Thalwil « modelrail.otenko

16Mar/150

Zurich, January 2015

Zurich: 1, Steven: 0. There's a standard rule for train photography: The train will come as soon as you choose to leave.

The town

Zurich is like a European version of Japan. I could not believe how prim, proper and perfect the town was. Immaculate cars, buildings, people... Everyone seemed to smell 'foreigner' on me... It occurred to me later that I was the only one with facial hair (unkempt at best) in the whole town.

I'd always wanted to visit this country... not for The Sound of Music, but for the railways. I'd heard the standard saying that you could set your Swiss watch to them. I also have a Mondaine watch which is built on the design of the Swiss Railways clock (of course, the same design that Apple 'accidentally' borrowed!)

Chasing Trains

I'd been researching prior and understood that there was a main yard to the west of the main HBF and that some freight ran south to the west of Lake Zurich. This traffic joined the line somewhere near Thalwil and I'd found great shots online around the area.

So... As that I was there two days, I'd decided to scout the first day and tackle the trains on the second (in amongst urban-exploring, shopping, eating, etc...)

The first day I made it to Thalwil (the railway ticketing system is really easy) via Tram and Train and started wandering around. Within 10 minutes the police were already chasing me and asking what I was doing. It was a bit tense as I'd left my Passport in the hotel and had wiped my camera of my previous London photos. Either way they phoned the HQ and believed my story. I don't quite know how they verified my identity from my drivers licence.

A freight train was parked in Thalwil yard the moment I got there... bonus. It then left south. After Starbucks and a little more wandering I'd decided that the best bet would be to go to the next south station the next day.

Day two: Oberriedden

The morning started pretty bleak at Thalwil... I'd jumped on the next train south which happened to be an express that would skip Oberrieden, so I had to transfer. No problems, but I kept a low profile to not entertain the police again.

Oberrieden is a two platform station with a dual-track line running through. It seems a lot of commuter traffic and a tiny bit of freight. There's a great curve to the north to catch south-bound traffic all day...

That last shot is the Austrian OBB Railjet.

There was a lot waiting at the station and a lot of the passenger traffic. In fact, out of the 2-3 hours spent, two freights passed, and they both passed to the north.

They both had the cutest little (old?) electric engines on the front... very well maintained also as they were stealth. It was getting on to home time, so I'd decided to head back to Thalwil to transfer to an express back to the hotel. Just my luck... as I approached Thalwil there was a freighter with a string of open hoppers waiting for us to clear the southbound junction.

...Why...couldn't....I....have...waited...10...more....minutes!?!?! Either way, back at Thalwil a light-engine movement bolted past me.

Zurich main yard

This area probably has a proper name, but I haven't researched it. It's a massive staging yard for long-distance and local commuter stock. There's sheds, stored freighters and they're even building new flyovers to bypass all of the junctions.