European Railroad Discussion > An American Railfan in Europe, Part IV

This paint scheme screams "Reading Company" to me; but it's the Southeast Railway in Arth-Goldau, Switzerland, on 8/12/05. There's more at:

http://members.trainorders.com/gputz

Gerry

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Gerry,

Lots of good stuff in there!

On the first photo of the Re4/4'' at Arth-Goldau, the orange scheme with the white stripe is an old scheme, dating back to the old Trans Europe Express, I am told.

The shot of the SOB locomotive is on the Voralpen Express, from St. Gallen to Luzern, identified by the white coaches with green and blue stripes. This is a joint SOB-SBB operation.

A couple more shots down and train arriving from Zürich is probably one of the EuroCities trains to Italy now run by Cisalpino, since most of the coaches are in the Cisalpino silver with blue stripes. That arrangement, with Cisalpino running conventional trains, still seems a bit odd to me.

Maltby Turn out.

Maltby Turn, thanks for the additional information. Gerry

The Re 4/4-II painted in orange and cream is not the old TEE scheme. The TEE scheme was red and cream. The orange and cream paint scheme was applied to only a handful of locomotives of this class (perhaps 5) in the 1980's and was relatively short-lived. It was also applied to some passenger stock and was called the "Swiss Express" livery. I believe that only 2 or 3 Loks are still in orange and cream. One is the 11141 which I rode behind in 2000 between Arth-Goldau and Goeschenen. The other numbers still in orange and cream may be the 11103 (modelled in HO scale by Hag) and the 11107.

Birdman,

Thanks for the correction. I wonder how many details like this I get wrong because I can't speak Swiss German...

Matlby Turn out.

There were 8 Re 4/4 II locomotives painted in the "Swiss Express" livery
11103, 11106, 11108, 11109, 11112, 11113, 11133, and 11141
11112, 11113, and 11133 have been repainted into the Red scheme and 11113 was subsequently destroyed in an accident, leaving 5 locos still in "Swiss Express" livery.

You don't need to speak Swiss German to get these details right - you just need to have had a misspent youth poring over old European railway magazines!!

Best wishes