Photos, videos and docs of Jon Searles, with the keywords: "Swiss"

Postal Service Bus in Chur Bus Station, Chur, Plessur District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:27 +0000

I don't know too much about this bus, other than that it appears to be operated by the Swiss postal service. It's a passenger bus, in spite of the operator, so it must be fairly unusual in today's world. Obviously, in the 18th and 19th Centuries it was possible to ride on mail coaches, but to see modern-day motorcoaches hauling primarily passengers would have to be unusual. Does anybody know much about these? The station I photographed this one in is adjacent to the Chur trains station, so close, in fact, that it's almost the same facility (and perhaps could be considered such).

Chur Station, Chur, Plessur District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:26 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This is the Chur railway station. The tracks in the front are for the Bernina Line, while the other tracks are behind the station.

Rhaetian Railway #3505, Chur Station, Picture 2, Chur, Plessur District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:24 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This is Rhaetian Railway #3505, one of the newer trains on the Bernina Express (and the Bernina Line generally), a Class ABe 8/12 Allegra EMU, built by Stadler Rail sometime between 2009 and 2011. These units were among those which replaced the ABe 4/4 II Class EMU's that had been in service when I rode the line in 1998. The Class ABe 4/4 III EMU's remain in service, being newer. There are also a few locomotive-hauled trains, using Gem 4/4 dual power locomotives (electric or diesel). This photo gives a hint, but doesn't show clearly that the Bernina Line leaves Chur via the streets, much like a tramway.

View from the Glacier Express, Picture 14, Unknown location, Goms District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:23 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here's another shot of a mountain in the clouds. I have no idea which one it is.

View from the Glacier Express, Picture 10, Unknown location, Goms District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:21 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here's another shot that I got of the train.

View from the Glacier Express, Picture 7, Unknown location, Goms District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:20 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Being in the mountains on a day in which there was sporadic rain, we passed through a number of clouds. Some of these, of course, were not possible to photograph as they were simply grey haze, but this one was better.

Fiesch, Goms District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:05:18 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This was one of the few towns on the Glacier Express route that I was able to identify. The reason was that we passed the station and I got a picture of the sign (the photo was a bit blurred to show here).

View from the Glacier Express, Picture 4, Unknown location, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:30:42 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Actually, the "Visp District" is a bit of a guess, since film shots don't have EXIF data. This was one of the better shots that I got, showing the train on a curve. The Glacier Express is, of course, designed for photography, but a problem that I had for the whole trip was that the glass reflected too much, as you can sort of see on the right here. The previous shot of the bridges has a bit of a reflection in the middle, too, but I posted both of these anyway.

Viaducts (Bridges?) next to the Glacier Express Route, Near Zermatt, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:30:39 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

I think these are technically viaducts, given the arches, although at least the one in the foreground looks like it could be for a road. I really know nothing about these, other than that I took this photo from the Glacier Express shortly after leaving Zermatt.

The Glacier Express in Zermatt Station, Picture 1, Zermatt, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:32:39 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

The next part of our tour was going to be on the Glacier Express, so here it is waiting in the station. The Glacier Express is arguably even more famous than the Bernina Express, and is one of the slower "express" trains in the world, although probably not the "slowest," as its advertising claims. The large windows wrapping around the roof indicate its real purpose, as a scenic, but modern, tourist train. It is jointly operated by the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn and the Rhätische Bahn, who also operate the Bernina Express, connecting in Chur. We ultimately took the Glacier Express to Chur, but skipped the Bernina Express on this trip.

BVZ Train in Zermatt Station, Picture 1, Cropped Version, Zermatt, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:54:37 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This EMU is, if I'm not mistaken, a ABDeh 8/8 Class, although the Wikipedia page seems to lack a comprehensive photo collection to go with the list of classes. For that matter, the Wikipedia article lacks even a roster.

View from BVZ Train, Picture 19, Cropped Version, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:54:34 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This shot portrays a rockier part of the area we were in.

View from BVZ Train, Picture 18, Edited Version, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:54:33 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This is one of my better shots of the train, which was an EMU like most of what the BVZ runs.

View from BVZ Train, Picture 14, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:54:31 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

I'm not certain, but this may in fact be one of the less-known faces of the Matterhorn (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). I make this assumption based on the fact that we were approaching Zermatt by this point.

Rack Railway Track on the BVZ, Picture 2, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:54:30 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here's a look at one of the more moderate grades in the world to use a cog. I took this seconds after Picture 1.

Rack Railway Track on the BVZ, Picture 1, Visp District, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:54:28 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Many cog (or rack) railways in Switzerland, and for that matter the world, only use cog technology for banking, running conventionally. The BVZ Zermatt-Bahn is one such railway.

Grindelwald, Picture 2, Edited Version, Interlaken-Oberhasli, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:58:58 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Also speaking of unknown names, I don't know the names of these mountains, so any help in identifying them would be welcome. As always, the view was hard to match anywhere.

Grindelwald, Edited Version, Interlaken-Oberhasli, Switzerland, 2011

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:58:57 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

The end of the first leg of my trip, which involved a ride on the BOB narrow-gauge (which I have video of but no photos on the way in) ended in Grindelwald, in Switzerland. This was only my second visit to the Swiss Alps, as the Alps are spectacular but expensive. On the left is one of the many hotels in Grindelwald, which is a tourist town, and then of course the church on the right. I don't know the name of it.

Swiss Landscape, Picture 19, Switzerland, 1998

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:57:01 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

I'm fairly certain that I took this on the way down into Italy.

Altitude Marker and Station Sign, Cavaglia, Switzerland, 1998

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:57:01 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

There's the altitude marker...1693 meters, or 5555 feet!! The Rhatische Bahn is by no means the highest railway in the world, but it's certainly at a higher altitude than average!!