European Railroad Discussion > RhB

Spent a few days chasing trains on the RhB and this was my favorite picture (at Bergun). I was surprised by the amount of freight the RhB is handling.

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Well played, John!

Cheers
Jack

Don't have a map handy,what line and where are we in Bergun?

--Jim Baker

It's on the Albula Line between Chur and St Moritz. It's the last town of any size before the Albula Tunnel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/14 13:11 by 86235.

Interesting picture! Is the train double headed? Second in line is just neatly behind the pole so it is hard to say.

Looks like the gradient is extremely steep?

The train is not doubleheaded. The wagon behind the loco is a depressed center flat with a white container with what may be a refrigeration unit on the end toward the engine. But I agree, it does look a bit like a second engine, especially since the RhB has a number of oddly painted engines that have various advertising paint schemes on them.

JBWX



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/14 06:55 by jbwest.

Berguen is the lower point of the snow trail coming downhill from Preda. In the winter the auto roadway is closed and snow is packed on the roadway with plywood buttresses (to avoid going over the hill) in place. You take the RhB to Preda, rent a sled and travel downhill about 4 miles to Berguen, where with your sled you can ride the train back up the hill. Or you can turn in the sled at Berguen. Automobile traffic must pay a fare on the RhB, and cars are loaded onto flats with a side drop (for on and off loading)

Paul Ramer
Cincinnati, OH

Take a moment and type this area into Bing maps or another and note what the rail line does to gain altitude!
At Prega the line goes thru a tunnel, and on to St Moritz.

Paul Ramer
Cincinnati, OH

pramer Wrote:
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> Berguen is the lower point of the snow trail
> coming downhill from Preda. In the winter the auto
> roadway is closed and snow is packed on the
> roadway with plywood buttresses (to avoid going
> over the hill) in place. You take the RhB to
> Preda, rent a sled and travel downhill about 4
> miles to Berguen, where with your sled you can
> ride the train back up the hill. Or you can turn
> in the sled at Berguen. Automobile traffic must
> pay a fare on the RhB, and cars are loaded onto
> flats with a side drop (for on and off loading)

Sledging from Preda to Bergun has been on my bucket list, but never quite got to it and I'm probably too old now. We used to do it down the Rigi, and it was about as much fun as you could have with your clothes on. The Rigi trail was similar, sledge down, ride the train up, but it was shorter. The length of the Albula sledge trail always fascinated me. I have never heard of anything similar in North America. As an American I always called it sleding, but in Switzerland they use the term "sledging" which I presume is British.

JBWX

The locomotive is a semi articulated electric with a B-B-B wheel configuration, they're classified as Ge 6/6 II. The G denotes a locomotive (I think) e for electric, 6/6 for how many powered axles out of how many total axles, and the II denoting these as the second type of locomotive with these same characteristics. The first GE 6/6 was the famed Rheatian Crocodiles.
Cheers,
Nick

There is a Ge 6/6 1 "Kroc" on display at the Bergun station/museum. The Krocs, however, were C-C 2-truck side-rod drive, not B-B-B 3-truck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/14 03:51 by Labiche.

Thanks for the info!

So that loco with its Bo'Bo'Bo' wheeling should a a pretty good adhesion. Any information how many kilonewtons?

NGotwalt Wrote:
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> The locomotive is a semi articulated electric with
> a B-B-B wheel configuration, they're classified as
> Ge 6/6 II. The G denotes a locomotive (I think) e
> for electric, 6/6 for how many powered axles out
> of how many total axles, and the II denoting these
> as the second type of locomotive with these same
> characteristics. The first GE 6/6 was the famed
> Rheatian Crocodiles.
> Cheers,
> Nick

jbwest Wrote:
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> The train is not doubleheaded. The wagon behind
> the loco is a depressed center flat with a white
> container with what may be a refrigeration unit on
> the end toward the engine.

Possibly like these ones?

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The locomotive is a Ge 6/6 II. The "G" indicates a narrow gauge locomotive, "e" indicates electric, the "6/6" indicates the locomotive has 6 axles of which 6 are powered. Standard gauge Swiss locomotives have a different meaning for the first letter in the Class designation.

McKey Wrote:
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> Thanks for the info!
>
> So that loco with its Bo'Bo'Bo' wheeling should a
> a pretty good adhesion. Any information how many
> kilonewtons?
>

Starting traction effort is given as 218 kN with an hourly rated power of 2400 hp. 7 units of the class Ge 6/6 II have been built in two lots in 1958 (2 prototypes) and in 1965 (5 series units). The main goal of the development of those engines was to create locomotives which are only limited by the maximum force which can be applied to the hook (coupler) and not by adhesion or power. The axle arrangement Bo´Bo´Bo´ was chosen to assure that the locomotives have a smooth run on curves down to 100 m.

@jbwest: A great picture! It sums up everything I relate to the RhB

E111

How do the older units compare to the newer Ge 4/4 units. The new units are apparently B-B but appear to be used interchangeably with the B-B-B units. I'm guessing the newer units use something like AC traction to increase their tractive effort, but I am not a technician.

JBWX

Looks like the newer units are 200 kN / 44'960 lbf, slightly less, but quite impressive figures for machine of this size and weight.

I wonder what kind of wheel slip control they are using on these?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/14 07:09 by McKey.

jbwest Wrote:
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> How do the older units compare to the newer Ge 4/4
> units. The new units are apparently B-B but
> appear to be used interchangeably with the B-B-B
> units. I'm guessing the newer units use something
> like AC traction ......

The interchangeability has more to do with weight than anything else, I think. Looking at the weights of RhB locomotives in the electric all-adhesion era
Ge6/6 I 66 T
Ge4/4 I 48 T
Ge6/6 II 65 T
Ge 4/4 II 50 T
Ge 4/4 III 62 T
it can be seen that the RhB stayed with a nominal 11 - 12 - 12.5 ton axle load until the Ge4/4 III's, when 15.5 T became acceptable. Granted, the newer units [ which do have AC traction motors ] have roughly a third more horsepower at the wheel, but how useful that is in everyday service on traditional workings is not clear to me.

It is my understanding that the RhB looked at a Bo-Bo-Bo version of the Ge4/4 II as an alternative to the III's -- a much nicer might-have-been.......

Best rgds, SZ