Trains great and small

To Fribourg on Wednesday to visit the Chemins de Fer de Kaeserberg, a rather impressive HO-gauge layout.  I’d booked to visit at 14:00, and carefully researched the bus route and timing to get there from the station.  Not carefully enough: I led us to the right bus - in the wrong direction.  When we arrived at the end of the line, the nice lady bus driver said ‘no, you’re in the right place, I just have to do the circuit’.  We got to the model railway place a few minutes after our due time, but we only missed the introductory video.  Miniaturwunderland it isn’t, but it’s a far more serious representation of railways and traffic in Switzerland.  It has the odd spark of humour, like a chap trying to clamber back on to his windsurfer.  Also on the water there’s a fine HO-scale model of the paddle steamer Gallia, on which we’d sailed a day or so earlier.

Back in town, we were treated to a guided tour of parts of the old town by Josy Pitteloud, a former senior PTT strategy manager with whom I was last in touch over 25 years ago, though more recently we have maintained contact on social media.  I bought one of his pen and wash paintings back in the 90s: he has a loose, economical style that hints at rather than depicts his subject, and gave us each a couple of vignettes to take home: we shall frame them.  He later sent us some images of an exhibition he is putting on in a few months’ time: here’s one:

We’d been lucky with the weather: the forecast was for rain all day, but it didn’t kick in till much later, so we had our city tour in bright or sunny weather.  Josy gave us an outline of the history of the city before our tour, then took us for aperitifs at a bar with a terrace overlooking the old town.   

Perhaps when I’m a bit stronger we’ll come back and do the full tour Josy had planned!  As it was, we got a good idea of the layout and history of the city, which is older than its neighbour, Bern.  Nevertheless, step count: 7064.

Of the larger trains, we’ve done a few journeys on the deservedly much-maligned Twindexx trains.  They’re about OK if you’re sitting in the middle of the lower deck but if, like us, you could only find seats at the end of the top deck, you’d find the ride very rough and the noise unacceptable.  For our last train ride today (not counting the Zürich airport shuttle) we were on a rather older double-deck loco-hauled coach, and it was far preferable.  Another problem with the Twindexx sets - which are typically used on services joining Geneva and Zürich airports - is inadequate luggage space.  Some great decisions by the SBB powers that be.

Today’s travel was rather trying, even though everything connected as it should.  We were on the road for over eight hours in eight different forms of transport, schlepping our bags throughout.  Step count: 6318.  I think we’re due a few days off!