Martin Hoffmann
You don’t pay attention for one second and Freiburg is painted with ETCS stop markers.
Are they doing both ETCS and LZB here? Surely not?
I hope those guys are just out and about to enjoy the sun.
Be ironic if SBB now fell apart completely.
I might have had a stange too many, but I am very happy with my choice. What a lovely little town Brunnen is.
Also, I think this is Rigi up there.
At checkout, the lady asked if I am continuing to Italy on foot. we agreed that I really should but that the train is also nice.
Off to the bahnhof!
Decided to take the time and travel the scenic route across San Gottardo. It is one of the great mountain railways of this world and taking the base tunnel feels heretic.
Obligatory picture of the church of Wassen.
These new copper trains* are nice. But doing this run in a first class EW II with its lounge chairs as the first carriage behind an Re 4/4 II and a driver who feels offended by running a couple minutes late is where it’s at.
* Officially they are called Traverso, in case you want to look them up.
In Bellinzona, there’s a connection to a Eurocity directly to Venice.
Ha!
Instead, I am changing in Giubiasco to this TILO train because, to do this properly, I also have to go over Monte Ceneri which got its own, lesser known base tunnel.
The jingle of Swiss railway is a simple tritone. But: it is different for each of the three main languages (SBB doesn’t operate where Rumantsch is spoken). The abbreviation for each language is taken as notes, with E flat standing in for S because its German name is Es which is also how you pronounce the letter s.
So, the tritone is E♭ B B for German SBB, C F F for French CFF, and F F E♭for Italian FFS.
There is a version replacing the last note with its cord, which is used for announcing major stops.
In my day,* if you wanted to go to Milano and avoid the Cisalpino (what is now again the Eurocity) with its extortionist prices and risk of being “completto,” you had to walk through customs in Chiasso to get to a rake of cramped piano ribassato carriages pulled by a Caimano, stopping at a million places all starting with a C and getting later and later in the process.
Now there is this shiny new Flirt running as an hourly regional express from Locarno via Lugano, Como, and Monza to Milan.
Some things are getting better.
* „Opa erzählt vom Krieg.“
At Casalbuttano we are waiting for an oncoming train. Weirdly, we are scheduled a stop from 13:55 to 13:56 and them from 13:59 to 14:00. Single track only on either side.
Not sure how this is supposed to work?
I am changing trains in Olmeneta, to go back north to Brescia (told you this is silly). There’s nothing here, just a forgotten railway station baking in the July sun.
The trains are timetabled so that I could have changed in Cremona in stop further down the line and an actual town. But where’s the fun in that?
Five minute transfer in Verona, so I decided to head towards the doors early. and triggered everyone else getting up.
The capotreno announced the platform for the train to Venice in both Italian and English. That can’t be good.
This epsiode of Using Branch Lines to Avoid Busy Main Line Trains (I am now in an empty Pop instead of a very busy Rock) is brought to you by the Railway History Map, your indispensable guide when planning a trip the roundabout way (and being disappointed by bus replacement).
Buongiorno!
The hotel I booked doesn’t do their own breakfast but give you a voucher for a bar around the corner. Which is a great solution – you get proper coffee rather than something from a machine.
My new hobby: Watch people schlepp modern luggage across medieval bridges and be unduly smug about my Cross the Alps on Foot-style equipment.
Top tip: If your kids still need strollers, postpone your visit to Venice for a bit.
Phil Dennis-Jordan@partim Parenting top tip: very few(*) kids NEED strollers once they can walk. Most parents just don’t seem to be patient enough for children’s walking pace or practicing a little to get them used to walking longer distances.
(*) disabilities etc