[Anonymous]

21 April 2022 at 8:14:39 #826940

Hello, my boyfriend is a huge train fan, especially steam trains and for his birthday next year I’m looking to surprise him with a great railway based holiday. He loves the idea of a dining car journey and so I was thinking the Glacier Express would be ideal for that, though not sure if there are any others that offer than level of dining?

He’d also love any steam trains that run on steep gradient routes. Are there many steam trains in Switzerland or are most now Diesel?

I was considering the following itinerary and would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. This would be for early September.

Day 1 : Fly from UK to Zurich and catch train to Interlaken and spend the night

Day 2: Journey up Jungfrau

Day 3: Travel to Brig and board Glacier Express to Chur

Day 4: Explore Chur – any recommendations on what to do this day? Ideally a train free day!

Day 5: Bernia Express from Chur to Tirano then train from Tirano to Milan

Day 6: Milan siteseeing / potentially timed to see a football game.

Day 7: Fly back to UK from Milan

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[User]

Reply 1 of 2 • 21 April 2022 at 17:22:38 #940860

Hi WandererH and welcome to MySwissAlps.com!

How a lovely idea, I am sure your boyfriend would be amazed about this birthday present! 🙂

You can still find some steam trains but not too many. One of them is the Brienzer Rothorn (in the Jungfrau region): http://www.myswissalps.com/brienzerrothorn.

If he likes steam trains he would also love the steam boats on Lake Brienz (http://www.myswissalps.com/boatlakebrienz).

Regarding the dining on the train, have a look at this one: http://www.myswissalps.com/activities/culinary/dineonthemove.

If you want, you can also change in St. Moritz from the Glacier Express to Bernina Express. You can read about St. Moritz here: http://www.myswissalps.com/stmoritz.

As you are going to Italy from Switzerland, this one will be useful for you: http://www.myswissalps.com/traintickets/italy. And one more tip – make sure to have a rail pass, for your itinerary I recommend the Swiss Travel Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass.

I hope this helps,

Ildiko

[User]

Reply 2 of 2 • 21 April 2022 at 23:09:29 #940861

Most railways in Switzerland are electrified. This is one of the key facts about transport in Switzerland – it was far ahead of any other country in adopting widespread electric traction for railways, with 95% of the railway network electrified by the 1960s. This is because Switzerland had no indigenous coal supply for steam locomotives, but plentiful hydro electric power due to all the water that travels down hill in such a mountains country!

The last remaining mountain rack railway using steam traction is the Brienzer Rothorn Bahn (BRB). It also has diesels. The only thing to say is that it uses a new design of steam locomotive which – although a genuine steam locomotive – does not ‘chuff’ like a traditional steam engine so it no longer quite has the same ‘feel’

There are a number of steam train excursions each year on the Rhatische Bahn (RhB) in Graubunden:

Steam-Train Rides – Rhaetian Railway RhB

http://www.rhb.ch/en/world-of-railway-experiences/steam-nostalgic-rides/steam-train-rides#timetable

However, most railway enthusiasts visit Switzerland to see the famous ‘Crocodile’ electric locomotives. These locomotives have articulated bodies and rod driven wheels – hence their nickname. There are some on the main line that occasionally run special excursions, but there is a regular service train on the RhB all summer which is hauled by the RhB’s famous ‘mini-crocodiles’

http://www.rhb.ch/en/world-of-railway-experiences/steam-nostalgic-rides/historical-trips