 and 25,196 passengers in 2009. In the year the Gletsch - Oberwald section reopened in 2010, the number of people carried increased to 31,395 people, according to the management. This level was maintained with 31,032 passengers in 2011, not quite reached in 2012 and in the following years: In 2012 27,880, 2013 28,981, 2014 30,897 and 2015 26,964 passengers were carried.

Vehicle fleet

Traction vehicles

Steam locomotives

• HG 2/3 6 Weisshorn (1902) SLM 1410 - formerly Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ), donation
• HG 2/3 7 Breithorn (1906) SLM 1725 - formerly Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ), loan, taken over in 2018 in exchange for HGe 4/4 16
• HG 3/4 1 Furkahorn (1913) SLM 2315 - formerly Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD), bought in Vietnam
• HG 3/4 4 (1913) SLM 2318 - formerly Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD), donation
• HG 3/4 9 Gletschhorn (1914) SLM 2419 - formerly Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD), bought in Vietnam
• HG 4/4 704 (1923) SLM 2940 - bought in Vietnam

The HG 2/3 No. 6 “Weisshorn” was the first steam locomotive to go into operation. It was built in 1902 for the Visp-Zermatt Railway . From 1941 onwards it was used as a factory locomotive in a chemical factory near Chur , the Emser Works . In 1965 it was taken out of service and placed on a pedestal in front of a school building in Chur. In 1988 it was given to the DFB by the Chur school youth as a gift, with the condition that the locomotive be put back into operation. After extensive repair work, it was able to be put back into operation in 1990. Initially mainly used in construction work, it is now used again for passenger trains if necessary. The HG 2/3 No. 7 Breithorn has also been in use since 2010; it was initially loaned to the DFB by the MGB. This locomotive has been converted to run on light oil. Due to technical problems with the burner and insufficient performance for the demanding mountain route, it was parked in the MGB -Remise in Göschenen until summer 2018 . After the remise was sold, the DFB took ownership of the locomotive in exchange for the HGe 4/4 16 electric locomotive, which was returned to MGB Historic.

Another project caused a stir in 1990. Four of the ten HG 3/4 steam locomotives originally built in Winterthur in 1912/13 were sold by the Furka-Oberalp-Bahn to Vietnam after the line was electrified in 1947 , where they have been in a locomotive shed and along a route since the 1970s were turned off and rotted away. In 1990 two complete locomotives and usable parts of the other two could be brought back to Switzerland. Two HG 4/4 steam locomotives delivered directly to Vietnam by the Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (SLM) in the 1920s were also acquired and transported back. After the overhaul in the Meiningen steam locomotive works , two HG 3/4 have been in service again since 1993. They were given the company numbers HG 3/4 No. 1 " Furkahorn " and No. 2 " Gletschhorn ", the latter being given back its original No. 9 in 1999. The original HG 3/4 No. 4 locomotive on loan from the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB, ex FO) was completely renovated in June 2006 and came into contact with the mountain route for the first time on July 18, 2006. To celebrate the full reopening of the route, it was given to the DFB on August 12, 2010.

No. 704 of the two HG 4/4 locomotives is in operation, No. 708 is still being refurbished. This work (new fire boxes, new frames, boiler revision) is very complex. The number 704 was on 16./17. It was presented to the public in Uzwil on June 6, 2018 and was brought to Realp a little later. The first driving tests with a provisional operating license took place in August 2018, the first passenger trips took place in June 2019.

Traction vehicles with internal combustion engines (diesel, petrol)

The traction vehicles with combustion engines are looked after by the internal organization 'Dieselcrew'. The following locomotives are in operation on the Furka mountain route:

• HGm 2/2 51 (1987) DFB
• Gm 4/4 71 (1966) Jung, formerly FO
• Tmh 2/2 985 (1963) RACO, formerly SBB (Brünig)
• Tm 2/2 506 (1953) Asper, formerly CJ
• Tm 2/2 91 (1959) RACO, formerly RhB
• Tm 2/2 2922 (1959) RACO, formerly BVZ
• Tm 2/2 68 (1948) RACO, formerly RhB
• Xmh 1/2 4961 (1945) Asper, formerly FO
• Xmh 1/2 4963 (1982) Steck, formerly FO

In addition, investigations are ongoing to convert the gasoline railcar CFmh No. 21 (ex FO, ex Verkehrshaus) from 1927 into a diesel railcar.

Electric locomotives and railcars

• BDeh 2/4 41 (1941) SLM / BBC - formerly Schöllenenbahn (SchB)

As part of the “Operating Concept 2020”, the BDeh 2/4 will be used with a generator car, especially on the Oberwald-Gletsch section when there is a risk of forest fires, if steam locomotives are not allowed to be used. In addition, the vehicles could also be used on the MGB and RhB networks without a generator car under normal contact lines .

The HGe 4/4 I 16 SLM / BBC (formerly Brig-Visp-Zermatt Bahn (BVZ)) from 1936 was handed over to MGB Historic in 2018.

dare

Passenger cars

• B ² 2204 (1914) SIG - originally Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD) C ² 204
• B ² 2206 (1914) SIG - originally Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD) C ² 206
• B ² 2210 (1914) SIG - originally Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD) C ² 210
• B ² 2228 (1903) SWS - originally Rhaetian Railway (RhB) C ² 228
• BD ² 2502 (1914) SIG - originally Brig-Furka-Disentis-Bahn (BFD) C ² 202, taken over by Dampffreunde Brig
• FROM 4453
• AB 4466 (1961) SWS - originally Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ) A ⁴ 2055
• ABD 4554
• ABD 4558
• B 4222 (1890) SIG 6659 - originally Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (VZ) C ⁴ 42
• C 2353
• C 2354

Railway service vehicles

Snow blowers

• X ^rotd R 12 (1913) SLM 2399 - originally Rhaetian Railway (RhB), exchanged with the X ^rotd 14 of the Blonay – Chamby (BC) museum railway
• X ^rotm 9216 (1958) RACO / Beilhack - originally Rhaetian Railway (RhB)

Rack sections

Rack sections on the network of the Furka mountain route steam train

section	Route kilometers		length	Tilt
	from	to
Realp - Tiefenbach	01.0	3.5	2.5 km	106 - 110 ‰
Tiefenbach - Furka	04.0	6.9	2.9 km	100 - 110 ‰
Muttbach-Belvédère - Furkastrasse level crossing	09.4	10.1	0.7 km	101 - 118 ‰
Railway crossing Furkastrasse - Gletsch	10.3	12.6	2.3 km	118 - 110 ‰
Gletsch - Oberwald	13.3	17.6	4.3 km	030 - 110 ‰
Total rack sections			12.7 km

photos

• 

  Locomotive 4 on the turntable in Gletsch

• 

  Locomotive 4 in Muttbach-Belvedere

• 

  Locomotive 1 in the rack section Gletsch - Muttbach-Belvedere

• 

  Locomotive 7 “Breithorn” with two ex-BVZ center entry cars

• 

  Occasionally an HGm 4/4 from MGB is used, here just before Oberwald with 75 t on the hook

• 

  Lower portal of the spiral tunnel and Grimselpass road, between Gletsch and Oberwald

• 

  Arrival in Gletsch

• 

  Locomotive 1 is shunted on the turntable in Oberwald

Movie

• Glacier Express - From St. Moritz to the Matterhorn. Documentary film from the SWR series Eisenbahn-Romantik , episodes 951-953 (2019, here No. 952 - 30 min, including comparison of base tunnel route - mountain railway)

literature

• Ralph Schorno: Furka mountain route . Zurich 1991. ISBN 3-905111-01-2 .
• Johannes von Arx: Furka mountain route steam train; Furka adventure . Furka mountain route steam train, Oberwald 2000.
• Beat Moser, Peter Krebs a. a .: Furka mountain route experience . Zurich 2010. ISBN 978-3-909111-71-8 .
• Travel adventure on the Rhone Glacier. Furka mountain route steam train . Eisenbahn-Kurier, EK-Themen 45, Freiburg im Breisgau 2010, ISSN  0170-5288 .
• Jan Asshauer, Bernhard Studer: Furka mountain route can be used again after 29 years. Froni's triumph . In: railway magazine . No. 10/2010 . Alba publication, October 2010, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 28–31 (with a chronology of the Furka mountain route).

Web links

Commons : Furka Mountain Route Steam Railway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Furka Mountain Line Steam Railway (DFB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Voluntary work at the DFB
2. ↑ Discontinued railways in Switzerland
3. ↑ railway magazine 10-2010, p. 28
4. ↑ Locomotive HG 3/4 No. 3. Furka Steam Railway, accessed on April 6, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Annual Report 2015 , accessed on June 24, 2014
6. ↑ Annual Report 2009 (PDF; 1.3 MB), accessed on July 9, 2016.
7. ↑ Annual Report 2010, p. 10 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.5 MB), accessed on July 9, 2016.
8. ↑ Annual Report 2011, p. 9 (PDF; 2.1 MB), accessed on July 9, 2016.
9. ↑ Annual Report 2013, p. 9 , accessed on July 9, 2016.
10. ↑ Annual Report 2015, p. 20 , accessed on July 9, 2016.
11. ↑ Walter Frech, Michael Nold: The HG 4/4 704, an attractive addition to the locomotive on the Furka mountain route . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 6 . Minirex, 2019, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 332-335 .
12. ↑ "Dieselcrew Website - Vehicle Overview"
13. ↑ "MGB BDeh 2/4 41 handed over to the DFB" , www.bahnonline.ch, 7 January 2011
14. ↑ Route Oberwald - Realp: Schematic overview plan. Construction department of the Furka Mountain Line Steam Railway, June 17, 2008